Greetings and welcome!
Monday night we saw about 2-3″ of fluffy snow. It all adds up, and we are getting a pretty good layer of snow going.
As of 1am Wednesday morning we are at -6ºF coming off of a high of 14 Tuesday.
When I traveled to Lakewood & Townsend yesterday there were no tracks at all on Waubee Lake and I didn’t see any on Townsend Flowage in the spots that I could see from the road. The lakes were just starting to firm up when the big snow hit. That can’t be good. Hopefully our cold spell changes all of that. For now I’d stay off of the lakes.
Gas in Lakewood was $2.89 and my no-E premium was $3.89. Up in Carter premium was $4.04.
On the way I saw the Paul Bunyan Riders groomer out packing the railroad grade next to Hwy 32. Red Arrow up in Townsend had the railroad grade panned too. Iron Snowshoe’s web site said that they were out panning trails and that if all went well trails could open Friday night.
The weather may bring a challenge to that.
When I went to the NWS web site there was a winter weather advisory for Wednesday night into Thursday, a winter storm watch for Thursday through Saturday, and a special weather statement. It looks like the snow will start Wednesday night with a total of 4-6″ by Christmas Eve Saturday.
The part that people are getting excited about is the expected wind. The forecast models have the storm intensifying significantly as it gets into our region. Right now the forecast is for 40-50mph winds Thursday night and Friday. With cold temperatures the snow will be very fluffy, and will likely blow around easily. Forecasters are talking about whiteout or even blizzard conditions Friday and Friday night.
What may be overlooked is how the trees that are very heavily flocked in snow will fare in the strong winds. It is an absolute winter wonderland here for scenery. Everywhere that you look the trees are heavily covered with snow.There were a lot of beautiful scenes in my travels yesterday. With those trees under that much stress I’d be surprised if we didn’t have some power outages- and trail blockages- once the wind starts blowing.
For now all that we can do is get ready and wait.
Have a good Wednesday and thank you for visiting!
RJB