Athelstane Fireman’s Picnic & Parade is Today 7-9-2022
I’m not sure how I missed this but the Athelstane Fireman’s Picnic & Parade is today.
There is also a brat fry at Lakewood Motorsports that benefits local fire & EMS.
RJB
Friday 7-8-2022
Greetings and welcome!
It has been a while since I updated . I took a little time off and got married. It was a very small affair with only a few friends. We are planning an outdoor celebration later in the summer that will be quite a bit larger and more public.
We have a beautiful weekend coming up. Today we are looking at 76 and sunny, Saturday 78 and sunny, and Sunday 83 with increasing clouds. The next rain chance is for Sunday late afternoon and Sunday night. The only caution that I have here is be aware that with clear skies once the sun goes down temps can drop into the mid-40s (tonight) or mid 50s (Saturday night) so bring a sweatshirt or jacket along. I guess that there are two cautions.. I don’t trust a weather forecast that I like this much.
The 4th of July weekend was busy around here, but much quieter than normal. I guess that $5 gas will keep a lot of people home. If all of your disposable income will go into the gas tank why go?
My gun shy/thunder shy border collie was happy about it though. Instead of having 4 days of firecrackers and bottle rockets terrifying her there were only the professional shows in Crivitz, Wausaukee, and at the Twin Bridge Ski Team and one neighbor’s show on Sunday night. For the most part it was pretty quiet, and she/we were happy about that. I personally love fireworks and how I ended up with a dog that is terrified of them is another day’s story.
We are a little behind on rain right now so fire danger is on the high side. It was for the 4th weekend too but I am not aware of any wildfires. The good news is that the lawn is starting to go dormant.
Gas prices are coming down. I paid 4.69 locally yesterday and today they were $4.49 in Crivitz. When I went to Marinette a few days ago I saw prices as low as $4.27. It is a start. Now if they only come down $2 more we could have some spending money left when we go on vacation.
I do have one event for this weekend.. An ATV ride with the Ranger City Riders. The ride starts tomorrow at 10am at their clubhouse and ends at Sociables Bar just east of Athelstane.
That’s it for me. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB
Thursday 6-23-2022
Greetings and welcome!
The storm damage remains a hot topic in the area. The NWS has identified three additional tornadoes that hit Marinette Co on the 15th, now including Pembine, Amberg, and Middle Inlet.
The tornadoes seem to be getting all of the fame here. What is being missed is that there were also dozens (if not hundreds) of areas that got leveled by straight line winds. They don’t get the fame but the damage is widespread and very real to the people affected. People riding ATV trails will see some of those areas as well as long stretches of trail blocked or closed.
There has been a fundraiser set up for the Silver Cliff VFD that got totaled in the tornado. That is wonderful. At the same time there are a lot of regular folks that could use some help too. A good example of this is the Lexow family, who’s house and business was right next door to the Silver Cliff Fire & Rescue building. Their home and shop suffered extensive damage, along with 40 acres of woods. Some damage was insured, much of it wasn’t. The Lexows have been in Silver Cliff as long as I have and they have been active in the town’s fire and rescue departments and other town activities. They are good people and they could use some help. They have a fundraiser set up at https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-lexow-family.
Special thanks goes out to the hundreds of volunteers that came with saws and trucks and heavy equipment and crews to clean up the damage around the town roads, park, recycling center, and municipal buildings. Some people donated food, water, gas, money and labor. I am very thankful for those that stepped up and very proud of my town right now.
Earlier this week we were again in the 90s with high humidity. I think that we hit at least 96 or 97 both days. I asked the Mrs if she know why we had tornadoes the week before when it was in the 90s and not this week. The answer was that the warm air went all of the way up into the atmosphere this week. Last week there was cold air overrunning the hot moist air. That warm air wanted to be on top and the cold air wanted to be on the bottom and they violently changed places.
I hated physics in college but the physics behind what we saw on 6-15 is mind boggling. An extremely oversimplified example is that a 3’x3’x3′ cube of air can have over 2,212 foot pounds of lift at a CAPE 3000. A little over 2 pounds of air has over a ton of force lifting it up. As all of that air rises violently the cold air on top of the storm pours off of the sides of the storm and rushes to the ground at 100+mph and causes straight line winds. (Again really oversimplified) The forces involved are just mind boggling.
There is a chance of rain from Friday night through Saturday night with the best chance coming Saturday afternoon and evening. Sunday looks nice. As reliable as the weather forecast has been lately, there is an 80% chance of that changing.
I am going to be a busy boy next week so I am going to put 4th of July events out ahead of time.
Crooked Lake Sportsman’s Club Annual Picnic
Date: July 2, 2022
Time: 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Link
Mountain Fire Department Independence Day Celebration
Date: July 2, 2022
Link
Townsend Annual 4th of July Celebration & Fireworks
Date: July 4, 2022
Link
Gillett 4th of July Celebration
Date: July 3, 2022 – July 4, 2022
Link
Crivitz
Wausaukee
This Weekend
That is it from here. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB
6-16-22 Storm Follow Up
Greetings and welcome!
The storm was a really bad one for the Town of Silver Cliff. The news came out late afternoon that the NWS has confirmed that it was indeed a tornado that hit the area of the Silver Cliff Fire & Rescue building.
The most serious damage was from about Lexow’s and east to Hwy I (Parkway north). Van Ark’s got hit bad, as did the fire dept building, the house next door, and all of the town buildings. The new town shop was leveled and the stuff inside damaged, and the roof is missing from the salt shed. The tornado continued north along Hwy I and took out a bunch of trees and hit several houses in the area. The news report said that it was 3-5 million in damages.
https://www.wbay.com/2022/06/17/silver-cliff-damage-estimated-3-million-5-million/
In typical Silver Cliff fashion people turned out in force to help clear debris. That work will continue for a while.
The Sheriff’s Dept asked that people not on work crews avoid the area. There were plenty of videos on FaceBook where people rode through the damage area. I listed a couple below.
There was another damage path a couple of miles east of the tornado along Fox Lake Rd. Several residents were trapped at home by an estimated 100 trees fallen across their road. They put the word out of FaceBook and people showed up to help in short order. I also heard about a damage path near Firelane Rd, and another near Tower Rd, but that is unconfirmed.
There was more storm damage in Athelstane, Crivitz, Wausaukee, and Middle Inlet. According to reports areas west of the Peshtigo River and south of Caldron Falls escaped major damage, but may see the occasional tree down..
The damage from the storm was very sporadic. A lot of areas scattered around saw significant damage, while many nearby areas did not. It is hard to pin down.
Right now your best resource for damage reports will be your neighbors. There were a lot of people putting damage reports on the FaceBook groups Crivitz Area Talk and on Silver Cliff Links of Interest.
I was at the GF’s house near Fisher’s Camp when the storm hit. It was bad enough that I got her and the dog out into our shelter (a very well built Quonset hut). It was a bad storm here, but the real bad stuff was 3.5 miles away by the Silver Cliff VFD.
She asked if this was the first tornado that I knew of in Silver Cliff. It was not. After hitting Riverview the Bear Paw/Riverview tornado made its way this way. It split in a Y shape and one branch of it went and hit the Thunder Mountain Ranch. There was devastation with huge trees taken out down by Caldron Falls and Ranch Road.
The northern branch of that jumped Crandall Lake 1/4 mile behind my house, and came down and took a bunch of tree tops at Rapids Resort and along the river. I know, I was there watching it.
Prior to its arrival I was outside at my house getting ready for it. I moved the cars to opposite ends of the property in hopes that at least one would be spared. I then got the generator set up and into the car. I could hear the approaching roar and could hear the carnage as the tornado took down steel sided buildings. If I ever hear that sound again it will be too soon.
At the last minute I got the GF into the car and evacuated to Rapids Resort where they have a basement. That is where I watched it come and hit a bunch of trees by the river before dissipating. At best it was an EF-0. By then it was pretty played out.
This was not the first tornado in Silver Cliff, but it was by far the worst.
If you want to pitch in go over to the FB Silver Cliff Links Of Interest group and see who needs help. You can also go to the Town Hall and sign up. There is plenty of cleanup to do and someone can use your talents.
It was a bad day in Silver Cliff and one that we won’t soon forget. We also need to remember how our community stepped up and showed up with chainsaws and heavy equipment to clear the damage and help people. We should be very proud of that.
RJB
Here are some links to videos that people took..
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1420166518312397/user/40601837/
The NWS page listing it as a confirmed tornado- https://www.weather.gov/grb/061522_severe_event
They have not updated with the EF rating or damage path details but they will when they catch up.