Talk about a cold night last night!  We have another one in store for tonight!  The good news is the seven day may be the best forecast I have seen for the area.  I can not believe we are going to see 70′s for the mid of October.  This year is completely the opposite of what we saw last year.  We had a mild and dry Sept last year and a wet and cool October.   This year it is vice versa! Here are just a few of the lows that we hit around the area:

Land O Lakes 23

Rhinelander 23

Eagle River 25

Conover 25

Neekoosa 25

Neecedah 25

Whittlesey 26

Antigo 27

Stevens Point 27 

Medford 28

Rib Mountain 29

For most areas it was the first freeze and the coldest night that we have seen so far this year!  I was up around 7 am and it was so cold out! It was neat though seeing the frost covering the ground. 

I also went hiking today because I wanted to see the Fall colors before they go away! It truly was a perfect fall day for it.  We will see a warm week ahead and if you haven’t been able to take a drive, hike or a bike ride and enjoy the beauty I really suggest you make the effort this week.  I wanted to share a few pictures from my hike up Rib today!

 Here is the pic of the frost, kind of hard to see but the ground is covered!   Have a great night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Fall, Fall Color, forecast, Freeze

I can’t believe that it is almost October, and that some places up north are almost to peak for fall color!  Fall officially started a week ago but across the area it has felt like fall the entire month of September.  Fall is such a gorgeous time of the year with the leaves changing colors.  I have talked about this a few times but I can truly say the season I probably missed most living in Florida and Texas was fall.  The natural beauty that fall brings really is spectacular.

Last year I wrote an article about why leaves change.  That is always a common question that people seem interested in.  So if you want to know the answer you can check out this link.  I’ll give you a clue, it has to do with the sun!

If you haven’t had a chance to get out and experience the colors for yourself you can look at this link to find out how far along your colors are! The site also has great ideas and maps on where to go to see the leaves.  I know that I am going to head up to Rib Mountain soon, before it’s to late!

Here is the map of colors across the state:

Last but not least! We saw our next Tropical Storm today, Tropical Storm Nicole.  But she was very short lived.  She was only a tropical storm for around 7 hours!  Her last advisory was just issued so she is no more.  One thing she did though bring LOTS of rain to Florida.

Have a great day tomorrow in enjoy the beautiful fall weather! I will on the golf course!

Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Fall, Fall Color, Tropics

Wow has the cool weather taken it to the trees!!!  Bright yellows…oranges…and reds are popping up across North Central Wisconsin.  Most of the Northwoods is now reporting up to 50%.  This is at least a few weeks ahead of last year.  Heck the Weather Channel hasn’t even started there U.S. Fall Foliage Maps Yet… http://www.weather.com/maps/activity/fallfoliage/index_large.html ..come on guys get with it!!!

Hurley will be the first to peak…already reporting near peak conditions.   Marathon County is official only up to 25%, but that 25% sure is bright!!!   

I have a feeling the trees were more than ready to go.  Remember how early the trees budded and got leaves this last spring.  We had all sorts of leaves by the end of April!  Before you know it…the leaves will be gone.   I think most spots will peak with in the next two weeks.

Click here for more information on the State Fall Foliage

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

Posted under Fall, Fall Color

September in Wisconsin can provide some of the best weather of the year.  Stretches of sunny skies, comfortable temperatures, and low humidity are very common.  But we also know how that can quickly change. 

Also depending on the weather, fall colors can also be very impressive.  So far September has been cooler than average, which has sped up the fall foliage process.  On my drive to work today I snapped a couple shots along the way.

Color is isolated through out central Wisconsin.  Orange and red trees pepper the horizon among the still majority green.  But it’s these first trees deciding to pop that provide some of the brightest colors of the season.

Here is the latest State Wide Color Report.

Almost everywhere in the area is still below 25% of peak but that will quickly change in the coming weeks, especially with the continuing cooler than average weather.  Many spots may even hit peak by the end of the month!!

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

Posted under Fall Color

This past weekend I was talking about how we have to blog on our weather page and that I am always looking for new ideas.  My Grammy, like most most Grandmas, suggest I talk about an event in history. 

She starts to tell me about Hurricane Bob which hit Massachusetts in 1991.  She couldn’t recall the exact year but knew it hit Cape Cod in the early 1990′s and caused extensive damage.  She points out what was most interesting is that the leaves were all grown and that there was so much salt water that came in with the winds that the salt actually killed the foliage!  So that fall they didn’t have the changing of the leaves since the leaves turned brown from the salt.  I was reading a few articles, this one describes exactly what she was explaining.

From the story my Grandma said that in the Spring the leaves began to come out and go through the normal cycle of what would happen in Fall, growing and changing of the colors.  Because of that they called it a “Sprall” – combining Spring and Fall.  I have been doing research to see if I can verify exactly what happened, I’ll let you know what I find out.

Hurricane Bob was a Category 2 hurricane that it the east coast on Sept 3 1991.  Top gusts on the cape were at 125 mph. Approx damage for New England was 680 million dollars. 

For more about the hurricane you can check out:

History of Hurricane Bob

History from the National Weather Service

Have a great night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Uncategorized

With the recent arrival of colder air, the fall colors have really exploded the last couple of days across northcentral Wisconsin.  A few spots are already reporting near peak color.  Kristen and I took a drive up to Merrill today for a school talk and I was just amazed by the color. 

The last couple of week’s I’ve been wondering how this year’s foliage would turn out.  Remember the leaves started to change when we hit a cold snap way back in late August.  Then we had a very warm and dry first 3 weeks of September and the tree color literally stalled and the leaves just kind of wilted.  I guess all it took was the return of Fall!!!

To check the Fall Color State Map…follow this link..

I also wanted to mention that we now have a camera hooked up on top of the Dudley Tower in downtown Wausau.  This camera should provide us with some beautiful and useful views of the area.  I hope you like it.

http://www.waow.com/Global/Category.asp?C=155397

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

Posted under Fall Color