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.