Greetings and welcome!
Memorial Day weekend is coming right up and I am NOT going to let the week get ahead of me like I did the past few weeks.
Let’s start with the weather.. We have had 2″ of rain so far this week. That happened Saturday night and Sunday. Personally I think that it was more like 3″ but the 2″ is the USGS gauge by Kosir’s.
There is more rain on the way. There is a big blob of the stuff coming on the radar as I type this at 9pm Tuesday night. That storm will last into tomorrow and bring a 1/2″-1″ rainfall with more possible where a storm cell hits. With all of the yellow in the river of moisture coming up from the Gulf of Mexico that might be a little understated.
Thursday looks really nice before the rain returns for Friday and Friday night. According to current forecasts it should clear up about 1-2am Saturday morning.
The weekend weather after Friday night looks fantastic. The current forecast is for mostly sunny weather with mid-70s for highs and mid-40s for low temperatures. The only mentions of rain are for Friday night and for Monday night. I wish that there was a buy it now button on the weather forecast so that we could lock that in..
Next up let’s do some events. Here are the posters that I got with my phone over the past week or two. There some that I missed. There is also an auction in Crooked Lake this weekend. The Brat Fry/Meat Raffle is one day, the auction is the other. Bob Heckler- The Piano Man is playing at Rapids Resort I believe Sunday night. I will try to nail that down tomorrow or Thursday.
Here are some future events for the weekends of June 1st and 8th.
The spring greening up is a little behind this year by my estimation. I am ready to cut the grass for the first time. You can still see pretty far into the woods, but that will not last long as the underbrush is starting to show first leaves. The ferns are about a foot high and just getting to unroll their tops. The choke cherries are in bloom adding a splash of white here and there. The marsh marigolds are absolutely going off right now, they seem to be having a very good year. The really tiny white and blue flowers (wild strawberries?) started blooming this week. Today I saw my first trillium flower of the year. The distant viewed hardwood forests are starting to put on a little bit of a show with the different colors of green. There is something new every day.
As far as bugs I have not spent a lot of time outside in the past couple of days. So far I have only been pestered by gnats. I have not had a tick or gator (mosquito) yet. I don’t believe for a second that the mostly bug free spring is going to last much longer.
Whitewater rafting this weekend is going to be exceptional. The Peshtigo River is really high and it will not be going down much by the weekend. Right now it is at about +26″, a really really fun level. I am telling you that you should make some rafting part of the weekend plan. You can’t buy more adventure or excitement for $30 anywhere. At this level they will be taking rafts, probably with 2-4+ people in them. If you ever went rafting and scraped down the Peshtigo when it was low come see what it is really about. I was lamenting today that I no longer do the pictures and videos there. People are going to have a blast.
The Menominee River is really high too. At the moment it is too high for the comercial outfitters. Usually the stop running t about 5,000cfs. Right now it is over 12,000cfs. That is the highest that it has been on this day in the 26 years of the gauge recording it by 2,000cfs. I expect that it will probably settle down in time for weekend rafting, but it should be at the high end of the commercially runnable zone. That river is an amazing rafting trip when it is big.
Can ya tell that I am kinda excited about the rafting this weekend? Kosir’s.com or 715-757-3431.
The same wet spring that has the river so high also has local lakes and wetlands a lot fuller than normal. I have seem where docks were under water on local lakes, and some of the local little frog ponds are twice their normal size. ATV riders are reporting some huge puddles on the trails, including a couple that most people will want to go around. Dust is not an issue, nor is fire danger.
So we have a pretty good outlook for Memorial Day weekend. Frosting on the cake? Gas prices! Right now they are around $2.79. They always find a way to jack it a dime or $0.50 right before the holiday, but right now it is pretty reasonable. It is great that it will be somewhat affordable to feed our trucks and toys.
I am going to try to update later in the week with any additional events and last minute weather and river forecasts. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!
RJB