29. Cool and dry continues, fire danger increasing. Best rain will stay farther south this weekend.
This first map (to the right) is from Wisconsin's DNR and shows fire danger today. The northern tier of counties (my area) has risen to High today, with the rest of Wisconsin still Moderate.
Green-up is lagging with the cool temperatures, and air from Canada across the region is providing a very dry airmass.We are not behind on precipitation for the month or the year, but we could use some rain in the next few days.
Most of northern Minnesota is listed by MN-DNR in the Moderate category, the exception is in the far northwestern corner Minnesota where the danger has risen to High.
Rain chances are slim for the north.
This map (to the left), from the HPC, shows forecast precipitation amounts for the next three days (ending 19:00 on Monday).
A low pressure will move east out of the northern Plains, but it looks like most of the rain will stay in southern Minnesota, instead of Wisconsin.
The map does show up to a tenth or two of rain is possible, however, that amount will not be enough to quell the rising fire danger.
Crystal, from Madison, asked an interesting question in my Quick Comment box:
Does anyone know the 2008 snowfall totals for southern Wisconsin (Madison area) verses northern Wisconsin (Minocqua area)... I'm having a disagreement with my fiance (I live near Madison... Him near Minocqua) and I told him we had more snow this winter than they did... can anyone help me???
Minocqua (in northwestern Oneida County) usually receives 80 and 90 inches of snow in one Winter season.
Madison (in central Dane County) measures 44 inches in an average Winter.
Last Winter's snow flip-flopped across Wisconsin. This map (to the right) is from the NWS in Milwaukee and shows reports from 200 weather observers across the state.
This Winter, Minocqua measured about 56 inches of snow while Madison recorded an all-time record of 101.4 inches at the airport. A new record of over 101 inches smashes the old one (1978-79) by over 25 inches!
Highest snowfall is usually across the Gogebic (in Michigan) and Penokee (in Wisconsin) ranges of northern Wisconsin's Highland Region. Higher elevation in conjunction with lake-effect snow from Lake Superior usually give this area the highest totals. In fact, several ski resorts lie within this region: Black Jack, White Cap Mountain, Pine Mountain, Big Powderhorn Mountain, Porcupine Mountains, and Copper Peak.
This Winter turned out to be heavily influenced by a La Nina in the Pacific Ocean, keeping the majority of snowstorms across the south.
I have one other blog post concerning average precipitation and snowfall across Wisconsin, which can be found here.
And finally, I stumbled across two nearby webcams yesterday.
I found the webcams on the website of Kerr Studio & Gallery, located in downtown Bayfield (Bayfield Co.). Bayfield is located only a fifteen minute drive north of me, along the coast of Chequamegon Bay. Both webcams look easterly over Chequamegon Bay and the docks along the shoreline.
The top cam shows the city dock and a Memorial to Commercial Fisherman. The bottom cam overlooks the parking lot for the docks and ferry. At the peak of the season, cars queuing up for the ferry will be visible stretching across the parking lot.
The land on the horizon of the first cam should be Madeline Island itself while I think the larger bump on the second cam is Basswood Island, one of the 21 islands that make up the Apostle Island National Lakeshore (wikipedia).
In the near future, I'll be adding this new webcam to my map showing webcams across the region, which can be found on this post.
Rain chances are slim for the north. 
Crystal, from Madison, asked an interesting question in my Quick Comment box:
This Winter, Minocqua measured about 56 inches of snow while Madison recorded an all-time record of 101.4 inches at the airport. A new record of over 101 inches smashes the old one (1978-79) by over 25 inches!
And finally, I stumbled across two nearby webcams yesterday.