Greetings and welcome!
My apologies that I did not update last week. I really wanted to but it was a crazy busy week and I was either working or recovering from it. It has only gotten crazier this week.
Anyway.. this weekend is Memorial day weekend. The first question is how will the weather be. The short answer is unsettled summer weather. I am seeing humid days in the 80s, which naturally could lead to a shower or storm.
The scenario is that we will be on the west side of a slow moving high pressure system. The clockwise circulation of that high pressure area will be bringing warm moist air to the region. There is no organized storm to watch. It is more of an unstable atmosphere where small disturbances could set off some showers or a line of storms. It is impossible to say when or where. I am not visualizing a washout, but rather lines of storms here and there.
Right now my guidance is showing the best rain chances between Thursday afternoon and about 10pm Saturday. Saturday our CAPE values get above 2,000 J/kg, a pretty unstable atmosphere. Showers and storms, possibly intense, are likely.
After Saturday rain chances still exist, but in a much more stable atmosphere, so storms are a lot less likely.
If I were still living near Milwaukee and camping at Kosir’s I would not change my plans, but I would be ready for rain, especially Friday and Saturday.
There is a lot happening with spring springing. Right now the trillium are littering the forest floor almost everywhere. The choke cherry and other fruit trees are in bloom. The ferns are just starting to unroll their fiddleheads. The marsh marigolds are in bloom. The trees have a lot of delicate shades of green with their new growth, and it is especially stark with a cloudy sky. It is time to cut the grass.
We have been pretty dry this month and are behind on our rain. Fire danger was high today. With the increased humidity and possible rain, fire danger should be low this weekend.
I have been working outside a lot lately and the bugs have not been bad yet. I have had two ticks on me so far, and no mosquitoes that I was aware of.
Every spring I joke about the breeding population of pesky insects getting frozen out. I don’t believe it happened, but our funky late spring winter weather seems to have delayed them a little.
I did bump into a monarch butterfly today with the van. More accurately, she bumped into me. Thankfully I was at a stop sign at the time and she fluttered off.
The only event that I have so far for this weekend is a Memorial Day service at the Silver Cliff picnic grounds. I believe that it is Sunday morning, but I will have to track that down along with any other events that I find.
I will be back later in the week. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!
RJB