Greetings and welcome!
We again made it into the low 40s on Monday. There was mixed sun and clouds, and yes there was some melting.
On my ride to Crivitz Monday I took Parkway, Deer Lake Rd, and X & A to Crivitz. I could do that because those roads are all bare. The roadside trails looked fantastic. They were groomed flat and had plenty of snow. The other side of that coin was some sunny hillsides, thin spots, and plowed trails were down to dirt. Road trails ranged from icy to bare. The trails that counted on the snow plow guy leaving a little something would have you riding on a 45º angle on the side of the snowbank. It reminded me of March. Sheltered trails were excellent, sunny and plowed trails were not. I only saw one very short wavy section of trail, the rest were groomed nice and flat.
In conditions like this I want to remind you that I can only tell you what I saw between Silver Cliff and Crivitz by car. Trails 20 miles to the west or north might be (are likely) in much better shape. I just don’t know. ( Morning update-Both Paul Bunyan and Red Arrow are reporting very good to excellent trails as of 9am. I would expect similar conditions to the north on Dun-Good. RJB)
I had some problems with the truck so I did not make my whole journey yesterday. I did get to see between here and Crivitz. Tomorrow I am expecting to see Crivitz and Crooked lake.
We need some snow to freshen up trails and fill in the bad spots. We might have to wait for that. There is a storm for Thursday that will pass to our south. If it tracked diagonally over Milwaukee instead of central Ohio we would be happy snowmobilers. Unfortunately it is not going to do that. The next chance comes about the 13th-14th and looks nice. Behind that are several more storms in the 10-16 day range of the GFS model.
The good side of this is that we are not expecting any big thaws or deep freezes. We are looking at pretty seasonal weather with highs in the low to mid-20s and lows in the teens or single digits.
Would I ride tomorrow if I wasn’t working? Absolutely… but I’d avoid sunny road trails, plowed areas, and sunny hillsides, and a little dirt or bare road wouldn’t shock me.
It is February so it is time to talk about the sun. As we get farther from the winter solstice (December 21st, 2019) the sun gets higher in the sky, moves north in the sky, and increases the length of day. We have added about an hour of daylight since the 12-21 winter solstice and we will add over an hour in February. The sun is also about 8º higher in the sky.We go from less than 9 hours of daylight today to almost 13 hours April 1st. The sun gets quite a bit higher in the sky too. The point of all of this? Tick tock. Ride while you still can. Things move fast from here.
Length of Day
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December 21 8:43 Feb 1 9:45 Feb 29 11:07 March 15th 11:56 April 1 12:50 Sun angle
We have some major events coming up. Slugfeast is this Saturday at Bear Point Yacht Club, and the big High Falls Fish-o-Rama, Winterfest and radar run is also Saturday. Trump Lake is having their Fish-o-Ree. I will find out tomorrow if the Crooked Lake Fishing Jamboree is this weekend or next weekend.
Next Weekend-
Red Arrow Snowmobile ATV Club 45th Annual Fish A Ree
Feb. 15, 2020 @ 11:00 am – 7:00 pm – More Information
Wheeler Lake Ice Fishing Jamboree Feb. 15, 2020- More Information
That’s it for tonight. Have a good Tuesday and thank you for visiting!
RJB