Tuesday December 4th, 2018

Greetings and welcome!

We still have a decent blanket of snow on the ground. Here it has settled to 3-4″ but we haven’t lost much of it. Sunday night it got colder and the snow went from wet and heavy to fluffy enough that you couldn’t make a snowball.

I was in Townsend last night and got a look at the snow totals there and Lakewood. I would call it 1.5-2″ more than we had. The snow piles are bigger and the surviving snow was deeper.

The trails are not open. They could open 12/15 if we have the conditions for it. The UP opened on 12-1, and areas east of 141 in ag areas often don’t open until after New Years.

I was looking at the 16 day GFS forecast model and I am not encouraged about trails being ready for 12/15. The model is showing a lot of cold and high pressure, but no real storms. There are a couple of storms possible way out in the time frame.

The bad news is no real snow in the short term, the good news is that we won’t lose what we have. It isn’t going to melt, and at 17 days away from the winter solstice, the sun is as benign as it gets all year.

I asked about lake ice thickness last night and the guess was 5-6″. That is a fine start and with the cold weather we should be making ice every night.

The trails aren’t open but can you ride? There is enough snow for a skitch around the yard or up and down the driveway no problem. Lakes are getting there. Just stay off of the trails.

I had a rough fall and right now I am totally overwhelmed with work so I haven’t had the sled out for the first gravel run yet. I did get a couple of gallons of gas for it though.

That is it for tonight. I will be back in a day or three, or sooner if anything exciting develops.

Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB