2020

Friday 10-16-2020

Greetings and welcome!

This morning finds me just a wee bit annoyed. I have a ton of fall work to do before winter comes. The last month has been insanely busy for me and I have managed less than 10 hours of outside work. This morning I was up early and I look outside and find this.Winter is here, and it is here to stay for a while.

Friends reported a few flurries in Florence County yesterday. I would call that the first visible snow flakes and this morning’s snow the first accumulating snow. The next benchmark is the first significant accumulation, snow of an inch or more that might need a shovel. That is likely to come tomorrow morning. Depending on where the rain/snow line lands we could see an inch or two tomorrow morning.

Here is a graphic from the Green Bay news channel 26 last night showing recent past first snow in Green Bay/Fox Valley.

I am not sure if this morning’s snow will survive the day or not. It is expected to be cloudy, and our high temperature is only expected to get to 42. Saturday’s high could hit 46, but it is downhill from there. Sunday and Monday could see a high near 38.

One reason that this annoys me so much is that today’s normal high temperature in Green Bay is 57, and our normal high temperature does not go below 50 until the beginning of November. Normally a 50 degree fall day sounds pretty decent to cut firewood and work on winterizing stuff. Today’s forecast of 42 and windy is a far cry from that. Right now at 8am it is 28 degrees. The other reason that this annoys me is that I am (very foolishly) crabby about the weather, one thing that I can’t do anything about.

It is time to worry about winterizing water systems. Last night had me nervous, but it only got down to 26. Sunday night’s low temperature is expected to be about 20, with Monday night’s low temperature about 24. Most of the (21) years that I have lived here I got away with not starting the heater in the well house until about gun deer season in the end of November. Last year that got crushed and it looks like this year is close behind. I will be working on the well house and the camper water system today as a high priority.

Looking at the 16 day GFS forecast model the early push of cold Arctic air is going to be with us right through the end of the month. There are several more chances of snow and a near zero chance of a high temperature over 55 degrees. It is showing a brief warm-up about the 30th, but that is for one day in advance of a storm.

This week was not a nice one for weather. We had several rain storms and a lot of really windy days. I don’t recall if it was yesterday or the day before, but there were reports of 45mph wind gusts. That whole mess has not been nice to the fall colors. There is still some color with the aspen and oaks, but any vulnerable leaves were stripped this week. We are past peak.

There is live music at the Rustic Inn Saturday from 5-9pm. That is the only event that I have at the moment.

That is all for me this morning. I am off to get some breakfast and get to work. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Saturday 10-10-20

A couple of quick updates..

There are a couple of events that I missed.

First up is a brat fry and flea market today at the Evergreen Mall in Crivitz just north of the Chevy dealer.

There is also a craft, vendor and horse show in Wausaukee..

Here is a quick pic of some of the aspen and oaks turning color yesterday. It was taken near Boat Landing 10 Rd (Fisher’s Camp) and Parkway Rd.

The day was windy yesterday but not too out of hand for the leaves.

The Asian lady beetles were out in force as were some gnats.

Have a great weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday October 9th, 2020

Greetings and welcome!

Last weekend brought some disappointment for people expecting beautiful leaves. A late week rain and wind storm completely stripped the early maples of their color. Before that  the colors were spectacular. It seems to happen every October. The early colors get really prime and a wind and rain storm strips them. One tree in my front yard (maybe an ash) went from just coming into full color to completely bare in one day.

The next wave of color is here. A lot of the aspen is turning yellow and a lot of other species are getting in on the act. there were some great fall color pix on FaceBook this morning. Annnnddd.. Yup you guessed it. We are not expecting a rain storm but we are expecting 15-20mph winds gusting to 33 today. This color show will hopefully be more durable in the wind because it is just coming into color, but I make no promises.

We do have a nice weekend ahead. Today we could hit 75, and Saturday and Sunday look to be about 60. The NWS has the next chance for rain Sunday night and Monday.

Normally this would be the weekend of the Crooked Lake Octoberfest. That has been canceled.

I do have one event for the weekend. The Near North Riders snowmobile/ATV club is having a brat fry at the Firelane Bar Saturday from 11-4. They will also be raffling off some meat and other prizes.

I did not see any other events for this weekend. That is unusual, but 2020 has been an unusual year.

Someone suggested that a trip to the Mountain fire tower would be a good weekend activity. I have been there at peak fall color and it is an amazing view. From what I have heard it is open.

There were a lot of bar and restaurant closures due to a recent surge in covid cases in the area. Most of those have re-opened.

That is about it for today. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Thursday 9-24-2020

Greetings and welcome!

We have a lot to talk about today.

First up is fall colors. The maples and other early species north of Crivitz are at about what I would consider peak color. It is really a spectacular display.

Other species will follow with some color, but in my opinion the best of the show is the early maples. That show is here.

It seems like on sunny days the colors don’t stand out quite as much as they do on cloudy or rainy days. This weekend looks like rain on Saturday night, which hopefully means some clouds and prime viewing conditions.

Item two is the Thursday flea markets/farmer’s markets. The ones that went on in downtown Crivitz ended after Labor Day. Now some nice folks are trying to keep it going. They are using the old Peshtigo River Inn, the huge former motel south of town at 141 and Airport Rd. If the weather is nice they will be outside. If not they will go inside where there is plenty of room for social distancing.

This weekend is the big Crivitz harvest festival. They will be doing that outside rain or shine. Here is a poster with details.

Covid fear has come to the Twin Bridge and Silver Cliff area again. The word on the street is that there is an outbreak in the area. At that point a lot of bars and restaurants are closing for cleaning and out of an abundance of caution. The list of closings so far include; Woody’s Bar, Newton Lake Inn, Bobby Jo’s Roadside Saloon ( the old Curve Inn), and Firelane. Sportsman’s Cafe and Jungle Jim’s have returned to carry out food only. I know that I am missing a couple of closures, but that is the list off of the top of my head.

This week’s weather has been very nice with pleasant days and high temps near 80. We are ok on that through the weekend with temps around 70. The middle of next week will bring a very different outlook. Upper air temperatures will be cold enough to bring snow, and next Wednesday could bring high temperatures ‘near 50’. Looking at the GFS forecast model we are probably in for a week or so of that cooler weather before things start getting back to more seasonal temperatures.

Last year winter came in mid-October and didn’t go away until May. It caught me and a lot of other people off guard. Hopefully we can wait a little longer this year. As always I am way behind in my pre-winter work and my regular work world is off the rails busy. I am getting more than a little concerned., especially since we have lost almost 6 hours of daylight.

Kosir’s rafting is getting a new building this fall. Here is a picture of them tearing down the old office yesterday. The huge snow load partially collapsed the roof last winter and they need to rebuild before the snow comes again.

They will be rafting this weekend though. The water on the Peshtigo River is still way above normal ( about a +6”) and the river is on the rise from last night’s rain. Some areas near the watershed saw as much as 2-3” of rain last night, so the river is a sure thing for this weekend. With the fall colors popping at near peak it would be a great weekend to hit the river.

I think that is about it for my list this morning. If I need to I will update bar closings and any other events that I find.

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB