First I want to once again go over the details on the snowmelt contest:

Here is what you have to do to win big money from the R-Stores of Northcentral Wisconsin (Riiser Energy Website) : Correctly predict the last date there will be snow on Rib Mountain.

Send in your prediction to weather@waow.com

In the email please state your name, mailing address (not your email address), and the date you predict the last bit of snow will melt off Rib Mountain.

1 entry per person. Entries must be in by midnight Friday, May 2nd.

Prizes: All the people who correctly pick the snowmelt date will be entered into a drawing. There will be one grand prize winner drawn that will receive a $200 gift card for the R-stores of Northcentral Wisconsin (Riiser Energy Website) . All of the others who pick the correct date will receive a $10 gift card for use at the R-stores.

I am the final arbiter of the winning date. When it gets close, I head up to Rib Mountain on a daily basis and monitor the last bits of snow melting away.

You would think not much snow has been melting with such cold weather as of late, but bare spots are showing up on the slopes of Granite Peak (Rib Mountain). The Corporate Cove sky cam is usually focused on Rib Mountain during the morning so take a peak before you make your guess in the snowmelt contest.  I don’t think the snow will be melting too fast over the next few days because temps will remain below normal. Along with cool temps – in the 50s from today through Friday -there will be a chance of rain. Any rain that falls on Thursday will be light, only a tenth of an inch or two. On Friday we could end up with over a half inch in some locations. Unfortunately, some light showers will continue into Saturday. Making matters worse will be a gusty northwest wind and cold temps in the 40s. If will be foul weather for all the people trying to enjoy the opening of fishing season. Sunday will be slightly better with only widely scattered showers, less wind, and high temps in the low 50s. Next week will be a bit warmer, but most of the days will still have high temps in the 50s, whereas the normal high temp next week is in the mid 60s.

AGW News:

Here is a peculiar story that made headlines over the last couple of days. Homeless people in the U.S. have twice the carbon footprint of the average person of the world. Let us put aside the discussion of whether or not the "global warming" story has now jumped the shark, let us focus on the panoply of other ridiculous scenarios this story opens up. Apparently, homeless people in the U.S. have such a huge carbon footprint because they use government services (which account for some energy usage). What are we to do? In order to stop the global warming catastrophe, are we to cut-off all services to homeless people (being sarcastic here)? That is the only solution I can foresee that will head-off environmental Armageddon. What is the alternative? If we all stopped driving cars, lived in cardboard boxes, and scrounged for food, apparently, according to this study, the U.S. would still be the big evil polluter of the world (don’t forget – India and China both produce more pollution than the U.S. nowadays and Europe is busy building new coal power plants). According to this study, if we all wore used clothes and slept on the streets, we would still have twice the carbon emissions of the average world citizen. I am not buying it.

And…it is time to add another item to the big list of bad things that will happen because of AGW – Narwhal whales will go extinct. According to this recent analysis, Narwhals are more at risk than Polar Bears. Stanford University biologist Terry Root says "Polar bears can adapt a bit to the changing Arctic climate, narwhals can’t". This doesn’t make too much sense to me. The Narwhals have made it through ice ages, the medieval warm period, the little ice age, etc… What is so different about today’s small changes that are so much different than the huge climate swings of the past, some of which occurred on short geological time frames? I am not sure. Anyway, here is the updated big list:

(Narwhals will go extinct, more deadly algae blooms, more poverty, a massive increase in volcanic activity, new disease outbreaks from previously frozen corpses, irreversibly alter water circulation in Lake Tahoe, dramatically decreased rice production, fewer flowers in the Rocky Mountains, the Butterfly fish will starve, transportation system will be ruined, air pollution related deaths will increase, tropical fish could go deaf, more “ocean deserts”, more tundra wildfires, collapsing oceanic food webs, sharks devastating Antarctic sea life, the drying up of Lake Mead by 2021, plant-devouring insect invasions, poor food quality, increased human mortality, more solastalgia/mental illness, more wars, the past 1993 conflict in Somalia, more intense heat waves, more heat deaths, polar bears starving, Isle Royale Moose dying, Walruses dying, Penguins starving (including King penguins), Australian bats dying, more hurricanes, less hurricanes, more intense and bigger hurricanes, more stormy weather, rising oceans, more acidic oceans, California wildfires, more droughts, more floods, future disastrous declines in food production, coral reefs (hard and soft) dying, enormous extinctions of plant and animal species, massive loss of fish in the Bering Sea, the earth literally being torn apart, Amazon deforestation, a bigger ozone hole, a smaller ozone whole, less fresh water, more obesity, more hunger, more asthma, more allergies, more infectious disease, …more to come)

You are of course familiar with the "solution" to the AGW catastrophe, according to many NGOs and governments of the world – higher fossil fuel (gas) taxes and restrictions on fossil fuel usage. Given that most climate scientists claim the earth will get much warmer no matter if we stopped using all fossil fuels instantly today, the high taxes and restrictions are the worst possible solutions. In that scenario, not only would we have environmental Armageddon, we would have severe economic recession or depression around the world. It would be bad ‘squared’. Instead we should focus all our efforts on alternative energy, specifically a solar-electric economy. While the bureaucrats of the world focus on how to restrict everyone’s freedom and make your wallet a little lighter, the smart people are making solar panels, better batteries, and electric cars. One of the more exciting developments is in battery tech, especially from A123. Their batteries might eventually end up in the Chevy Volt – the much hyped but yet to be delivered electric car from GM. For further reading about electric cars check out this primer from technologyreview. They correctly state that biofuels and hydrogen are not very good options.

I am not sure if I shared this link yet. I thought it was a beautiful collection of images of colliding galaxies taken by Hubble telescope.

Meteorologist Justin Loew.

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****PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE YOUR SNOWMELT PREDICTIONS IN THE COMMENT SECTION OF THE BLOG. SEND YOUR PREDICTION (name and address too) BY EMAIL TO weather@waow.com

****PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE YOUR SNOWMELT PREDICTIONS IN THE COMMENT SECTION OF THE BLOG. SEND YOUR PREDICTION (name and address too) BY EMAIL TO weather@waow.com

The snowfall got a little out of control in the southern half of the area yesterday. Snow amounts were as high as 6.8 inches in Stevens Point and 5 inches in Whiting. 4 inches was reported by our weather watchers in Wild Rose and Scandinavia. There was still some snow on the ground this morning in a few spots – which is very amazing for April 29th. The last time we actually had snow on the ground this late in April was back in 1996.

The snow should melt today with sunny to partly cloudy skies and high temps around 50. A little warmer trend will continue from Wednesday through Friday with high temps in the mid to upper 50s (normal for this time of year is in the low 60s). Over the weekend high temps will fall again, into the low 50s for Saturday and into the upper 40s for Sunday. To add insult to injury, there will be a good chance of rain on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Some light showers might even linger on Sunday. The heaviest rain will be on Friday when over a half inch is possible. I am hoping there will be enough breaks in the shower activity on Saturday that I can get out and do some fishing without getting soaked.

****PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE YOUR SNOWMELT PREDICTIONS IN THE COMMENT SECTION OF THE BLOG. SEND YOUR PREDICTION (name and address too) BY EMAIL TO weather@waow.com

Details on the snowmelt contest:

Here is what you have to do to win big money from the R-Stores of Northcentral Wisconsin (Riiser Energy Website) : Correctly predict the last date there will be snow on Rib Mountain.

Send in your prediction to weather@waow.com

In the email please state your name, mailing address (not your email address), and the date you predict the last bit of snow will melt off Rib Mountain.

1 entry per person. Entries must be in by midnight Friday, May 2nd.

Prizes: All the people who correctly pick the snowmelt date will be entered into a drawing. There will be one grand prize winner drawn that will receive a $200 gift card for the R-stores of Northcentral Wisconsin (Riiser Energy Website) . All of the others who pick the correct date will receive a $10 gift card for use at the R-stores.

I am the final arbiter of the winning date. When it gets close, I head up to Rib Mountain on a daily basis and monitor the last bits of snow melting away.

I have a school presentation this morning, so that is all I hhave for the blog today.

Meteorologist Justin Loew

****PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE YOUR SNOWMELT PREDICTIONS IN THE COMMENT SECTION OF THE BLOG. SEND YOUR PREDICTION (name and address too) BY EMAIL TO weather@waow.com

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Surprise…Surprise…I think some of the high snow totals in the Point area caught everyone a little off guard, including myself.  We knew an upper level low will bring snow showers to the area today, but no where near the amounts that totals up in specific Locals.  Heavy snow showers tracked over the same areas through out the morning and daytime.  What a difference a couple miles can make.  Here at TV 9, maybe a half inch at best on the grassy areas, while just down the road in Schofield at my apartment, I had 2 inches piled up on my deck.  A little further down the road in Mosinee, up to 3 inches fell, while you head down 51 to Point…over 6 inches of a snow is being reported on grassy surfaces.  Thankfully we have a warm ground this time of year so even with 6 inches of snow, the pavement remained mainly wet.  Snow has already compacted and melted through the evening and won’t stick around much more than a day or two, with milder temperatures and rain in the forecast.

Here are some snow totals received here at TV 9

Stevens Point: 6.8"            Whiting: 5.0"          Almond: 4.5"        Scandinavia: 4.0"

Nekoosa:  2.0"                     Pittsville: 3.3"         Wild Rose: 4.0"   Big Flats:   2.0"

Greenwood: 2.5"                Neillsville: 1.5"        Weston: 1.0"

As always feel free to tell us how much snow fell at your house by leaving a comment.

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

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First I would like to share some photographs from last Friday’s severe weather. The first 2 were taken in Marathon City by Tracy Freund and Mike Stelzl. The third one was taken in Tomahawk by Matt Hoglund.

The nickel to golfball sized hail prompted 12 different severe thunderstorm warning ins the area. Severe weather is surely a sign of spring, right? As I look out the window and see snow covering the grass today I think maybe not. After the thunderstorms rumbled through Friday evening, winter promptly returned. High temps on Saturday were only in the 30s. We had high winds, cloudy skies, along with snow and graupel showers. Saturday was a brutal April day. Some sunshine appeared once again on Sunday, but today the snow is coming down once again. A couple of inches has fallen south of Marathon county. Here is Wausau it is enough to cover the grass and rooftops. 1.o inches is the record snowfall for today and we will be close to breaking that record. Tonight another record will be close to the breaking point. The record low for the 29th of April is 19. Right now I am forecast low temps in the low to mid 20s. Is there any hope for warmer weather. Yes and no, depending on how warm you like it this time of year. High temps should hit 50 tomorrow and be around 60 on Thursday and Friday. This is warmer but I am sure a few of you are hoping for the 70s to return. No 70s are in the forecast for this week or weekend. It might be 10 or 12 days before we reach that level again. I hate to rain on your parade but more rain is in the forecast later this week. There is a slight chance of rain on Wednesday night and Thursday (anything that falls should be light), then a chance of heavier rain or thunderstorms on Friday. The storm system that brings the rain will be another slow mover and it could produce some scattered showers over the weekend. If it does remain cloudy on Saturday and Sunday with a few light showers, then fishermen/women – be prepared, high temps will only be in the low 50s.

Space News:

NASA plans to help build and launch ‘nano’ satellites. The idea is to build numerous cheap small satellites for commercial and scientific applications. The satellites will weigh between 11 and 110 pounds. This weight is many times lighter than a ‘normal’ satellite, but I still don’t like the term ‘nano’. Officially, nanotechnology is anything smaller than 100 nanometers, which these satellites are not. I suppose ‘nano’ is a catchy marketing phrase so NASA decided to ride the wave to promote this new effort. I think a better name would have been miniature satellites, or ‘mini’. Maybe they already use the terms mini or micro and had to come up with something different.

The super long lived daring explorers otherwise known as the Mars Rovers are starting to shown more signs of wear. Opportunity has developed a major problem with its robotic arm. This is the arm that extends its micro camera and other scientific instruments to investigate rocks. Mission controllers think they can still use the instruments in limited ways, however it is a serious blow to Opportunity’s scientific capabilities. There was talk of shutting down the rovers a couple weeks back in an effort to save money. I wonder if this problem will bring that discussion to the forefront once again. Even if they do shut it down, it has had an extraordinary run of operation.

Meteorologist Justin Loew

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Well, yesterday I was debating how  much sunshine we would see today and it turns out we saw more sunshine.  Despite the extra sunshine temperatures were still on the cool side with highs ranging from the middle 40s in the Northwoods to near 50 degrees farther south.  Cool weather will persist as we go into Monday with temperatures only in the lower 40s as a weak low pressure system moves across the area.  This low is currently helping to generate light precipitation across the area mainly in the form of rain showers, but as temperatures fall we should changeover to all snow showers.  Scattered rain and snow showers will continue through Monday, but the ground is still pretty warm so little to no accumulation is expected.  Only a trace up to a half-inch is possible on some grassy surfaces.  It looks like temperatures will slowly climb into the 50s to around 60 degrees by the middle to end of the week!

Also, I thought it would be interesting to compare precipitation that we’ve received this year to what we saw last year.  Many of you are aware that we have been in a drought for the past 5 years or so, but could we finally be breaking the streak?  In Wausau, so far this year we have received 8.85" of liquid precipitation which is +2.40 inches above average.  Last year on this date we had received only 4.89" which was -1.56 inches below average.  It turns out that Rhinelander and Green Bay are also above average for precipitation so far this year which is great news!  In Rhinelander, 7.45" of liquid precipitation has fallen this year which is +1.61 inches above average.  Last year, Rhinelander only had 4.84" which was -0.98 inches below average.  Finally, for Green Bay, they have received 12.93" of liquid precipitation so far this year which is +6.33 inches above average.  Last year, Green Bay only had 6.30" which was -0.30 inches below average.  Let’s hope we can continue this trend for the rest of the Spring and Summer!!!

I wanted to share this link that I found as I was preparing a presentation on severe weather safety.  I thought it was hilarious and hopefully you can appreciate this from a meteorologists’ point of view.  Check out this special weather music video by clicking here!  Have a great night!

Meteorologist Megan Syner

Posted under Science

Well, Friday proved to be our first severe weather outbreak of the year and from our point of view, things went pretty smooth.  It was the first time that we had to deal with the new storm-based warning format – there have always been storm-based warnings, but before it used to be a combination of county and storm-based, now everything is exclusively storm-based.  This means that a warning can and will cover just a portion of several counties, an entire county or only part of a county – wherever the storm is expected.  You can also have two different storms in one county which would lead to two seperate warnings.  If would like to read more about storm-based warnings, click on this link. 

In our viewing area, there were 10 counties under severe thunderstorm warnings.  One fascinating thing about this event for us is how long a few single-cell storms maintained their severe strength.  The main threat was large hail and we received many large hail reports with the common range of size between quarter-sized and golf-ball size.  There were a few reports of hail larger than that.  Luckily, we only had to deal with hail and this time of year that’s pretty common.  The reason, especially with this particular storm is how much cold air aloft was present, there was a larger area within the storms where temperatures were below freezing so it doesn’t take as much updraft energy for hail to accumulate ice.  As you may have already heard there was one tornado touchdown in SE Wisconsin that hit the town of Wyocena.  The NWS in Milwaukee performed a storm survey and rated the tornado an EF1.  If you would like to read more about this tornado, NWS Milwaukee put together an article that you can check out here!

This was quite a storm system (as in the title one storm with many faces) because on the back side of this system in Minnesota there was accumulating snow.  Snow totals across parts of central and north-central Minnesota ranged from only a couple inches (2-4") all the way up to 8 and 9 inches.  I even saw some reports of snow up to 10-15 inches, across parts of northern Minnesota!  Which end of the storm would you rather have been on?  I’ll take the stormy weather over the winter weather!

We will continue to deal with unseasonably cool temperatures on Sunday with highs in the middle to upper 40s, but by early next week we will climb into the 50s and even 60s by the middle part of the week.  Something interesting to also note, late next week another storm system will affect the area and it seems pretty similar in track and intensity as this last one so we will be watching closely throughout the week to see how things progress.  Sometimes the overall long-wave pattern is a week long and its not uncommon to see a storm have the same track and characteristics as the one a week prior – but no two storms are exactly the same, each one is unique in its one way much like a snowflake!

That is all for tonight, have a great night!

Meteorologist Megan Syner

Posted under Science

About 5 or 6 years ago, many economists thought that oil at $40 dollars a barrel would send the world economy into depression. The price of oil has recently risen above $118 dollars a barrel and the economy is still in good shape (once you factor out the credit problems due to the housing bubble bursting). Food prices have risen because of the high price of oil, but the world is surviving. The high price of oil has led to record high prices for gas and some protests have occurred. There was a nationwide protest by truckers a few weeks back and just yesterday a gas station in Mequon shut down in order to show allegiance with driver’s fed up with the high price. People are angry at the gas and oil companies, but it is not as if they can just waive a magic wand and make the price of oil fall to $20 dollars a barrel. It isn’t a conspiracy. I have made this point several times and I think it bears repeating. THE PRICE OF OIL IS NOT COMING DOWN!! Anyway, the days of gas below $2.00 a gallon or oil below $50 a barrel are pipe dreams. Even if environmental regulations were lifted and oil companies were allowed to drill in coastal areas, in ANWR, and other areas, it would not affect the price very much. Complaining, protesting, and other useless activities, are just that – useless. Try to get the government involved and the problem will only get worse. The last time the government stepped in, we had to wait in line to buy gas. Better to have the high price and no shortages than have an artificially low price and wait hours or days in ‘gas lines’ to get your portion of gas.

If you think the price of gas is high right now, just wait until carbon cap and trade treaties come into effect. All three presidential candidates are planning on joining some sort-of global warming treaty. When these taxes/trading schemes are implemented the price of gas will most likely double and could even triple within a year or two. So get ready for $10.00 per gallon gas. But will the cap and trade system work to reduce carbon emissions? No. That is the conclusion from this analysis recently printed in the Wall Street Journal. Another opinion article here agrees. – suggesting higher taxes are the way to go. Like I mentioned earlier, get ready for $10 per gallon gas.

What about biofuels? Will they come to the rescue? No. I say this even though new ways of generating biofuels come along almost everyday. It makes sense to take waste products (like sawdust, not corn) and make fuel, but there is no where near enough waste to replace fossil fuels – not even close – not even in the ballpark. Neither can we grow enough switchgrass to make biofuel. Plus, burning biofuel still produces pollution.

The only thing that will bring the price of oil down is a major breakthrough in alternative energy, such as the somewhat mythical ‘cold fusion’, or in solar power. A major unexpected breakthrough could bring the price down within a couple years but it is more likely that it will be a gradual transition and we won’t see a big drop in the price of fossil fuels for another decade. Even though this will take time, there is a lot citizens can do to right now to improve the situation. I see sales of big trucks and SUVs are down. Good. Driving a fuel efficient car will save mucho moola. My cars both get over 30 mpg. There are some cars on the market that get over 40mpg. You could try a hybrid, but be careful they are not good for all situations. As long as you stay on battery power the Hybrid makes sense, which means short trips at low speeds. Now, if you are only driving in town, then you might as well go with an all electric car or NEV. Once one of my gas cars breaks down, I plan on buying an electric car for short distance-low speed driving. I’ll keep one gas car for long distances, that is until better cheaper electric cars hit the market. The advantages of electric cars are enormous. Not only are they cheap to drive, the maintenance cost is much lower. I was reminded of this point just yesterday when I pulled up to the oil change shop. No $30 oil changes required for an electric car. No muffler problems. No spark plug problems. No oxygen sensors to worry about. The list is endless. Another thing to consider is moving closer to the city. If you live in town or at least close, then you will be closer to most places of employment.

Some people have tried to downplay the positives of electric vehicles by pointing out that the electricity still has to come from somewhere and most of our electricity is generated by coal fired plants so there will still be carbon emissions. The good thing is that electric means of locomotion are much more efficient that by liquid hydrocarbons. Plus it is much easier to contain pollution coming from a few thousand coal plants than from hundreds of millions of internal combustion engines (cars). The holy grail for lower pollution, lower carbon emissions, and cheaper travel is electric cars supported by solar energy. It is the solution that makes the most sense. The good news is that more researchers are getting serious about getting solar power up and running soon. Here is a short article about recent efforts at MIT. Hey, you can even win money through the "energy prize" if you come up with solutions to energy production or conservation. Better hurry though, the deadline for entries is May 30th.

On the topic of carbon treaties (such as Kyoto), here is an interesting story about European countries burning increasing amounts of coal. Isn’t that just rich. For years here in the U.S we have heard to no end how we use too much energy. The U.S. has been the ‘evil’ polluter of the world (although China and India now produce more pollution than the U.S.). The U.S. has been constantly chastised for not ratifying the Kyoto treaty. At least we can say we are not hypocrites. Europe has not met Kyoto emission targets and now they are building more coal power plants. This was not supposed to happen. Me feeling is that European countries know that high energy prices will radically affect the economy and they are trying to avoid recession. On the subject of coal, the price of coal will also be going up sharply. In China they build 2 new coal fired plants every week and they are now getting short on coal. Supply constraints will cause the price to rise.

Enough about global warming and energy. What about the chance of severe weather today. Odds are that the worst severe weather will stay in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. The chance of severe weather in our area is lower because it doesn’t look like we will have enough sunshine to make the atmosphere more unstable. Still there is a lot of moisture and wind shear present so some hail and high winds will be possible late this afternoon. We will keep a close eye on the situation. Be sure to check waow.com for scrolling alerts later this afternoon.

After today it looks like a very cool spell of weather from Saturday through Monday. High temps will only be in the low to mid 40s and the west wind will be quite strong on Saturday making it feel extra raw. Adding insult to injury will be scattered rain and snow showers. The precipitation will not be heavy enough for accumulation but the last thing I know most of us want to see on April 26th and 27th is snow. By the middle of next week there should be more sunshine and temps should rise back into the 50s.

A viewer picture to round out today’s blog. This one taken by Tina Lang of Weston. It is a red fox absorbing some sun to keep warm back in early April.

Have a great weekend! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

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Not too much time for today’s blog post. I have a speaking engagement with an area school.

One thing I want to mention is that today there will be a statewide tornado drill between 1:00pm and 1:15pm. More details here. It is a good time to practice safety drills at work and at school. If you are at work during the tornado drill (maybe you will even here a tornado siren in your community), think about what safety measures are in place for your building. Most office buildings and manufacturing plants have specific instructions on what to do in the event of a tornado. Check it out and be prepared.

There may be some actual thunderstorms in the area this afternoon but there is not much risk of severe weather. The main threat today will come from heavy rain but that risk is confined to the northwestern corner of the state. A FLOOD WATCH is in effect for Price, Iron, and Ashland counties until noon Friday. A second part of the current storm system will move through Northcentral Wisconsin tomorrow and it will have a bit more wind shear and this could lead to a couple of severe storms. We will be watching the situation closely. If it stays cloudy all day tomorrow the risk of severe storms will be minimal. If the sun comes out for a couple of hours then the chance of severe storms will increase.

Over the weekend temps will cool down quite a bit and there might even be a few snowflakes mixing in with light rain showers. High temps on Sunday and Monday will only be in the 40s. More sunshine should return by the middle of next week with temps rising back up into the 50s.

Meteorologist Justin Loew

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Beautiful weather is gracing the landscape today with temperatures a good 10 degrees above normal. It has been rather mild since this past weekend. Does this mean it will be an early snowmelt off of Rib M0untain this year? There are a lot of variables that affect the snowmelt, including temperatures, precipitation, natural snowfall from the past winter, and man-made snow. If Granite Peak did not make as much artificial snow then perhaps the snow might melt a bit earlier. If a dramatic cold spell develops, then the snow could last into June. Why am I talking about the snowmelt on Rib Mountain? Because it is that time of year to enter your prediction in the Wake-up Wisconsin snowmelt contest.

Here is what you have to do to win big money from the R-stores of Northcentral Wisconsin (Riiser Energy Website) : Correctly predict the last date there will be snow on Rib Mountain.

Send in your prediction to weather@waow.com

In the email please state your name, mailing address (not your email address), and the date you predict the last bit of snow will melt off Rib Mountain.

1 entry per person. Entries must be in by midnight Friday, May 2nd.

Prizes: All the people who correctly pick the snowmelt date will be entered into a drawing. There will be one grand prize winner drawn that will receive a $200 gift card for the R-stores of Northcentral Wisconsin (Riiser Energy Website) . All of the others who pick the correct date will receive a $10 gift card for use at the R-stores.

I am the final arbiter of the winning date. When it gets close, I head up to Rib Mountain on a daily basis and monitor the last bits of snow melting away.

That being said, it looks like we will have a brief cold spell this weekend and that will slow down the snowmelt a bit. The cooler weather will develop behind a cold front that will bring rain to the area on Thursday and Friday. The front will move into Wisconsin on Thursday and stall over our are before moving out late Friday night. Showers and thunderstorms are likely but it doesn’t look like much severe weather is possible, with the exception of flooding. Heavy rain of 1 to 3 inches could fall in the northwestern corner of the state. Because of this, a FLOOD WATCH has been issued for Price, Iron, and Ashland counties. Rivers and streams are fairly high right now and additional rain could exacerbate the situation in some spots. Be sure to keep a close eye on the water levels if you live near area waterways. In Central Wisconsin the rain should not be as heavy. Right now it looks like a half inch could fall on Thursday and another half inch is possible on Friday.

Talking about the rain and flooding potential reminds me that it is severe weather awareness week in Wisconsin. Flooding is a concern everywhere in the U.S. including Wisconsin. Since most flooding deaths in the modern era occur while driving automobiles, the number one thing to remember is "turn around, don’t drown". If you see a flooded roadway, don’t drive through, turn around and find a safer route. For more information on flood safety and flood statistics read this webpage.

Ok, back to the forecast now. After the rain ends, it looks like temps will turn much cooler for the weekend. How cool? Cool enough that I have to include a slight chance of snow Sunday night and/or Monday. High temps will be in the low 50s on Saturday and then in the 40s for Sunday and Monday. A low pressure system will be moving through the upper Midwest on Sunday and Monday. It will produce a chance of rain and that rain might mix with a few flakes of snow on Sunday night or Monday. Don’t get too depressed, it is unlikely there will be any accumulation.

Here is something to cheer you up! The warm weather has led to some early Spring flowers popping up. Viewers have sent in some crocus pictures over the last few days:

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Overall, Northcentral Wisconsin has been spared of major spring flooding.  Rivers remain high and a few above flood stage in southern Wisconsin, including the Wisconsin River in Columbia County.  For us, several rivers has reached there banks over the past week, with very little flooding reported.  The Wisconsin River in Rothschild remains near flood stage but is forecasted to go down.  The same holds true for the Prairie River near Merrill.  Earlier today a flood warning was issued for Yellow River by Babcock, but water levels have quickly dropped this evening.

With a decent early spring snow pack, we have faired pretty well.  With the saturated ground we will have to watch upcoming rain events closely.  I still think we would be ok after one good soaker, it is the back to back soakers that could raise water levels again.  The forecast calls for storms tomorrow and yet again on Thursday.  There should be enough of a break in between, to allow rivers to recover.  Even during flooding season, rain is always a welcome sight as long as it is spaced out in a timely manner.

For the latest on Water Levels in the area…check out this link

I’d alway like to remind all of you…this is Tornado Safety Week…go here for more!!!

Brian Niznansky

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