9pm

Unbelievable.. I just watched it snow here on the radar for 20 hours and we didn’t even get a dusting. The snow last night stopped about 10pm. The radar continued to show snow, including some heavier bands, right over us until about 6pm tonight.

Not even a dusting.

I have seen a lot of storms where the rain or snow would evaporate as it fell into the lower levels of the atmosphere, (see Virga) but having it eat all but the first 1/2″ of  a snow storm is a fresh one on me. Usually the atmosphere saturates and we get the precip.

Not everywhere got skunked. Dan from  Chute Pond is reporting 6-8 and that their trails will open in the morning with fair to goo early season conditions. The TV showed 10″ or more south of about Lena.

I have 1/2″-1″ depending on the spot. Slug said that they saw about a half inch near Wausaukee. The TV showed 1.5 in Carter and 4.5 in Marinette. Niagara, the northern border of Marinette Co, got zip.

Looking ahead there are glimmers of hope. We are in an active pattern, and there will be storms in the region, including some good ones for about the first week in March.

A lot of places around here are starting from bare ground. Sheltered areas still have an ice base. With the current conditions we need a couple of good storms in one week or a home run of a foot or more. That does not look likely in time for this weekend.

Looking at the calendar I don’t like that much. With each passing week the sun gets hotter and the days get longer. The chances of a storm being rain increase, and the chances of it’s snow lasting ’till the weekend don’t. We have about three weeks to have it happen and we are about to lose one of them.

For now the best riding opportunities look to be south of about Hwy 64. Riding around here is not recommended, and the Iron Snowshoe gates south of Hwy C remain locked.

Early Report

SKUNKED!

OK, so color me completely disgusted. I am looking at the radar that shows it snowing here and it does not match what I see out of my window, where it is not snowing at all. It has been that way all morning and was last night too.

The real truth here on the ground is that I have less than an inch on the driveway, and about an inch on the back step. The stutter bumps and potholes on the road still show through the snow.

There was a lot of blowing and drifting, but not much snow to work with.

Since a lot of places melted to the ground last week it will take 9-12 to get us back onto the trails. The 16 day GFS model does not show that happening between now and March 9th anyway. The best storms usually come as a surprise. We could use one.

I am a stubborn one when it comes to giving up. It is hard to accept with a week left in February, but maybe Dan was right.

or

I would love to be wrong.

Mr Foul Mood over and out.

RJB