By Joe Crain
Early October brought some lovely foliage!
It’s been a cold and snowy October here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. With only 10 of the 31 days of the month reaching average high temperatures, and the last 15 days of the month 10 to 15 degrees below the normal highs we were forced to break out the winter wear way to early! The stretch from the 18th to the 27th were exceptionally rough, with the high temps not reaching what are the normal lows for those dates — the mercury didn’t climb out of the 30’s for those nine days! Unfortunately the coldest stretch of the month also saw several snow storms sweep across our region. Though we expect our first sighting of some snow in October each year it normally comes to us in a passing flurry or maybe an inch or two that soon melts away. But this year we had three snow storms of two or more inches each all in the same week! The first storm seemed normal enough on the 17th with temps hovering around the freezing mark. The snow was wet and, for the first few hours of the storm, melted on contact with the still relatively warm ground. When the front finally moved off the next morning we had an inch or so accumulated on the grass but the roads were just wet. By the end of the day on the 18th no trace of the first winter storm was left. We didn’t fair quite so well with the next front that came just three days later on the 21st. This second snow storm of the week had all of the hall marks of a serious winter storm with high winds and snow rates that often reached an inch-per-hour. Luckily the ground had still not froze completely, and the first few hours of the storm much of the snow melted on contact. But, the intense rate of snow fall soon overcame the warm ground and the next day we were left with a thick snow cover of four and a half inches on the ground! This time the snow persisted and was helped by the high temperature staying just below freezing and the lows dipped deep into the 20’s. With a thick ground cover of snow, we were shocked when the weatherman started to warn us that the worst was yet to come with a predicted 6-8 inches of snow to hit us on the 24th! Thankfully the trajectory of that storm altered enough that the predicted totals were way off and this final storm of the week was so wet and warm and gave us only an additional inch of accumulation. Unfortunately all of this mid-month snow combined with the unusually cold temps has left us with a crusty 3-4 inches of snow cover before November 1st! The weatherman claims a warm front will return to our area for the first stretch of November, bringing us (wouldn’t you know) October like temperatures for the first week or so of the new month.
All of this early snow still on the ground has disrupted our usual leaf blowing routine which usually happens the last week of October into the 1st week of November with few exceptions. We have our fingers crossed in hopes that the weather turns more fall like again so we can get the grounds cleared before the actual winter hits. Winters here in the Northland are long enough in a normal year when the snows come in mid/late November and the first true signs of spring coming in late March or early April, adding a month (or in this case nearly two months!) is truly a disheartening way to start the season!
Hoping for a good, but not too long, skinny ski season, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.
