4:30 pm
I just learned that the Northwoods Bar will be closed this weekend. They are away on vacation
3:45pm
I got an e-mail that said to spread the word that the gas station in Athelstane is shut down. There is no gas in Athelstane.
I also forgot events this week.
| March 3 | Racer & Lana Rae’s Hwy W – 12 miles west of Crivitz |
Vintage Sled Ride From Racer’s to the Pines in Crooked LakeSponsored by the NEW Low Buck Vintage Riders |
| March 3 | Crivitz Village Hall | Annual Gun & Knife Show 8:00am – 2:00pmSponsored by Crivitz Legion Post 413 |
It is snowing lightly right now.
RJB
12:30pm
Greetings and welcome!
People heading north to ride should probably get on the road as soon as possible to minimize their storm challenges. The storm is looking like it will switch over to snow and leave a challenging path north later between Milwaukee and Green Bay. The NWS said that it would be big heavy wet flakes that could fall over an inch an hour and bring some near whiteout conditions. Right now it looks like it is mostly rain except for a few areas around Green Bay, but that is expected to change as the colder part of the storm moves into the eastern part of the state.
The current radar is showing the storm having trouble spreading much north of Green Bay. We were expecting 3-5, but the latest from the NWS has us for 1-2 for tonight. The noon news weather guy said 2-4 for our area.
It is another strong storm, the one that I talked about earlier in the week having a central pressure along the lines of a Cat 2 hurricane. Down south they are expecting a lot of severe weather and an extreme risk of tornadoes around Alabama, as well as around KY and OH. Farther north heavy snow and high winds should make for some wicked conditions in SE WI and lower Michigan.
Closer to home it is expected to affect an area east of a line from about Green Bay to Madison with 4-8 or more, and that area will be under winter storm warnings starting at about 3pm.
The HPC is showing western lower Michigan around Traverse City seeing as much as 1.21″ of rainfall equivalent. Using a standard 12:1 that would put them in the 14-15″ range with wet heavy snow. That could be us had the storm tracked about 100-150 miles farther west.
In my travels yesterday I saw trails along C, Parkway, and Landing 11 Road. All were groomed and looking decent. The one surprise that I had was how much the roads were melted down. Between the March sun and fairly warm temperatures, the very minimal amount of road salt that the towns mix in with their sand was incredibly effective. I expected the snow on roads to pack into a nice base and it did, but the salt has been effective against the base so the road trails are not as nice as I expected.
The heavy packing snow will make some whoopties with a lot of traffic, but so far it isn’t too much of a problem. That could change today and tomorrow, and the groomers will be out trying to keep up. Keep an eye out for them on the trail.
Generally conditions are pretty nice for March 2nd, so ride if you can.
One thing that we have not been seeing this winter is the big arctic blast behind storms. Temperatures in the upper 20s and low 30s will make for some pretty comfortable riding this weekend.
There is a big warm up expected about Tuesday of next week that could bring high 40s or maybe worse. That is the bad news. The good news is that there is another big storm possible for Wednesday. At the moment it looks a lot like our mid-week storm, but it is March, so no promises.
At any rate, if you can get some riding time in on the big layer of fresh snow. There will be some company on the trails this weekend, so keep a sharp eye out for other riders.
That is the news of the day. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB