Freeze Warnings for Sunday morning, wildfires last week.

Freezing temps likely Sunday Morning!

This afternoon National Weather Service offices in Duluth, Marquette, and Green Bay have issued a Freeze Warning for early Sunday morning (5.31.09).

High pressure, located over the Yukon this afternoon (Friday) will rotate down into the Dakotas by Saturday and the Western Great Lakes by Sunday. This dome of high pressure will bring very dry air and calm winds.

Dry air cannot hold as much heat as moist air, so there is a period of several hours that temperatures may fall below freezing.

High temps, high wind, high flames! 5.20.09.

There were several fires reported across northern Wisconsin last Wednesday during a very hot and windy day. Most fires were easily traced to downed power lines by trees and branches breaking in the high gusts.

The biggest fire was called the Blockhouse Fire (pictured above and below) because of its close proximity to Blockhouse Lake east of Park Falls, WI -- not too far from my old stomping grounds. The fire ended up totaling 112 acres with several houses lost, one was a permanent residence, but firefighters were able to save a dozen other houses from the flames.

Other fires started in Bayfield (13 acres burned), Ashland, Iron (five fires and one barn), and Vilas counties (45 acres), and20 acres outside of Rhinelander in Ondeida County.

Stories about the fires from several local newspapers:

Ashland Daily Press
The Lakeland Times
Park Falls Herald

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Fire Department Network News


Hot + Dry+ Windy = Excellent Fire Conditions!

While the temperature at most weather stations across the north hit 90 degrees, the air was very dry too. The dewpoint at Ashland was 43 degrees in the afternoon, with a relative humidity of 19% !!

I put wind speed and temperature data from Ashland's airport into a graph (to the right). The highest recorded wind gust was 52 mph, one of the highest in the region.

Hummingbirds return to snowflakes.

Hummingbirds returned to Maple Hill on May 10th.

Last Sunday we spotted the first hummer buzzing around the house, looking for the feeder he remembered from last year. The plan this year is to put a feeder on opposite sides of the house, increasing the likelihood that a male will claim each feeder without fighting.

Map of first reports this year.


I thought it might be a little early for the hummingbirds to be this far north, so I headed over to hummingbirds.net to find out.

Nope, it turns out that the first report (map to the left) of a hummingbird in my area was submitted five days earlier (5.5.09).

Either way, I'm thrilled to have the little guys back!! And now, in the following days, a female has been showing up at the feeder too.


Snowflakes still being reported across parts of northern Wisconsin.

Three locations reported a trace of snow last Saturday, which shows up as a 'T' in this 7:00 report from COOP observers (to the right).

* Butternut, Ashland County.
* Clam Lake (4 mi W), Bayfield County.
* Madeline Island, Ashland County.

Then, two more locations reported snowflakes this last Friday, listed in this report from 7:00 Saturday morning from COOP observers (to the right).

* Butternut, Ashland County.
* Sarona, Washburn County.

In addition, I saw snowflakes at two locations in northern Bayfield County, but was unable to submit a COOP report in time for this report. I had snowflakes at my house on Maple Hill at 6:00 and then again at 6:30 at Mawikwe Beach along Lake Superior.

Freeze warnings last night.

Cold overnight temperatures continue, as a very large portion of Wisconsin had Frost Advisories or Freeze Warnings early this morning.

From MesoWest, I grabbed a map (to the left) that shows minimum temperatures since midnight. On top of this map, I drew in a line between temperatures below & above freezing.

Interior sections away from Lake Superior fell as low as 25 degrees, but certain areas managed to stay above freezing. Here on the Bayfield Peninsula, the temperatures were warmed by Lake Superior... my low temperature was 35 degrees.

Lake-effect cold, Spring, and stormy.

After a warm start yesterday, the Lake kept nearby areas cold, while clouds kept temps down over Eastern Wisconsin.

I grabbed a screenshot (to the left) from my GRlevel3 at 17:40 (5.40p) yesterday (4.23.09) that shows observed temperatures and wind barbs. On top of this map I drew in contours of 50, 60, 70, and 80 degrees. I went a little crazy and did an 85 and a 90 degree contour also :)

At a higher elevation and with a southern wind, I was able to maintain a warmer temperature .


A sure sign of spring!

Derek in Polk County (NW Wisconsin Weather Blog) has been noticing that daffodils at his location are beginning to bloom. This matches the yellow I'm beginning to see in my front yard. Yesterday I snapped this photo (to the right) of the first daffodils that are opening.

OSNW3 asked about The Last Day of Winter. Yep, that day has come and gone and I missed it. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to sit down and pinpoint the day before the weekend is over.

First T-storm of season moved over Maple Hill this morning!!

I awoke around 4:00 this morning to the sound of thunder and my lightning sensor clicking.

After hail SW of Duluth the previous evening, a lone thunderstorm cell kept moving northeast across northern Wisconsin and the Bayfield Peninsula. I was lucky enough to have the cell pass directly overhead.

I grabbed this screenshot (to the left) from my GRlevel3 at 4:10 this morning. The greatest reflectivity on this base scan was 48 dBz, a pretty respectable strength!

NWS Duluth issued a Special Weather Statement concerning this lone cell at 4:05 this morning. I took a screenshot of the statement (to the right), that highlighted possible gusty winds and a brief heavy downpour.

Unfortunately, it produced only a trace of precipitation at my house... no heavy downpours. We could use more rain to help speed the green-up along.


Strong and Severe Thunderstorms this evening across WI.

I grabbed two screenshots (to the left) from AccuWeather.com from around 20:40. The view on the left shows possible snow north of Duluth, while the right image shows the blossoming cloud tops associated with deeper convection.

Addendum - 4.25.09 (Sat) @ 8:30: Storm Reports.

Again from my GRlevel3, I pulled the image of storm reports (to the right) this morning from across Wisconsin, from yesterday (Fri) evening and overnight.

The blue dots in a green bubble show locations where hail was reported, most were 0.5" or 0.88" (nickel-size), but there were a few around the Sparta area that report 1" hail (this is the new criteria for a Severe Thunderstorm).

The orange bubbles of a lightning bolt and anemometer show reports of thunderstorm wind damage. Trees were down on powerlines south of Park Falls and trees down near Fifield, both in Price County. Merrill in Lincoln County had pine branches down, and a tree fell on a house in Marathon County. The winner seems to be up in the Keewanaw Peninsula in the UP, where the city of Laruim was without power due to trees across powerlines.

And I can't leave out that there was 1" of snow reported northwest of Duluth. Apparently, the snow just will not quit!! As a side note, NWS Duluth is hinting that we may have one more shot at snow in the next seven days.

Snow returned to WI on April 20th!

I put together a map showing the reported snowfall totals, and a picture of my deck covered in white!

But first, as an addendum, I forgot that I wanted to link to OSNW3's radar loop from the storm. All his observations from Oshkosh, with pictures and more radar loops can be found on his observation page (here).

OSNW3 broke the radar loops up into each day, I picked the day (above) when the majority of the snow hit the region.

Snowfall map.

Since it seems the surrounding NWS Offices did not put together post-storm snowfall maps, I went through the storm reports and created this map (to the left).

The highest total I found in Wisconsin was in northern Iron County at Gile... 17" total.

There were much higher totals in the UP of Michigan, the highest I found in the western UP was in central Baraga County... with 29" total.

I spent much of Monday outside of Ashland in Ashland County, where all the precipitation fell as rain, while only a few miles east in the higher terrain there was heavy snow. Elevation and proximity to lake-enhanced moisture created some very heavy snows across part of the region!!

Snow on my deck on the Bayfield Peninsula.

All the heavy snow stayed 40 miles E and SE of my location, I did see more snow at my house... only 0.5" inches. The rest of the precipitation fell as rain, albeit a chilly rain with temperatures in the mid-30's.

I took a picture (to the right) of my deck covered in snow on Monday evening.

I measured a total of 0.73" of liquid from three days, most of which was rain.

First & Last snow dates this winter.

The first snowflake fell on Maple Hill October 27th, 2008. Assuming that no more snow will fall this spring, the last snowflake fell on Maple Hill April 21st, 2009.

This is a duration of 176 days, which is 18 days longer than last winter (158 days).