530pm- See the comment below this report too!
Greetings and welcome!
The snow last night ended up being about 1/4″.
We have another clipper coming by tonight that cold bring 1-3 or 2-4. I’d like to see at least the upper end of that before I’d call the trails nice.
It is still pretty thin. The 2″ or so of fluffy stuff that we have had since New Years did a nice job of hiding the ugliness. It did not do a good job restoring all of those roads and sunny areas that melted down to nothing. Around here it packed down to 1/4″ or less of base.
Like I have been saying all week, it is a lot like late March. There are good spots with nice base and a little free snow. There are roads and sunny areas that have only the 2″ of puff on them. Packed down it isn’t much at all. I don’t like it when my track only leaves stud dots in the snow in places.
I was going to try a ride Wednesday but after seeing the conditions around here I never left the driveway. You can ride, but you will want to pick your spots. Personally I’d probably start in sheltered spots in the Nicolet or on some lakes. LMT, Paul Bunyan and Dungood had the best reports.
Chute Pond- Poor to fair, icy and gravel spots, not much free snow.
Paul Bunyan-Woods trails are good with some icy spots, some bare spots on the grade, the grade is poor to good.
Red Arrow- Panned and in fair early season condition, some bare spots and ruts
LMT-Fair to Good
100 Miler -Fair to good, some awesome.
DunGood- Good+, some ice, excellent with more snow.
Iron Snowshoe-Fair..-Good spots and poor spots, need snow.
River Road Riders-Need snow- some ugly pictures.. (It is a little better than that here and in Lakewood.)
Coleman-Closed
Ranger City Riders (Wausaukee)- Open with some reroutes, no conditions report.
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The hope is that tonight’s clipper helps things. That is a scary bet for planning the weekend, especially after last night’s 1-3 weighed in at 1/4″.
In events we have a new one to list for this weekend. The paper had an ad for a Crandon Fishoree this weekend. Other than that, here is the list from Monday’s report..
Events..
From Dan G (Thanks Dan!)
Chute Pond Snowmobile Club is participating in the Brent Rosner Memorial Snowmobile Ride January 22, snow or no snow. Brent was a Pulaski High School student who died last June from a bacterial infection. The ride starts in two places simultaneously- in Pulaski and Water’s Edge on Anderson Lake. It will be a Poker Run, both rides ending at Water’s Edge on Anderson Lake. More details on our website http://www.chutepondsnowmobileclub.com . This event will happen snow or no snow.
From Chris’s event list..
January 15th..
Wausaukee Lions Annual Brat Fry
Starts at 11:00 AM @ Northwoods Bar-Benson Lake Rd & Old A in Athelstane-Food & refreshments
High Falls Snowmobile Radar Runs
Trophies in all classes for Snowmobile Radar Runs-715-927-3299-All Proceeds go to Twin Bridge Water Ski Team
Annual White Potato Lake Fishing Derby
8am – 3pm – Food and refreshments, raffles and prizes for largest fish. Sponsored by the White Potato Lake Sportsmen’s Club
Parrot Head Christmas Tree Burning
Fundraiser for the Town of Riverview Fire Department. They burn all of the dead Christmas trees in a huge bonfire. the goal this year is 35? high. You can have your tree picked up for a $25 donation. Starts at dusk.
I sure wish that I had a different report to offer. Maybe the snow tonight will come and make it better.
One last tidbit..
One of the things that a negative AO does is push the winter weather and storm tracks farther south. This is part of why the guy was skiing in downtown Birmingham, AL.
I stumbled into an article this week that said that 70.9% of the USA had snow cover, and 49 out of 50 states had snow on the ground. Florida got snow but it didn’t stick. HI had some stuck in high elevations.
The part of the negative Arctic Oscillation that I don’t mind so much is spreading the cold around. Spreading it out that far south, we get less bitter cold. This week had highs in the 20s and lows above zero even with a couple of clippers. Saturday should bring more of that.
Sunday kind of shows off my point, when the cold blast day behind the January Clipper has highs of 10-15 and lows Saturday night of about +5ºF. I recall many clippers in January with the next day bringing a high of -5 and a low of -25.
I don’t miss the bitter cold at all. The lack of snow as we watch Alabama get hit stinks.
I don’t have official word yet, but I am probably working at Rapids tomorrow. It depends on if there are riders around and how much snow comes tonight. If it snows and people are around I am usually on from 12-5 or so, and I’ll have the camera.
Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB