Greetings and welcome!
That was quite a weekend. A lot of people came to the area snowmobiling and to hit the events and I got to see a lot of old friends. It was great to see everyone. You guys brought some very timely encouragement and a couple of nice donations too. Thank you very much!
Your trail reports over the bar varied a little. Some of the more used trails were getting tired, and by the end of the weekend most of the trails had seen some action. Everyone that I talked to found good enough or better trails and were having fun. El Nino might stink for snowfall, but the 25-30 degree days made for comfortable riding. A common comment was that the trails were nice and flat, and a couple of inches of snow would make them really nice. Hopefully that is coming over the next 24-36 hours.
Question #1 was what about the big storms showing up about 2 weeks out. There have been model runs on the NCEP GFS forecast model that have shown a big storm or two coming our way. The timing varies from 2/23 to as late as 3/3, but it actually shows the high pressure receding enough to let a storm or two come our way. They show up about half of the time. The other half of the runs show continued high pressure shielding us from the storm path. Over the past few days I have been checking it regularly, and it is about 50/50.
I checked into the progression of the EL Nino and got some mixed answers. Some sources say it is in decline, some say that it will continue through fall. No answers there. Actual sea surface temperatures are indeed in decline, and have been since late December. Hopefully that is a trend not a blip.
Our snow today is from an unusual source. While most of our snow comes out of the SW or NW, this is actually the back of an enormous low pressure area centered NE of New England. As the counterclockwise rotation pulls energy and small disturbances across the area we could see a little snow. The cold winds crossing Lake Superior north to south help the cause too. We are expecting 2-3″ by Tuesday.
This same low will serve us by keeping it cloudy, hopefully through Wednesday. Thursday on through the weekend is expected to be partly cloudy according to the NWS. The temperature outlook looks very nice, with highs in the upper 20s and lows in the 10-15 range right through the weekend. As is standard, clear nights get cold (radiational cooling), cloudy nights stay warmer.
Questions came up over the weekend about posting comments. To post a comment click on the date at the top of that day’s post. It will open that post on its own page and you can comment. You don’t need to log in or register, but it will ask your e-mail address. Where it asks your web site, that is if you have your own site that you want others to visit. If not leave it blank. The e-mail addy is to ID you as spam or not. Once you have been approved, most of the time you get your comments posted without moderation. Sometimes it takes a couple of approvals.
The Sunday night migration of the site to a more powerful server has been mostly completed. There are a few details to chase like the weather links being scrambled, but I have had enough for one night. If you find any bugs or ommisions, please let me know.
Today we are going to celebrate the new server with some pictures. We have an interesting variety. The one picture doesn’t have much to do with snowmobiling, but is pretty cool. Chris snapped a pic for us of a barred owl that has been hanging around my back yard. He was about 50′ behind the house watching the pond area. He stayed for a while, and I even had a chance to get out the spotting scope for a good look. Now if I can just get him to go into the blue room for some AYCE mice..
In the last picture the couple has a bunny. It is one of the small ones from the Iron Snowshoe find the bunny treasure hunt. She spotted it in a bag hanging over the trail, and it came with a gas card and a whole bunch of gift certificates as well as the plush toy.
Anyway, here are some of the people that made my weekend so much fun and other assorted pictures..
With the promise of snow, some nice donations, and the season getting short, I am planning on some trail miles this week. There will be some shop time too, as RXL #2 sees final prep for snow and it’s first ride by me. Since I actually remembered to bring the camera Saturday night, trail pix are in the plan too.
That is about it for the overnight report. I will be back with any updates. Thank you again to everyone!
Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB