Merry Christmas!

12-25-2009

4:30pm

The afternoon brought a mix of alternating light rain and big snow flakes. It didn’t amount to a lot of either one. (<1″)

Color me surprised, the low pressure area actually did do a lap around Iowa before heading this way. Link. I did not expect that.

At any rate, we should be finishing up with the rain portion of the storm any time now. The models have the rain snow line quickly moving east, and a good bit of snow to follow. The TV just showed 4 by Saturday night and a total of 6 by Sunday night.

The NWS is saying 1-3 tonight, 1-2 Saturday night, and light snow Saturday and Sunday days.

I have not been out on the main roads, but when I was out in the driveway it looked like the traffic on C was creeping along. When I took the sled for a spin it was a little icy underneath. I would expect side roads to be in rough shape, and even moreso once the temperature drops below 32.

This snow will make a sturdy base with the very high moisture content. With some lighter snow adding up on top of it, it holds a lot of promise for trail conditions in the days ahead. There is a lot of extra water, and there will be some slushy spots.

Chazz asked about ice conditions. I am not sure, but I’d be really cautious. We have not had much good ice making weather at all. Lakes were open a couple of weeks ago and it hasn’t been all that cold since. Definitely be sure of what you are on as far as ice thickness. The rain and wet heavy snow probably won’t help.

The ski-plow incident turned out to be minor. I took care of that, did some regular service stuff, and I did actually ride the sled around a little.

The RXL is a heavy pig, and I didn’t want to slow down when breaking trails. If I stopped I sunk, and the snow is so stiff it was hard getting going again. Oh horrors, I need to mash on it playing in the new snow..

It was pretty fun, and the really sturdy snow will indeed make a glorious base.  With a couple of inches a day of powder, it should be pretty winter wonderland-ish.

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Noon

Saddle Up!

Pardon my outburst before. The last thing that a guy wants to see first thing on Christmas morning is a downpour. It did rain pretty good. Thankfully it went quickly.

The rain is now past. It took down the inch of snow that fell since sunset and added a lot of moisture and heft to the snow. It has since changed to snow, with some mix.

We are golden for riding this weekend. The last picture in the gallery is an accurate on the (seat)ground collective total year to date. It is wet and heavy and packs easily. We will have a really good base.

I couldn’t dig too far into the ski mishap, but it looks minor.

Bottom line? We are good for riding this weekend!

I’d love to hang out but there are skis to fix and trails to ride. Gotta run. Be back later.

RJB

10:30AM

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Since I last visited here it started to rain. Not just a little. Big drops, lots of ’em, falling fast. According to the radar, If you are in WI or Michingan, it is raining if there is precip. The rain snow line is now at the Mississippi and at Lake Superior. The inch of snow from overnight is gone.

There is a little snow mixing in, hopefully it changes back before it turns to a big sloppy slushy mess.

Be back soon..

RJB

5:30AM Greetings and Merry Christmas!

In spite of what the radar has been showing, it has not been raining all night. There has been some mist and there is a little pocking in the snow from a few raindrops, but it has not been a washout. It did just start again wit the light rain.

As the storm weakens a few things are happening. One is that we had a dry slot form over northern WI during the night. That happens when cooler and  more stable air mixes in and limits precip. Overnight it was showing light rain on radar, but it was not making it to the ground most of the time. It was either mist or humidity. We did see some rain, but not a lot.

Earlier in the evening the snow did start again, and it snowed lightly for a few hours. When I just checked there was about an inch of new snow since sunset. It was heavy and moisture laden, partially from the rain/mist, partially because it is 33º at 5:30am.

It will be a warm day, and probably a rainy one. The NWS is looking for rain, freezing rain, and a mix with a high of 35. The TV says rain and 39 in Green Bay.

The storm is far from over. This morning it picked up an Atlantic ocean moisture tap,  and it looks like it will go on for a while.

If the radar is accurate it looks like a lot of people west of the WI state line are really getting pounded with snow. I am expecting some pretty spectacular totals on the news later, along with a lot of rough rides for a lot of people. The rain is bad for a snowmobiler, but with the timing of the storm on Christmas, it lands in the category of be careful what you wish for.

While the storm will eventually weaken, we should get a little snow from the cold side of it. Right now the guesses are in the 2-4 range Friday night and Saturday.

We have a good blanket of snow, but it is soft and vulnerable. It will only be 23 tonight, not cold enough to freeze it hard. Heavy traffic and wheels could tear up what would otherwise be a great base if it froze. Packy snow also makes whoopties quickly. Call it a classic case of eating the chicken instead of the eggs, but what do you do, close the trails? I don’t think so Tim. You ride it and have fun. If you wait for perfect conditions you wouldn’t ride much. I will also point out that the warmer temps over the weekend (highs in the upper 20s, lows in the upper teens) will make for very comfortable riding. It sure beats riding in a hi/lo of 5/-20.

I have a full day planned for today. I am itching to go see what I did to the RXL ski and get it fixed. If it wasn’t an hour before sunrise I would already be there. I picked up a battery and a 5er of premium this week , and it was minutes away from my first trail ride of the year. Ooops.

I also have plans to do some snow pictures here later.

Many of you will be travelling today. Road conditions on the TV say that the interstate by Green Bay is ok with some slippery spots, but as you get farther north expect it to deteriorate. Locally there is plenty of frost in the roads, so expect that mist and rain to be ice. One promising note, salt is very effective at +35.

One final thought, thank you all for the good comments! It is much appreciated. It should be a good thing once we start getting your trail reports too. Y’all can cover a lot more ground collectively in a weekend than I could in 5 seasons. It will be a cool resource. Thank you for your comments!

Have a good Christmas and thank you for visiting!

RJB