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