Greetings and welcome!
The awful winter continues.
We had a dusting of snow last night that came with a little bit of a break from our deep freeze. The last couple of days didn’t get above zero. The coldest night was Tuesday night when we got down to -21ºF. Right now we are up to 12 degrees.
The cold wave got all of the way down to the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America?). There are tons of Facebook posts and news reports of snow on the beach. The TV had a guy skiing down Bourbon Street in New Orleans where they got 8+” of snow. Much of FL, MS, AL, LA, and other deep south states had significant snows. I saw one report of 10+ in a state that never gets snow. Here is a guy that was riding in the panhandle of Florida.
Here in northern WI we haven’t had more than 2″.
I checked the 16 day GFS forecast model and there are a couple of near misses on clippers, but no significant snow until day 12 when a 4-6 storm could happen. At 12 days out it has all of the credibility of a politician’s promise.
With bitter cold temps and minimal snow we have been making ice on the lakes. Various reports have 12-18″ of ice and people are driving on them. There were snowmobile tracks on Anderson Lake when I went by yesterday and Shawano Lake was loaded with shanties and cars & trucks. There is an inch or two of snow on the lakes and technically we could ride them.
Last week before the cold hit I pulled one of the Twindies into the shop to check it over. I didn’t even touch them last year. Much to my surprise the two year old gas smelled fresh and once it got to the carbs it started right up. That really solidifies my faith in Startron as a fuel preservative.
The rest of the check over went pretty good. It was almost like I had worked it over end to end less than 50 miles ago. Oh yeah, I did, it was just two years ago. There are a few more things to check over before I swap it out for Twindy #2.
Rapids Resort has been closed for a couple of weeks now. Everyone is asking why. From what I understand they started with some remodeling, then a furnace went out, and it has been one problem after another since. I wish them well and hope that they open again soon. That, along with The Rustic, has been my destination bar for something like 35 years.
They haven’t been missing much. Between the cold, the lack of snow, and the lack of tourism it has been pretty quiet around here.
I can’t tell you how I really feel about this winter. I have been family rated for 25 years and I am not going to blow it now. What I do have to say would make a coal miner blush. The worst part is when I eagerly look at the long term forecast every morning looking for a glimmer of hope and day after day there is none. It is very depressing.
I do expect some heavy spring storms once the LaNina recedes a little. I just hope that it doesn’t come in April and May when it is too late.
For now the UP has been getting tons of lake effect snow with the bitter cold snap. It is either that or trailer to Florida.
How depressing.
Have a good week and thank you for visiting!!
RJB