Tuesday April 16th, 2019

Greetings and welcome!

We did not get any extra snow after my last update. What we did get was some rain on top of the snow. We peaked at about a foot, and it was down to about 8″ by the time that it stopped raining.

The snow that was left behind was incredibly dense and a real pain to move or drive through. The snowblower would ride up over the packed snow so a second pass was required. A lot of places did not plow because the ground under the snow was so soft and the snow was so heavy. Normally in mid-April it would be gone in a day or two. Not this cement snow.

It took a couple of days to melt most of it. Some is still there where it was piled or the sun couldn’t hit it. My driveway got plowed and snowblowed and is back to soft ground. The snow piles remain. Sheltered areas have a very different story, most of the snow is still there.

One thing that the snow did do for us is slow the spring melt runoff. The Peshtigo River dropped about 6″ and has not come back up yet. It is running at about +20″, a great level for whitewater. The smaller creeks and rivers saw the same effect, going from over the banks to just close to it. That is all going to change.

There is a storm for Wednesday afternoon into Thursday that is expected to bring showers and thunderstorms. We could see 1-2″ of rainfall. The rain/snow line on this one is way up in Canada, so hopefully it does not clobber us with another big snow storm.

That rain combined with some upper 50s Friday and mid-60s for the weekend should put the melting process up to go into high gear. I expect the whitewater rafting this weekend to be exceptional, and I would be very surprised if Saturday morning rafters were paddling in 30″ or less for river levels.

The Peshtigo River has certain water levels where it changes dramatically. One of those levels that I have noticed over the years is +28. At +28 the rapids change a lot and the river just goes huge. If you ever have run the river over +28 you know what I am talking about. It is the kind of whitewater that made the Peshtigo world famous. Anything over about 300cfs is really fun. This isn’t like that. This is big eyes full throttle adrenaline buzz grin for two days after kind of fun. I have pictures of 16 foot rafts with a dozen people just disappearing in the rapids at these levels. Take off of work, stand up your mother in law, whatever it takes.. get to Kosir’s this Saturday.

This weekend is Easter. The following weekend the 27th and 28th, is PeshFest at Kosirs. That is a big whitewater weekend where hundreds of boaters get together and eat good, drink, take in live music, and have races and activities on the river. The river will be in its prime for this year’s festival. There are places with 2′ of snow still in the woods and the melting will be in overdrive next week. There will be awesome water levels-guaranteed.

As far as getting into weekend places, conditions vary a lot. My driveway has firm but muddy spots and sheltered spots that are still soft from frost coming out of the ground. Not everyone has it that good. Some places still have a lot of snow, or a lot of snow on top of mud and standing water.

As far as ATV trails opening back up, it is going to be a while. As mentioned above there are sheltered places that still hold a couple of feet of snow, and it isn’t fast melting puffy stuff. The good news is that there isn’t much frost in the ground under the snow, so once it melts the ground will dry out pretty fast.

The lakes are still holding ice, but I don’t see it lasting into May. There is a good chance that they will be clear by the opening of fishing season.

In the world of critters I have seen a lot of turkeys and deer out by the roadsides, and especially sunny southern exposure hillsides. Watch it when you are driving. They both blend in with the grass.

The robins came back last week and promptly got snowed on. Several people reported big flocks of the around the trees where they could get some food. Finding worms under 8″ of cement snow was not going well for the couple that I saw around the house.

Time to make the donuts. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Thursday April 11, 2019-Storm Watch-Updated 10PM

Storm Watch

Greetings and welcome!

10pm

There is a lot of snow out there. My guess is that there is 10-12″ down, and it is heavy stuff.

My four tape measures elude me at the moment so I have to guess at the snow depth. The TV was on board with my 10-12″ guess. It said that High Fall Reservoir had 10″ and Townsend had 12″.

The snow was made heavy by occasional drizzle and light rain mixing in over the course of the day. My snowblower and plow truck will be working hard tomorrow.

There is something to be said for taking the snow away in several passes in big storms. I declined to do that today. The thinking was that the rain behind the snow would be a lot easier to deal with as really heavy snow than ice on a plowed road. I am not sure if that was a good call or not. My equipment will be well challenged by a foot of wet heavy snow with rain in it.

The storm is still grinding away to our southwest. We are in a dry slot at the moment, but there are more plumes of moisture heading this way. I do expect more rain and snow overnight.

Here are some pictures from 10pm. Note the arrow. I had to kick away snow from the bottom of the car door to get it open. Some was drifting, but the snow was pretty deep.

I will follow up again tomorrow.

BTW.. the whitewater rafting on the Peshtigo will be amazing this weekend. The river went up to +30″ today. That is really big.

RJB

1:30pm

We are under a winter weather advisory here in Silver Cliff. A few miles to the west Forest Co is under a winter storm warning.

This storm has been a strange one. The radar showed that it started snowing in our area about midnight last night. We must have had some dry air over us because the snow just wasn’t getting here. The radar showed it moving our way and getting close but it would evaporate right over us and leave us clear of the snow on radar.

Once the snow on the radar did get over our area it still didn’t snow. It showed it snowing over us for much of the night. Imagine my surprise when I looked out of the window at sunrise and there was not a speck of snow, rain, or anything.

Well all of that went away at 7am. The snow started and it has been pretty vigorous since then. I went outside and measured about 6″ down as of 1pm, and it is snowing pretty good.

We are in the 5-8″ band for snowfall, and the TV says that we could see 1/4-1/2″ of ice accumulation from freezing rain late today into tonight. The good news in all of that is that the prediction has dropped for the 1/2″ to the 1/4″ of ice as the day has progressed.

There is a major plume of moisture heading this way on the radar. Will it be rain, freezing rain, or a whole bunch more snow? I will find out in a couple of hours.

This storm kind of spared us by moving north a couple of states west of here instead of over us. Out in MN and South Dakota this is a major major blizzard and a real disaster. What we have is bad enough, but it could have been a LOT worse.

Speaking of heavy snow, I took a road trip west and north of here yesterday. In my 60 mile round trip I counted 11 buildings either crushed completely or had the roofs caved in. There were a couple of garden sheds, and old shacks, but some were garages and big pole barns. It was a bad winter for a lot of people.

Anyway.. I will be back later with a storm update. Have a good Thursday and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Tuesday 4-9-19

Greetings and welcome!

It is a soggy day in Silver Cliff today.

Saturday it rained a lot. I don’t have my bucket out yet so I have to guess, but I’d put it easily in the 0.5-1″ range. Saturday evening I headed out of Crivitz at about sunset. It was misty and a little foggy in Crivitz. As I headed north the fog got thicker as the increasing snow depth and the rain caused a lot more of it. Once I got up to Hwy C and started heading west it got really thick, and was down to maybe 50-100 yard visibility.

It rained again Sunday and pretty much repeated the process.

Monday was a beautiful sunny 60 degree day. In the afternoon some showers and thunderstorms moved in and we were back into the fog. Right at sunset the visibility was maybe 200′ west of the river.

On the Big Snow Page I have a saying.. fog is a snow thief. The 100% humidity allows for some very effective heat transfer and it can melt a lot of snow on a warm day.

While my yard and most of my driveway is clear, the north side of the house where the sun doesn’t hit has knee deep snow or more. That also applies to very sheltered areas and the deep woods. That is where we are seeing our fog get the heaviest.

All of this rain and melting has areas creeks and rivers overflowing their banks. Eagle Creek at the Hwy C bridge is out of its banks as are creeks and rivers going east. It is much less dramatic as you head south.

The Peshtigo River is running high too. When I just checked it was at about +20″ and definitely on the rise. They opened the spring whitewater rafting season at Kosir’s last weekend and people were met with good water levels. This weekend will be outstanding. Looking at the gauge by Kosir’s and the slope of the USGS graph we will easily blow through the 24″ mark today with it continuing to rise. The water levels this weekend will bring the kind of water that makes the Peshtigo River world famous. Call Kosir’s today. 715-757-3431 or Kosirs.com.

Getting into driveways varies from driving right down soggy gravel to axle deep mud with water standing on it. It all depends on how high it is and how much sun it gets. Low spots are holding a lot of water and the ground is soggy and soft. Water squishes up around my shoes walking in the bare areas of the yard.

Critter sightings are up. The deer and turkeys are out by the roads. I have seen eagles and the first sandhill cranes this week, along with chippies and squirrels. Some of the migratory birds are back too.

The trap line produced a couple of mice this week both in the camper and the house. I would think that with the nicer weather the mice would be heading outside instead of invading, but no. Maybe they don’t want to get their little feet wet. I don’t know. I use the plastic T-Rex traps with dry roasted sunflower seeds, and I put a few seeds around the trap. It is an unstoppable combination that usually gets them the first night.

We have some big weather coming up for late week. Wednesday night into Thursday morning the snow is expected to start. It is a strong storm with lots of moisture and a lot of cold air on the north side. Thursday will likely bring heavy snow and some rain or mix, followed by a little snow going into Friday. Model guidance has been on the high side with some predicting 10-14″. On the low side I saw 4-6 or 4-8″. Friday night is expected to go below freezing (25F) and harden it up a little.

It is common for the forecast to be a lot worse than the weather, and sometimes early models get a little sensational about precip amounts. Stay tuned on this one. It might moderate a little for totals, but it is a big storm that will probably get messy. Unless it takes a sudden right turn tomorrow we will see heavy snow, strong winds, rain, freezing rain and the whole spring storm buffet.

Normally I would start talking about fire danger about this time of year. I don’t think that is going to be a problem this week or weekend.

Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Wednesday April 3, 2019

Greetings and welcome!

We have a frosty morning outside today. We had some rain after sunset last night, followed by a little chunky snow.

The ground and the driveway are frozen again after a couple of cold nights. For a while I was walking in and out or taking a car that could handle the mud. The past two days have brought a firm driveway.

The spring thaw was progressing very nicely until our recent cold spell. Some sunny spots had finished with the frost-out and were firming up. Sheltered areas where the sun does not reach still hold snow. That ranges from patchy snow in thin woods up to a foot or more of remaining snow in deeply sheltered areas.

The lakes that I have seen in my recent travels still hold ice, though it isn’t very good ice. The Peshtigo River opened up at the bridge by Kosir’s late last week. I am not sure if it is open all of the way up the rapids section, but it is open by the bridge. I have not checked the levels but it looks fairly high, probably +12 or more. That isn’t bad considering that we have had no rain for a while and the gradual nature of our thaw. Kosir’s starts their spring whitewater rafting season this Saturday. People should have a good day with temps in the low 60s and good water levels.

The road bans are on most town and county roads. Those spring weight limits stop big trucks from using the roads while the base under them is soft from the frost coming out of them. Loggers, excavators, cement companies, heavy equipment operators and others with big trucks will have to take a break for a few weeks.

The ATV trails are closed for a while too. Usually they open back up in early May, but that is totally dependent on how the weather goes. I think that we might be on time this year with the limited frost in the ground, but we have a lot of snow to melt in the deep woods.

In events the Town of Stephenson VFD chicken dinner with a band and free beer is this Saturday at The Woods. It is a good deal and a good time for a good cause. Sunday is the Iron Snowshoe Banquet.

Yesterday we had an election. According to WBAY  our new town supervisors are Riana Ventura Bishop and Sue Victoreen, and Bruce Weber is our town board chairman. Other local races are listed at https://www.wbay.com/elections?configID=1498.

That is about all that comes to mind right now. Time to make the donuts. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB