Greetings and welcome!
Thank you to Dan and Dylan for the trail updates over the weekend. I really like when people do that. Like Kevin Porto and Bear Fan last weekend, it helps people with real time updates.
We definitely need snow. The 9-11 from a couple of weeks ago has been everything that you could ask out of less than a foot of snow and much more, but it needs refreshment. There are a lot of areas that are nice or very nice, and a lot that are thin or just plain ugly.
This is pretty typical of what I have been seeing on the north end of the Iron Snowshoe. Some areas are much better, some are worn through to dirt in spots. My trip north last week ended 10 miles into it when the trails got a little gravelly for my tastes. I am not sure how things are north of Benson Lake Rd, I haven’t been there. South and east got a lot less snow and had wind swept fields. They need more snow in Crivitz and Wausaukee too. The last that I saw Wausaukee and Crivitz had some trails closed.
I am not sure if I have to work tomorrow, if not I will be likely getting in some shop time and possibly a ride. The ride is subject to debate. A lot of my usual trails are in pretty poor shape. The other issue is the 3 miles of road between here and the trail. Some is easily ditch hopped, but about half would involve making sparks most of the way. Right now the plan is to scout it out when I make my run to Lakewood/Townsend/Carter for groceries and supplies and them make the call.
The weather this coming week looks nothing like we would like to see. We are looking at sunny and mid-30s early week, later in the week the temperature will climb. There are a couple of small rain storms for about Friday and Saturday. I’d expect some fog when the rain hits the snow Friday night, especially with a forecast low of 32.
The rain is not expected to be much, but there is some potential. Right now it looks like 0.25-0.5″. The places that hold base on the trails will probably take up that moisture and freeze in nicely.
The storms are a classic two in a row or double barrel low pressure series of systems. These scenarios have been good to us in the past, but these particular storms don’t look terribly promising. Friday’s system looks like rain, as mentioned, a quarter to a half inch.
The second storm holds a little more promise. Right now the GFS forecast model has it a little too far northwest, and our area in the rain for most of it. It is a close enough path and far enough out in the forecast model to possibly have changes that would go our way. If it did, we could see 2-4 or 3-6 Saturday.
I mentioned that the double barrel lows have been good to us. They have been responsible for some of our bigger snow totals in my time here. Usually the first one is a little disappointing, bringing rain and maybe a little snow. The second one starts as rain and switches over, and system number two has been known to intensify beyond predictions on occasion. Some of our better 12+ storms have been a system #2.
Right now they don’t look like promising storms, both with the mediocre strength of them and the less than ideal path, but you never know.
For a week or so after the storms the GFS is showing fairly cold weather. At the far reaches of the model is a hint of a big thaw about the third week in January. If is it true as shown it would be a warm one, probably 50+. It is showing the rain snow line up in the Northwest Territories, and 40F+ in central Saskatchewan.
We are getting into winter far enough that we have some events coming up. Here is Chris’ list from Northern Destinations.
| January 12 | Kelly Lake – corner of Cty G & St. Bernadette Rd |
Kelly Lake Sportsmen’s Club Fishing Derby Food, refreshments, raffles with cash prizes and many other prizes Visit Website for Details |
| Jan. 19 | High Falls Flowage at Town of Stephenson Park – Boat Landing #3 | High Falls Snowmobile Radar Run Sponsored by the Twin Bridge Water Ski Team. Food & refreshments – Call 715-927-3299 for further information |
| Jan. 19 | Wouters Front II White Potato Lake |
Annual White Potato Lake Fishing Derby 8am – 3pm – Food and refreshments, raffles and prizes for largest fish. sponsored by the White Potato Lake Sportsman’s Club |
| Jan. 24-26 | Telemark Resort Cable, WI |
MS Snowmobile Tour 2013 Hosted by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society – Wisconsin Chapter Join us for this fun, three-day event, snowmobiling through beautiful Northern Wisconsin. Ride and make an extraordinary difference in the lives of people living with MS. For further details or to register on line, visit our website. |
| Jan. 25-27 | Eagle River Inn | Women on Snow Weekend Weekend of snowmobiling fun for women only. Visit website for full details & Registration Form |
Caldron Falls Flowage Boat Landing #9 |
14th Annual Caldron Flowage Snowmobile Radar Run & Fish-o-Ree Caldron Lake off of Boat Landing #9 – 8am – 4pm 1000′ track, $100 cash top speed, trophies for all classes Food, Refreshments, Raffles, DJ, Heated Tent Sponsored by Thornton’s Resort – proceeds benefit Town of Stephenson Vol. Fire Dept |
On January 19th there will be a benefit for Dale Guarniere at Rapids Resort. They will be having raffles, a bake sale, and a live band that is supposed to be very good. In early September Dale crashed his car and got hurt pretty badly. It has been a long recovery and he has a ways to go. Stop in if you are in the neighborhood, I’d expect this to be a big event.
Here are a couple of posters from Curve Inn..
That is news for today. Have a good Monday and thank you for visiting!
RJB