Greetings and welcome!
We have been enjoying some slightly above normal temperatures in October. Many days ended up with high temperatures close to 60 or a little above. That will come to an abrupt end next week.
Last night the NWS blew the forecast pretty bad. They had a 10% chance of rain and it rained for much of the night, and not just a little. That put me out of outside work this morning so I get to do an update. The NWS folks have been missing the forecast badly a lot lately. Not sure what is going on there.
Anyway, we have a nice Saturday ahead with high temps getting close to 60, some sun, and for a change, not much wind. Sunday we have a cold front that comes through and drops temperatures to a high near 48.
Next week we are in for reinforcing waves of colder weather. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we are looking at highs around 40 and low temperatures in the low to mid-20s. From what I see on the GFS forecast model, it isn’t going to get any better until about the 9th, when we get a brief warm spell right before what could be our first snow of the year.
That changes my focus on outside work from working on my house exterior to hurrying up and getting exposed plumbing and the camper winterized. The next step after that is jobs that need to be done before the ground starts freezing.
Here is a picture from my Facebook memories from 9 years ago with the frost coating my back field. There was a note that it was 21 that night and 19 the night before.
Here are some fun facts about freezing water pipes..
It is a given that copper pipes shrink when cooled. That is part of the problem. As it shrinks the freezing water inside of the pipe expands as much as 9%. That doesn’t sound like much, but as the Packers announcer would say.. Here is the dagger. Freezing water can expand at a force of 25,000 and 114,000 psi. That is not a typo. 25,000 and 114,000 psi. That is why pipes burst.
The fall color show is mostly long gone. We still have some soft hardwoods with leaves, but right now the oaks are the main player. The tamaracks are starting to change, signalling the beginning of the end of fall colors.
I don’t have kids so I have not followed the Halloween trick or treat times. I believe that both Crivitz and Wausaukee are on Sunday.
That is it for me today. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB