Greetings and welcome!
It has been a really crazy week so I only have one update this week.
Saturday was a nice day once the overnight rain cleared out. The whitewater rafting was outstanding and people were loving it.
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday it rained off and on as small cloudbursts were interspersed with blue skies and sun. It was hard to do anything because you would get started and the skies would open up with a heavy downpour.
It was common to see a rainbow in conditions like that and people were seeing a lot of them. Sunday evening I drove by Waubee Lake and saw the most perfect, super bright, lake-wide rainbow. I was in a huge hurry and couldn’t stop to enjoy it, but the quick look was a blessing in itself. Later I saw another rainbow north of Townsend, though not as brilliant.
The rain is expected to continue Thursday and Friday as a small system moves through. At the moment it looks like the heaviest rain will be just south of us, but a 50-100 mile shift in the storm path could mean the difference between 3/4” and 3” of expected rainfall.
Friday looks nice once the rain clears out in the morning. Saturday there is a 30% chance of rain, but the idea now is that it would be an afternoon storm that brews up from the heat of the day, not anything organized. Sunday looks nice.
The storm Thursday will bring in a cold front, meaning a very comfortable weekend with cool temperatures and fairly low humidity. Friday’s high temp is forecast at 74, Saturday and Sunday 68. Look for low temperatures around 50.
It will be another epic weekend on the river for whitewater rafting. Right now the river is still running at spring levels, an amazing +23”. Normally we would be at about a +4 or +6” level this weekend on a good year.
The storm Thursday holds the key to how weekend rafting goes. If it stays south and the river drops enough, people might be able to take 2-4 person rafts and funyaks. If we get even a little more rain we will be back up to the spring rafts with 4-6+ people.
Whatever the case, the abnormally wet year has the whitewater rafting outstanding. The rivers are way above normal and trips are a blast.
I was shooting the breeze with another long time river veteran last weekend. I told him that as full as the watershed is even if it completely stopped raining we would have good water levels the rest of the year, and any rain would spike it. Neither of us had ever seen a year like this. I guess it was a good year to return to doing rafting pictures!
Last weekend I spotted the first monarch butterflies of the year. It took me about 10 minutes to get this picture but it was worth it.
I have not had a chance to gather up events for this weekend. I have been seeing a lot of events for next weekend and I am on that. I did see a flyer that the Bear Point Yacht Club will be doing tube floats down the Menominee River east of Wausaukee every weekend in July.
The 4th of July is on a Tuesday this year, making Saturday the 1st the focus of events. I will gather details, but I know of events in Wausaukee, Crivitz, Crooked Lake, Mountain, and usually Townsend has fireworks too. I have seen a flyer for the Twin Bridge Water Ski Team having a big show and fireworks.
Right now I am just completely overwhelmed with work. That is good because the end of the quarter is here, and the bills are rolling in too. It’s time for me to dive back in. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB