Thursday April 9th, 2015

Greetings and welcome!

We have been having a rainy dreary week this week as a stationary front moved back and forth across the area. We kicked it off early week with at least 4″ of snow here, and close to 6″ up by Amberg. The snow didn’t last long, but the drizzly dreary days lasted all week.

Today we saw much heavier rain. I don’t have my rain bucket out yet, but I’d call it at least an inch.

This winter was close to being an El Nino winter, with conditions in the ENSO region of the Pacific dabbling near the line between neutral and El Nino conditions. That kept our weather coming out of the northwest, with cold weather and played out storms that only brought an inch or three. We never did see a big southern storm that brought a foot or more of snow.

This is the one. This one is a genuine Gulf of Mexico fed southern storm, complete with a secondary low pressure system. The way that the low is tracking it would have easilly been a 12-18″ snow two months ago.

Since we didn’t have much precip over the winter, the wet weather and big rain is actually a good thing. Last week we were heading for some moderate to high fire danger.

It is also a good thing for the whitewater rafting. The ground is still soggy and frozen in places. Not only will this rain hit the river for the weekend, it will make it rise fast and roar. A fast rising river is the funnest for rafting, and that will be the case this weekend.

We have some road construction that a lot of you will want to know about. Hwy 141 is closed (!) just north of Crivitz, The official detour heading north is to take 64 east to Marinette and take 180 north to Wausaukee to rejoin 141. It is the proverbial 50 mile detour.

Personally I would take A to X or C and get back onto 141. Some people are taking Louisa St out of Crivitz to Smith Creek Rd or to Cemetery Rd and up to X. Be aware that either unofficia detour will be closely watched.

They are replacing the Smith Creek Bridge just north of Noquebay Rd and the old Platter Restaurant. It is a big job, so it isn’t a 3 day closure. They are also building passing lanes and probably have other bridges between there and Wausaukee to rebuild this summer, so expect construction between Crivitz and Wausaukee to continue well into the summer.

The ‘Road Bans’ are on, meaning heavy trucks can’t drive on most roads. The ground gets really soft when the frost comes out, and the road gets wrecked with a soft base and heavy trucks.

For the same reason ATV trails are closed. Once the frost comes out and the ground dries up a little the trails and roads will reopen. Look for that about the first weekend in May, but it is weather dependent. If it dries up sooner or later the road bans and trail closures will be ended accordingly.

The big critter sighting lately has been the turkeys. I see them daily along the road on the way to work, and three days last week I saw toms all puffed up and strutting their stuff for the hens. Today they were out in the rain and at it again. It is definitely mating season.

There have been plenty of deer along the roads too. They are out in the clear areas anxiously awaiting for something green to sprout. Roadsides are a favorite at this time of year, so keep an eye on the ditches and treeline.

The rain came at a pretty good rate this afternoon. It let up for a while and now the wave of rain from the second low pressure system is about to bring a wet night. The first wave of the second storm was just pounding on the roof a few minutes ago.  That is expected to bring more rain tonight, followed by a couple of inches of snow.

All of this delightful weather is expected to clear out just in time to leave us a pretty nice weekend. The forecast is for 59 and sunny Saturday and 65 on Sunday. There is a small disturbance expected for Sunday night that could bring some clouds and light rain late in the day.

It was nice taking a break between seasons, but I will be back updating this regularly now. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB