Greetings and welcome!
The cold spell is here. Last night we got down to 1ºF and no doubt there were readings under the zero mark nearby. Today we saw a high of about 18, but that was briefly, most of the day was about 15. The sunset brought 10 degrees, and it has slipped a couple of degrees in the last two hours. It looks like another cold one.
The normal high/low today is 28/12 and we went 18/1, about 10 degrees off of normal.
The cold has been educational. My body is starting to get used to it, which is a good thing. I am not going to get much riding in if I hide in the house every time it dips below 20. It has also helped point out a few drafts in the house from stuff like worn out door sweeps.
It is expected to warm up to more normal temperatures over the weekend and into next week. It won’t last long, about Monday a little light freezing rain or snow is expected to come our way. It dosen’t look like much either way.
There is a bigger storm showing up for about Wednesday night through Thursday night. Details and timing have changed on this one over the past few model runs, and hopefully they change again.
Right now the GFS has the low tracking from where IA, MN and WI meet up to about Hurley. Our ideal storm has that low tracking just over the southeastern 1/4 of WI. As shown the storm would bring rain to just about all of WI and the UP, as well as the eastern 1/2 of northern MN. The QPF on the storm is 0.25-0.5″, which looks like it will add to our ice base.
Three to six of snow would be a lot nicer start for the weekend of the 15th when the trails can open, but that isn’t what the guidance shows at the moment. Like I said, hopefully the outlook will change again. If not, the 1/4 to 1/2″ of ice should help build base for when it finally does snow.
Slug stopped by the house the other night and left a new trail map and a hefty donation for the web site. As he continued north on his road trip he weighed back in that they had started panning the railroad grade north of Townsend and that it was starting to look good.
When I took the back roads home last night there was a lot of bare stuff, but a lot of the sheltered areas had a good ice base. It renewed my belief that we would have ride worthy conditions even with a little snow. Alternatively another 1/4-1/2″ of ice would make for a wonder base that should be able to weather some ups and downs in temperature.
Well I am off to get back to work on the 101 projects to wrap up before my attention focus turns to snowmobiling next week. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB