Greetings and welcome!
We have a cloudy day in the mid-50s unfolding outside today. It is still a little damp out there from last night’s thunderstorms, but I have plans to go out and do some yard work anyway.
The thunderstorms last night were a hearty little line of storms. It wasn’t big in size, but it was slow moving and fairly intense. We had a good light show, the usual fitful downpours, and there must have been some wind too, the ground is covered with the little red maple flowers this morning.
The storm was strong here, showing up on the radar with a band of yellow, orange and a splash of red. As it moved east it slowed down and the red area got bigger. Points east and south of 141 and Wausaukee probably saw a pretty good storm, but there were no reports of damage on the AM news.
The forecast ahead is as easy as it is hard. We can start out with cloudy and a chance of showers and be safe through Saturday. We can add a chance of thunderstorms and be safe until Friday night. We are looking at high temperatures around 70 Wednesday through Friday too.
The challenging part is the timing. It isn’t going to rain all day or every day, but the chance is there to varying degrees daily.
The scenario that we have is a slow moving trough of low pressure in the central US that will be pushing warm moist air up out of the Gulf of Mexico and off of the Atlantic. That heat and moisture will prime the atmosphere, and any disturbances that come along will have fuel to turn into a storm. Timing those disturbances with any degree of certainty is difficult at best.
It has been my observation over the years that frequently about May 10th we see a low pressure area that gets cut off and it sits over us and rains off and on for a week or so. The slow steady rain fuels the greening of the land and good water for fishermen and the whitewater folks.
We missed out on it last year, but this year it is here, and it looks like it will have decent moisture support. It is hard to say if we will see one inch of rain or six until we see it shaping up. Right now it looks like Wednesday and Thursday will be the focal point for some of the heavier rains, though there is more possible for late week.
The weekend forecast is a guess. Personally I think that it will clear up and leave us with a decent Saturday and a nice Sunday. Some models agree, the GFS is showing a good Saturday and one last wave of storms Sunday. A straight answer for 5 days out in this scenario is a little like nailing Jello to the wall.
Spring has been a little slow to unfold thanks to the colder than normal weather from the LaNina. The grass is greening up and there are new buds emerging on trees and underbrush everywhere. We are still on the ‘before’ picture as far as the green explosion, but there are a lot of signs.
I haven’t had my first mosquito yet, but others have seen them. I did get a wood tick the other night courtesy of my cat. She brings ’em in and then they head for me when her fur is too thick. Considering the amount of time that I spend outside, I am surprised. I am expecting a few today when I go clean up outside.
Last weekend was great around Kosir’s Whitewater Rafting. We had a lot of fun people and the river was issuing lessons to those that let it. It was at a level that was good for either rafts or the one man funyaks and a lot of people had a lot of fun. We even had a marriage proposal on the river! I have a gallery of pictures on the Kosir’s Facebook page.
This weekend a lot of stuff changes around Kosir’s. First of all the price of a Peshtigo River trip drops from $45 to $25 since it is considered summer rafting. The wetsuit isn’t included and several other things change with the trips.
The rafting on the Menominee River starts this weekend too. They used to not raft it until Memorial Day because often the water was way too high. This year it has finished it’s big Spring peak and is back to levels that can be rafted. It is still higher than normal, and will be a good ride for the people that get in on it this weekend.
With the ground firming up construction has started on Parkway Rd (Hwy I) north of Hwy C. Right now they are clearing the ground next to the road and dealing with moving utilities. Eventually they will probably begin the road work. From what I can tell the first phase of it goes as far as Wolfe Ln.
There were not many 4 wheelers around last weekend considering that it was opening day on the trails. It was also the opening of fishing, Mother’s Day weekend, and very nice weather. Last on that list I’d blame the $4+ gas prices.
Prices last weekend were at $4.17 for regular, but yesterday it was down to $4.04. Don’t expect it to last.
Last week an unemployment report came out that showed terrible numbers, supposedly the worst in 3 years. The price of gas on the NYMEX fell from it’s peak of $3.43 May 1, to a low of $3 May 5th. The speculators have been running it back up and it is up to $3.34. When the price fell 43 cents it went down 17 cents at the pump 3 days later. Watch it go back up the full 34 cents from the past few days at the pump.
BTW, when I talk about the NYMEX price, you will want to add a spread of 65-75 cents to cover transportation, taxes and retailing to get the pump price.
I have a tale of two gas pumps to tell. Until I can save up enough money to get a high MPG beater car, I am stuck with my 4×4 Chevy truck for transportation. That has been a rough ride. It has almost 230,000 miles on it, and it costs me $25 to go to Crivitz and back for groceries. Usually I get about 10mpg on ethanol gas and 13 on premium with no ethanol, so I burn a lot of premium.
Last week I put in a $20 of the 93 no ethanol and actually got 15.1mpg (71 miles). Over the weekend I put in $30 worth of 87 regular with ethanol and got 79 miles, 10MPG. There were some minor differences in terrain and using overdrive, but not a lot. The best part was, not only did my truck go 50% farther, the premium hadn’t spiked in price yet and it was $4.24 vs the regular at $4.17.
If you are looking to save a buck on gas, my top pick is Shell 93 no ethanol. It more than pays for the spread in price in my truck. Usually it is <10% more cost and I consistently see 30% better mileage, and last week an astonishing 50%.
Ethanol.. In my can coozie sure, in my truck, not if I can help it.
That is about it for today. I will come back with an update when the weekend weather picture gets a little clearer. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!
RJB