Greetings and welcome!
I had a brutal week for time demands, car problems, and other challenges. Today I am not dealing with any of it until I catch up here.
First up Marinette County ATV trails will NOT be open this weekend again. The official opening date is Friday May 17th. Oconto County remains closed as well, but they have not announced an opening date. People are urged to stay off of the trails while they dry out. People that violate will likely be called in by people who would love to ride but are honoring the closure. Just stick it out. It is only a week away.
Item two is the Wednesday-Thursday rain storm. Golly that was a good one. It started here about 3pm Wednesday and got really heavy overnight. There were quite a few times that I could hear it pounding on the roof over the TV and heater.
There was a big storm to our west. We were in the river of really heavy moisture feeding it from the Gulf of Mexico. The radar showing the river of rain was dark green, yellow, and orange most of the night.
Driving to work at 5am Thursday morning was a challenge. It was a pounding downpour. Even with Rain-X and good wipers I had very little visibility.
We should be glad that it was rain. The western UP and far northwestern WI got snow.
The USGS gauge by Kosir’s put the storm at about 2” of rain. I would say that is close but maybe a little understated. Rivers, ditches, swamps, and low areas are all totally flooded again like they were when the snow melt hit its peak.
Naturally whitewater rafting will be exceptional this weekend. Typically we would expect the Peshtigo River to be at +6 or +8 inches above zero today (zero being the river’s typical summer flow). It is at about a +26” right now and clearly on the rise.
As far as volume of water our mean flow for today over the past 20 years is 601cfs. Today we broke the 20 year record of 1,530cfs by 50cfs for a morning flow of 1,580.
Bottom line, that is some REALLY exciting whitewater. Call Kosir’s at 715-757-3431 or go to Kosirs.com and book your trip on line.
As far as spring getting here, it seems a little late but we are greening up. I am seeing new plants and trees getting in on the act every day. We are not at time to cut the grass yet, but it is coming in a week or two. Right now it is a good time to clean up the stuff that was hidden by last year’s tall grass or ferns. It will again soon be buried.
I have not been pestered by the insect world yet, but that day is right around the corner. Some people are reporting their first tick encounters of the year.
Monday night we had a really nice sunset. I managed to grab a couple of pictures to share.
Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB