NorthernDestinations.com

Wednesday May 1st, 2019

Greetings and welcome!

Hooray hooray the first of May…

We have a very soggy morning in Silver Cliff this Wednesday morning. We had a rain storm overnight that brought heavy rain. Looking out of the window I would estimate it to be easily between ¾ and 1” of rainfall. I wasn’t expecting quite that much. I hope that my car window was closed..

Anyway.. my various rain gauges that I consult are showing between ½ and 3/4”. My puddles and erosion disagree.

The rain did hit the Peshtigo River watershed in a big way, and it is perfectly timed for the weekend. Weekend whitewater paddlers and rafters will have some great water to play in this weekend. The river is running at a delightful +22” this morning, and this rain should take it into the upper 20s for Saturday morning. Whitewater rafting will be excellent this weekend.

Peshfest (4th annual..) was a smash hit. There were tons of people and Kosirs/Rapids Resort was a whitewater central last weekend. The river was huge and a lot of people came and had a great time. Everyone is looking forward to #5. Thank you to all of the people that made it so fun.

Normally at this time of year I start talking about fire danger. The dead vegetation from last year dries out and becomes tinder for wildfires. Added to the spring breeze that is frequently here and a nice sunny low humidity day and fires can get out of hand quickly.

We have dodged that bullet this year. There was a lot of moisture from so much snow, and now we have soaking rains and high humidity. The grass is starting to green up, so we just might have a very uneventful spring wildfire season.

The Marinette Co ATV trails remain closed. It can happen when they open back up the first weekend in May, but according to my sources it isn’t happening this year. There is no set date for the ATV trails to re-open. It all depends on how the ground progresses in drying out. We will need to wait at least another week.

They close the ATV trails when the snowmobile trails close in March or April. The ground gets really soft while the frost comes out of the ground. Even a couple of riders can do a lot of damage, so they close the trails while the ground firms up. While there was not a really deep frost this year we had a tremendous amount of snow to melt. Look at that in the context of some of the deep forests up by Hwy 8. I was still seeing a little snow last week in really sheltered spots around here. Farther north they likely still have a little drying out to do.

You can ignore the trail closures, but be ready for some fat fines and no shortage of people that will pounce on you or call you in. They want to ride too, and don’t want to see trails lost because of some inconsiderate riders doing damage. Don’t do it.

The opening of game fishing comes this weekend. Bass is catch and release until the third Saturday in June, but most other species open Saturday morning. The lakes that I have seen were open and ice free last week already, so that should not be an issue this year. Trout fishermen might not like the high water in the rivers, but otherwise we are headed for a good start on the fishing season.

One season that hasn’t started yet at my house is the bug season. Usually by now we have at least one pest showing up. So far this year there has been nothing. No gnats, mosquitoes, or ticks at all. I am a little surprised by that, and I expect that season to start any day now.

We have had a wet and colder than normal week. Yesterday we only got into the mid-40s for high temperatures. Our normal high temperature is close to 60 degrees. The weekend will finally bring some improvement on that. The TV says that we could see 60 and sunny Friday and 67 and sunny Saturday. Sunday brings a chance of morning showers and a high of about 60. I am ready for some of those 60s and 70s.

That wet and soggy weather has snubbed my plans for spring cleanup around the yard. It would be ideal for burning brush and leaves, but it has been too soggy to get that stuff gathered or to run the tractor and wagon to gather it all up. Hopefully that will turn around next week.

I am off to work. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday 4-26-19

Greetings and welcome!

A very quick update this morning.

River levels- The Pesh is still crankin’ but it has dropped a couple of inches since Wednesday. It is in the low 30s. My wild guess of +24 to +30 for Saturday was a good one. If you get a chance check out the Menominee River. That has been running between 12 and 15 thousand through the gorge.

PeshFest- I forgot to mention that the band lineup changed slightly, but there are still two bands tonight and the same music shown on the poster Saturday night. I asked Todd what is for dinner Saturday night. He said that he was going to slow smoke some pork shoulders and some chickens. Add in the traditional fixin’s like mashed potatoes, veggies, biscuits, and so on.

Weather- After my update Wednesday the forecast changed. Thankfully it changed back. At one point they were showing snow all of the way to the U.P. border. Now the snow will not be anywhere near us, it will be all well south of Green Bay. The TV just showed a winter storm watch for IL/WI border counties. This morning they showed northern IL getting as much as 5″ or more.

Here in Silver Cliff we are expecting increasing clouds and mid-40s for Saturday and sunny & 52 Sunday.

There is a snow storm showing up for Northern WI for Monday tho.. that one could be 3-6.

Have a great weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Wednesday 4-24-19

Greetings and welcome!
We have a lot to talk about today.

First up is the big paddler’s festival at Kosir’s this weekend. It starts Friday night with live music. There will be on water races and activities Saturday, followed by a Saturday evening meal, usually something that Todd slow cooked or smoked on the grill. Follow that up with more music Saturday night. The on-water activities continue Sunday at a more casual pace with shuttles to the put in at your own timing. This event has been growing and I’d be surprised if we didn’t see a few hundred paddlers. Here is a poster about it.

That brings us to river levels. The Peshtigo has been breaking daily records all week. The gauge has been there 20 years. Today we are running at 2,450CFS, about a +37″. The record for today was 1,740 back in 2008. It has been like that since the weekend, breaking records daily. It looks like it is starting to come down a little today. My wild guess ( and that is all that it is..) is for the water to be some where in the +24 to +30 range for the weekend.

This is serious water, and just a treat for whitewater rafting and paddling.  This is paradise for hard boaters and huge adrenaline adventure for people that raft. Call Kosir’s and get in on the fun. 715-757-3431.

This week has brought an amazing transformation from winter to spring. The days are getting nicer and the grass went from snow covered to very green in a very short time. I saw my first moth this week. I have not seen the gators (mosquitoes), ticks, or gnats yet but they have to be coming soon. The spring peeper frogs in my pond are really loud now. Vreep.

I have not seen the first leaves yet, but again they are not far off.  Some of the poplars/cottonwoods/birch trees are starting to get their first catkins. They give the tree  kind of hazy look at a distance. The maples should be coming with their little red flowers any day now.

There is a minor detour in Crivitz on Hwy A. They are working on some sort of water project right in front of the Police station. You end up going a block south onto W and following that a couple of blocks and back to A. It is a pretty minor disruption.

The last thing on my list is weekend weather. Friday looks great  with sunny and 56 for a high. Both Friday and Saturday night are headed for a low of 28 according to the NWS.

Saturday gets interesting. There is a big storm shown missing us just to the south. That storm is expected to draw in some cold Canadian air, giving us a high in the low 40s. The forecast animation on the 5pm news tonight showed the north side of the storm actually having  little snow and mixed rain and snow. Much to my delight it also showed the storm staying south of Hwy 64. Thirty or forty miles isn’t much of a margin in the context of a 3 day out forecast, but I’ll take it. The NWS put a 40% chance on us seeing some sort of precip. Keep an eye on the forecast.

Someone asked how the frost-out was coming along. It varies  lot from place to place. The sunny spots in my driveway are firm but wet. I can drive on them making only minor impressions. More sheltered areas are still pretty soft, and low areas are holding a lot of water. We are making good progress. There was not a deep frost thanks to all of the snow, but there is a lot of moisture.

That is news for today. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Friday April 19th, 2019

Greetings and welcome!

-Water water everywhere!

The big thaw is here.

Tuesday after I wrote my update I headed to work in Crivitz. It was a beautiful 65 degree sunny day. On the way home a little before sunset I could not believe how much snow had melted. Entire fields that were white at noon were completely free of snow at 7pm. The snow in the woods got a little patchier too. Creeks and rivers were at bank full stage.

Wednesday wasn’t quite as warm or quite as sunny. Wednesday afternoon and night brought some pretty good rains and even a few rumbles of thunder. The estimated rainfall out of that was about 1.5″. It would not surprise me at all if local rain gauges had more than that. I would guess at 2″.  That took down a lot of snow too.

At that point the creeks and rivers are going over their banks, and the swamps that feed them have a lot of water. There are flood warnings on the Pike River near Amberg, the Peshtigo and Menominee Rivers closer to Marinette, as well as other regional rivers.

Most places aren’t affected at all, but low spots, flood plains and drainage areas have plenty of water. I have been watching Eagle Creek at Hwy C and it is well over its banks.

The Peshtigo River is running at 2,200cfs, about +33 or +34″. I predicted 30 Tuesday. It blew through that running. The slope of the graph suggests that +36″ seems likely.

It is not the highest that it has been on this day, but it is close. Right now it is at 2,170cfs, and the record high (20 yrs history) was 2,310cfs.  By my goesintas that is about 6% below the record for this day. Not bad.. We will see how tomorrow goes. Keep in mind that it is just today’s record. I have seen it go into the low 50s, and the locals tell of it getting even higher.

At any rate it is going to be some epic whitewater this weekend. It is going to be 65 and sunny and the river will be at its prime. Call Kosir’s at 715-757-3431 and get some real big adventure.

Beyond the wet week and high water.. I am glad that the snow is finally gone. I am seeing landmarks in the yard that I haven’t seen in months. I am very much looking forward to getting a head start on spring cleanup. The north side of the house is still holding snow, the rest of the yard is mostly bare. The driveway is firming up nicely except in the usual muddy spots that are deep.

The deer and turkeys are out by the roads a lot now. I have seen quite a few tom turkeys in full display showing off in the past few days. Also out by the road were porcupines and grey squirrels.

One last thought.. Tuesday when I was near Crooked Lake I saw that Boundary Lake was opening up on the edges. That process has started, and the rain will likely speed it up.

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB