Tuesday 4-11-17
Greetings and welcome!
We had a very nice warm weekend, and then…
Sunday night and Monday brought storms. Monday’s storms brought some pretty good rains when they hit our area. The storms were going down a frontal boundary with waves of rain following each other like train cars. That boundary was about 30 miles to our north, so we missed the heaviest of the rain, but some of the more southern squalls hit our area.The ones that did hit were very intense with heavy rain and hail. Last night the rain changed to ice pellets and then snow, and there was enough snow to make the ground white this morning. There was some thunder too, including at about midnight as it was changing over.
According to the USGS river gauge by Kosir’s, we have seen 1.4 inches of rain since Saturday. The heavier rain to our north wasn’t just the three or four storms that we saw, it was an all day hammering rain storm. Radar returns are showing some areas of the Peshtigo River watershed getting 2.5-3″ of rainfall. My personal observation is that the radar returns significantly underestimate rainfall since the watershed is 100+ miles away from the radar. Between the understated radar and how heavy the rainfall was in the storms, I expect that they got hit pretty hard up by Hwy 8 and points north..
The Peshtigo River has risen significantly already from the local rainfall. The Peshtigo has a long narrow watershed that starts all of the way up by Crandon and Laona and Fence. There is usually a 2-3 day delay before we see rain from the upper watershed hit the Roaring Rapids section that we raft and paddle. The river this morning is running at about 1,1100 CFS, about +18″. Those of you familiar with the Peshtigo River whitewater know that we are looking at a huge fun level right now without any additional water.
Take that already huge fun water level, add 2-3+ inches of rain, and you have a really big river. (But wait.. if you order now..) What I haven’t mentioned yet is that all of that rain fell on saturated ground with the frost coming out of the ground. That spring soggy ground dynamic makes the rain spike river levels even more dramatically because none of the water soaks into the ground.
With only the unreliable radar returns to go on it is hard to estimate how high the river will go, but I would not be surprised to see it go into the 30″+ range for this coming weekend. The soggy ground is there, the heavy rain is there, and it is already flowing at very exciting levels. It will be a good weekend for high adrenaline white water this weekend. Call Kosir’s now and book your flight.
We had some excitement over the weekend when a couple allegedly broke into Country Convenience on Hwy X over the weekend. They supposedly shot at sheriff’s deputies while trying to get away, and fled on foot after crashing their truck.
They were on the run for two days, and according to reports, broke into a cabin and stole an ATV. They were captured near the Wausaukee Club. The TV said that they had at least 12 different agencies hunting for them as well as a DNR plane and Coast Guard helicopter.
I have my own little criminal to deal with here at the house. I have a mouse that I have named Houdini. For almost a week now he has raided and evaded my regular trap and poison line. He goes up onto the kitchen counter, eats anything left there, and leaves droppings.
Sunday night he licked a T-Rex trap clean of peanut butter with no ill effects, and left 10 turds as a thank you. I figured the trap was bad but it snapped shut as soon as I touched it. Last night I had the exact same result using a totally different trap and a different location. He can lick a fully functional mouse trap clean and not set it off.
Trapping mice is nothing new here. I usually get them as fast as they come in. Getting into the kitchen and up on the counter is totally unacceptable. That is it. This is war. DEFCON 1. I am heading to town today for sticky traps and birdseed, and maybe rent a couple of hungry cats.
——–
Later this month Kosir’s is having their 2nd Annual Peshtigo River Festival on April 29th. I will have a poster soon. In the meantime know that there will be river activities, good food and live music, and much more. Last year the food was amazing and people had a great time.
I will be there selling my flashlights and lanterns, and I have big plans. I have been shopping bargains, and will have $5 and $10 LED flashlights in addition to my regular fare at Pesh Fest only pricing.
Someday I will finish the Work-Sport-Adventure website. I took a couple of passes at it this weekend, and just didn’t get the effect that I wanted. Self employment has found me very busy. This week I have three web sites and my taxes to tackle, but I really need to get this done. There is a saying in Wausaukee.. The cobbler’s kid always goes barefoot.
Well I have to get back to work. I will see if I can’t take a little break time to explore outside and the progress of spring and update later in the week.
Have a good week and thank you for visiting!
RJB
