Greetings and welcome!
We are having a rainy misty day today. There is some precip coming out of the north and the radar is showing it starting to come as snow. That doesn’t match up with what is on the ground, but I wouldn’t rule it out. This was a strong storm and there will probably be a little cold air mixing into the back of it.
The series of storm that hit this week devastated the southern United States with severe weather. There were literally hundreds of tornadoes and according to CNN, the death toll is about 250 at the moment.
We were fortunate to have mostly wind and rain out of it. The wind got pretty strong at some point. There is a dead lead that came off of one of my maples and it landed probably 20′ from the tree. There is not a lot of widespread damage or anything like that, it was a dead branch. I am not mad that it landed in the wood yard, its ulitmate destination anyway.
One way that the storm hurt me was with my sinuses. The pressure changes brought excruciating pain Tuesday night, Wednesday wasn’t too bad, and today it is again painful. I have a hunch that the maple pollen being high has something to do with it, the little red flowers are coming out. Looking at my Facebook friends I am not the only one hurting.
The rain from Tuesday added up. Most of the USGS stations in the area are showing about an inch. Usually my rain bucket reads about double what they read. The NWS in Rhinelander reported 1.75 inches, breaking the record held since 1902.
The Peshtigo River did indeed come up. Right now it is at about +17″. I am expecting one more little bump out of it based on what the Wolf did, and it could hit +20 tomorrow. People coming to paddle the whitewater this weekend will have great water, and likely the highest water of the Spring.
People getting a head start on the weekend by coming Friday will be rewarded with high water and a great sunny day in the mid-60s. That is a rare combination. Use your sick days wisely as the old T-shirt goes.
Saturday looks like it will start out ok with temperatures heading for the mid-50s, but there is some wind and a line of rain coming in for later in the day and overnight Saturday night. The storm looks like it will bring 1/4-1/2″ of rain and clear out for Sunday. The NWS has Sunday for partly cloudy and in the upper 40s. Nights might be a little brisk with overnight lows in the mid to upper 30s.
Yesterday we had some excitement when Angela Kelly and Doug Higgins from Fox 11 WLUK in Green Bay came to Kosir’s to go rafting. They were taping a segment for the Get Away May contest where you can call in and win prizes. Those prizes include a family 4 pack for rafting and an overnight stay at Kosir’s and the Rapids Resort.
It was a little brisk yesterday morning when they headed out n the raft trip, but they were troopers and stuck it out in good spirits. The guys from Kosir’s gave them a full featured ride, slamming the side curler at First Drop and just burying the boat not once, but twice. They did great until they tried to surf the bottom wave, at which point our morning anchor team took a swim. After the trip they came back to the Rapids to gather up helmet cam footage and I gave them a disk with pictures from the trip. They were all very nice and it was great to meet them.
Spring is trying to spring, but the weather has been unusually cold this year. This week some of the first leaves started emerging on some of the soft hardwood trees. I am not sure if it is the cottonwood or poplar or what. I noticed it driving by and haven’t looked it up yet. The first couple of mosquitoes were spotted and swatted Monday, but it has only been those few. Apparently they aren’t big on today’s rainy 40 degree day. As I mentioned before the little red flowers on the maples are out too.
Based on our delayed start I expect Spring to come full force in the next few weeks. There should be a lot of fast changes once the weather gets a little nicer.
That is about it for today. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB