Greetings and welcome!
We have had below freezing temperatures for a week now. Currently at 3:15pm it is 21ºF and windy heading for a low temp of about 12 tonight. Our normal high/low temps are around 36 and 20. In general we have had a week of about 10 degree below normal temperatures.
I headed over to Caldron Falls Flowage this afternoon to see how it was freezing up. The first stop was the big bay at Boat Landing #9 by Thornton’s. I was quite shocked to see open water right up to the beach. Only the little bay had a skin of ice, and that ended right at the mouth of the bay. I blame the wind and wave action for the lack of ice. Both were very active.
The next stop was Boat Landing 10 by Fisher’s Camp. I found a very different story there. The bay was frozen over right to the mouth of it, and then there was open water. The ice at the shore that the kids had broken up showed as much as an inch of ice, but most was about 1/2″.
As much as I would like another week in the 40s to finish outside work we really needed this below normal cold to kick the season off.
A quick look at the GFS forecast model keeps us in the cold weather for the 16 day scope of the model. There is a clipper system possible for next Tue or Wednesday coming with the promise of 1-3 or 2-4″. Farther out in the model it shows a parade of clippers with another one coming every few days. There are no big storms showing and that is OK. Four 3″ snows is still a foot.
I love that we are freezing up before the snow comes. After our warm fall we needed a couple of weeks of below normal weather. A lot of our trails cross low land and if it doesn’t freeze hard we run into problems with burying the groomer or the trail going through mud holes. It also helps hold snow in marginal conditions.
The UP is expected to benefit from the cold weather. The Weather Channel was showing the west side of the Keweenaw and an area around Marquette and Munising getting 12-24″ of lake effect snow. For a while them opening on 12-1 was looking a little sketchy. From what the TV said some areas might be able to do it.
We have an event coming up in early December..
N.E.W. LOW BUCK VINTAGE RIDERS 21st ANNUAL SHOW & SWAP
DECEMBER 7, 2024 at the Dunbar Sportsmen’s Club
W19087Airport Rd, Dunbar, 54119 (HYW 8 & Airport RD)
Everyone is welcome! Free admission for spectators! Have a vintage ATV? Bring it! Thank you to the Dunbar Sportsmen’s Club for welcoming us back for year #5! Registration begins at 7:00 AM, judging about noon and the awards ceremony at 2:00 PM. Swap spaces are $5, show sleds, $3 each ($10 max). And….FREE admission for spectators!! Come inside the club building to register your show sleds, pay membership dues, participate in bucket raffles, the award ceremony and to purchase food & beverages. The refreshments, available on site, will be provided by the Dunbar Sportsmen’s Club as a fundraiser for them. Lots of room to park, a huge swap area and space for 100+ show sleds. For additional information, visit the club’s Face Book page.
That is all that I have today. I will check back in when something besides cold weather happens.
Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!!
RJB