Geos Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 Bo and I chatted about this a few months ago...but for any others who are interested, I put together a climo summary of Minocqua, WI. It's in the north woods of WI, and I hope to retire there someday. A beautiful area with lakes, black spruce trees, log cabins, snowmobiles, ice fishing, and many other winter activities. I visited there several times in the summers and winters during the 1990s and 2000s, and fell in love with the town and the people. Minocqua is right on the edge of the Lake Superior lake effect belt. Some years see significant lake-effect snow, and other years see relatively little. Snowfall increases dramatically to the NW of Minocqua, and decreases dramatically to the SE. Records go back to 1904, although there is some missing data. Snowfall data is only analyzed since 1950, as the pre-1950 data is poor quality. Before looking through the data, I knew that Minocqua had significantly colder and snowier winters than Chicago…but the difference is even more impressive than I thought. And, even the summers in Minocqua are quite a bit cooler than Chicago…especially the nighttime lows. I didn’t think the summertime temperature difference would be as drastic. I’ll try to summarize some monthly numbers in a later post, along with other anomalous/anecdotal info. One quick note - their warmest January on record (22.5 degrees in 2006) is roughly a "normal" January in Chicago. This is one example that shows how different the climate is between N WI and N IL. It really is amazing. Station info Station Network: GHCN:COOP Station ID: USC00475516 Station Name: MINOCQUA Latitude: 45.8864 Longitude: -89.7322 Elevation: 1601.1 ft State: WI Country: US Sunrise/sunset June 21 sunrise: 5:11 AM June 21 sunset: 8:55 PM Day length: 15 hours, 44 min Dec. 21 sunrise: 7:31 AM Dec. 21 sunset: 4:10 PM Day length: 8 hours, 39 min All-time temp records Max temp: 106 on 7/13/1936 Min temp: -48 on 1/28/1915, 2/3/1996 Snow depth Max snow depth: 46” on 2/6/1971 Avg. peak annual snow depth: 23.0” Lowest peak annual snow depth: 12” in 1958 Early/Late snowfall extremes Earliest T of snow: T on 9/18/1991 Earliest 1” of snow: 1.0” on 10/1/2003 Latest 1” of snow: 2.5” on 5/17/1997 Latest T of snow: T on 5/30/1947 Annual snowfall averages and extremes Avg. annual snow: 96.2” Max. annual snow: 168.9” in 1996 Min. annual snow: 38.9” in 2010 Snow Depth Days and snow cover Avg. annual SDDs: 1,593 Max annual SDDs: 3,330 in 1971 Min annual SDDs: 646 in 2011 Longest consecutive snow cover: 175 days (11/10/1995 to 5/2/1996) Extreme cold 17 days with a low temp of -40 or colder (on average, 1 day every 6 years) 201 days with a low temp of -30 or colder (on average, 2 days per year) A typical winter sees a coldest temp of -31. Only one year failed to hit -20 (-18 in 2010). Annual temperature normal and extremes Largest temp variation in a calendar year: 146 degrees (-40 to 106 in 1936) Avg. Max temp: 51.3 Avg. Min temp: 28.5 Avg. Mean temp: 39.9 Warmest year: 44.2 in 1998 Coldest year: 35.7 in 2014 Sub-32 degree highs: Avg. = 86 Most = 116 in 2014 Fewest = 54 in 1931 Sub-zero lows: Avg. = 44 Most = 74 in 1943 Fewest = 17 in 2006 90-degree days: Avg. = 3.7 Most = 16 in 1988 Fewest = 0 in several years That's a gorgeous area. Been there many times. Manitowish Waters is where the good LES amounts start piling up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherbo Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 good stuff beavis! thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beavis1729 Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 That's a gorgeous area. Been there many times. Manitowish Waters is where the good LES amounts start piling up. Yep, agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michsnowfreak Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 nice data! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beavis1729 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 good stuff beavis! thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beavis1729 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 nice data! Thanks Josh. It's fun to dig through the data. The co-op station is at 1,600 ft. elevation, which just adds on to the wintry feel in addition to being close to 46N. Tim is still the master of data and charts - second to none! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonger Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 I'll probably end up in Traverse City, with a weekend place in either Ontario or the UP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geos Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 Yep, agree. Map for a reference. Woodruff/Minoqua is that blue dot - 110.5". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beavis1729 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 Thanks for the map, Geos. The 30-yr snowfall average is slightly above the long term norm. They had some huge winters in the 1990s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloWeather Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 In Miami on vacation, we don't get storms like this up in buffalo. Just incredible constant thunder, lightning, and torrential downpours that don't end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Perry Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 One 60° sunny day, followed by three 40° wind-driven rainy days. Wash, rinse and repeat. Warm air keeps getting pushed too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogueWaves Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 One 60° sunny day, followed by three 40° wind-driven rainy days. Wash, rinse and repeat. Warm air keeps getting pushed too. ..tell me about it!!! My girl plays tennis for Marshall and is a senior. Believe it or not, 2016 is the BEST spring she's had for tennis season her entire high school experience. At least we don't have massive snow pile remnants staring us in the face like 2 yrs ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wisconsinwx Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 I'm definitely done polishing the turd that is our Spring. The amazing thing is we are actually above normal this spring thanks partially to no major record cold and relatively mild lows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllinoisWedges Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 Been seeing some hype/chatter on Twitter about a possible pattern change coming at the middle-end of May? GFS and ensembles have been showing a warmer pattern evolving. Thoughts? Kinda want to get rid of this winter talk.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-L-E-K Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 looks super boring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Perry Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 Been seeing some hype/chatter on Twitter about a possible pattern change coming at the middle-end of May? GFS and ensembles have been showing a warmer pattern evolving. Thoughts? Kinda want to get rid of this winter talk.. That pattern change has been in the long term since the middle of February lol. Just keeps getting pushed further and further. Keep on eye on your forecast highs. Day 5-7 will be deep into the 70s, and as the days progress, they drop until it's tomorrow and it's 60°. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torchageddon Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 Not sure where to put this, but incredible close up video of the April 9th, 2015 Fairdale Tornado. Unfortunately with a very sad ending as well. http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20160403/news/160409707/ Longer version of that here. This ranks right up there with that Washington IL video in the top 1 and 2 for me. Just incredible. How did one of the best tornado videos just pop out of nowhere like this? It had the full package right there. I have watched tons of tornado videos and a bunch in March and April (included one's I've seen many times such as the Fritch, TX June 26, 1992 one where the guy films a giant cone after being struck by lightning). Here I was thinking he was the only one with enough bravery to do that in his circumstance and turns out the "modern" version comes up. I'll be watching this one 200 times (I've watched the 20 seconds of peak winds to black 150 times already). One of the most shocking and mind blowing tornado videos and quite frankly there are too many to rank. As far as the audio, that is the sound of a snuff-out. I heard the Alto IN Church audio from 1965 Palm Sunday for the first time a week before I saw this, now there are 3/4 contenders for best tornado audio recordings. This is an exaggeration, but this video coming out a year later is like a picture of the Tri-State tornado surfacing after 90 something years. Floored. More of my thoughts about the audio, it maxes out the noise that can come from your headphones/speakers at whatever level you currently have it. When the tornado hits his house, the loudness is so incomprehensible that the audio crackles and becomes high pitched. I also noticed this in the only violent tornado intercept where someone filmed going through one in open field space with the TIV2 (May 27, 2013). Someone should do photogrammetry on this to determine what the wind speeds were on his street during the approach and final frames before blackout. The video was studied and unveiled according to that article so it may have been done. The two main questions I had were not answered in that Herald piece: Why Clem didn't take cover (given reason didn't make sense, could have taken shelter in an interior room) and why the video took a year to come out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerball Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 That pattern change has been in the long term since the middle of February lol. Just keeps getting pushed further and further. Keep on eye on your forecast highs. Day 5-7 will be deep into the 70s, and as the days progress, they drop until it's tomorrow and it's 60°. Yep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Perry Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Absolutely ecstatic for our sub 50° high next Saturday... When will it end? Also, that video of the Washington, Illinois Tornado is absolutely stunning. I've watched the same scene about 50 times. I actually just looked up the extended video of the Fritch tornado... Surreal to see children on bikes playing one minute and less than 5 minutes later lightning striking so close it's distorting the video - at one point I swear you can hear the static charge building in the video before the strike, all the while a skinny rope in the background. Very intense videos for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Yeah, extended looks pretty nasty, especially next weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormtrackertf Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Saturday A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56. Saturday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. Sunday Partly sunny, with a high near 57.Someone put me out of my misery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Perry Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Saturday A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56. Saturday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. Sunday Partly sunny, with a high near 57. Someone put me out of my misery. Ugh... models are actually below 0°C by 18z Saturday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geos Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Most of the week looks like garbage here, except Thursday looks mild. Looks almost cold enough to frost this coming weekend for a lot of us in the northern half of the sub forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torchageddon Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Absolutely ecstatic for our sub 50° high next Saturday... When will it end? You wouldn't believe my face when I saw my local forecast for this weekend, smiling ear to ear and ready to do some cartwheels. I'm high on happiness as highs are going to be that of a mid-November day with lows near freezing...that means more heavy blankets and the heat being on in the middle of May! The cherry on top is its going to be an even worse weekend than the one we just finished (plus almost every weekend except one in April being a drag) . After being told of a very warm Spring and looking forward to a scorching May, this pinch to wake me up from this desire can wait - we're all spoiled. Also, that video of the Washington, Illinois Tornado is absolutely stunning. I've watched the same scene about 50 times. I actually just looked up the extended video of the Fritch tornado... Surreal to see children on bikes playing one minute and less than 5 minutes later lightning striking so close it's distorting the video - at one point I swear you can hear the static charge building in the video before the strike, all the while a skinny rope in the background. Very intense videos for sure. The bike thing was a nice touch, I guess you could hear something building up but I never noticed it. I wish the camera was focused on the first tornado. I have the full HD clip of the Washington, Illinois tornado video mentioned so I can re-watch that and its substantially better than the shorter SD version that came out in Nov 2013. I regard it much higher now and if anyone has any doubts, check it out again on YT because the news reel version doesn't cut it. Ugh... models are actually below 0°C by 18z Saturday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McDude Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Someone please tell me we're eventually going to get out of this funk. One nice day every 10 days? If it's cloudy anymore I'm going to cry... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beavis1729 Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 More info on the climate of Minocqua, WI – adding on to Post #185 earlier in the thread. Monthly normals & records Jan normal high/low: 20/-2…record high 56 (1/24/1944)…record low -48 (1/28/1915) Feb normal high/low: 27/2…record high 60 (2/19/1930)…record low -48 (2/3/1996) Mar normal high/low: 37/13…record high 78 (3/29/1910)…record low -36 (3/1/1962) Apr normal high/low: 51/27…record high 90 (4/28/1952)…record low -18 (4/1/1924) May normal high/low: 66/40…record high 99 (5/31/1934)…record low 15 (5/10/1966) Jun normal high/low: 73/50…record high 99 (6/29/1910)…record low 25 (6/3/1929) Jul normal high/low: 77/54…record high 106 (7/13/1936)…record low 30 (7/1/1945) Aug normal high/low: 75/52…record high 99 (8/5/1947)…record low 30 (8/28/1934) Sep normal high/low: 66/44…record high 95 (9/8/1976)…record low 19 (9/29/1945) Oct normal high/low: 53/33…record high 86 (10/2/1976)…record low 3 (10/30/1925) Nov normal high/low: 37/20…record high 75 (11/1/1944)…record low -18 (11/28/1976) Dec normal high/low: 24/5…record high 57 (12/3/1982)…record low -36 (12/19/1983) Cold periods From 1/1/1912 – 1/16/1912, the average high/low was -5/-26…including -14/-41 on January 6. From 1/16/1936 – 2/22/1936, every day had a sub-zero low. This streak (38 days) is the longest on record. During this period, the average high/low was 6/-19. The coldest day during this period was -10/-40 on February 16. From 1/6/1982 – 2/13/1982, the average high/low was 11/-15…including the following temps from January 16-18: 8/-28, -26/-38, -11/-35. The high temp of -26 on January 17 is the coldest high temp on record, and is 46 degrees below the normal high of 20 for the date. From 12/18/1983 – 12/26/1983, the average high/low was 1/-29…including a low temp of -36 on December 19 & 20. From 1/25/1996 – 2/5/1996, the average high/low was 5/-30…including low temps of -34, -37, -44, -48, -44, -34 on January 31 – February 5 (-48 on February 3 is the all-time record low). From 1/14/2009 – 1/17/2009, the low temps were -22, -24, -24, -29. Abnormal/noteworthy snowfall 5.0” of snow on 5/10/1990 is the heaviest snowfall so late in the season, by far 7.0” of snow on 10/7/2000 is the heaviest snowfall so early in the season, by far Abnormal/noteworthy temperatures Low temp of -43 on 2/25/1938 is 48 degrees colder than the daily normal low of 5. This appears to be the largest negative departure from normal on record, for both low and high temps. Low temp of -30 on 3/18/1939, just a few days before the beginning of astronomical Spring. Low temp of -21 on 3/31/1923…a pre-April Fools Day joke. Low temp of -11 on 4/15/1928, with 6” of snow on the ground. Amazingly wintry for mid-April. It did warm up to 37 later that day, though. Low temp of -5 on 4/20/1928. No other day even comes close with respect to late-season cold. Low temp of 15 on 5/10/1966 (all-time May low temp occurred on the 10th day of the month). Low temp of 30 on 7/1/1945 (below freezing during the peak of summer). High temp of 99 on 5/31/1934 (it hasn’t been hotter in June, much less May…and no other day in May has been warmer than 92). High temp of 72 on 3/8/2000 (by far the warmest on record so early in the season; Next earliest 72+ temp is 73 on 3/27/1910). 1976 had a very up-and-down Fall. Monthly record highs were set on Sep 8 (95) and Oct 2 (86)… followed by a monthly record low on Nov 28 (-18). For all 31 days in January, the record low temp is -30 or colder Jan 1 and Jan 30 are the only two dates on which a temp of 40 or higher has never been recorded. Daily record highs are 37 and 39 respectively. First temp of X or higher so early in the season 95: 5/31/1934 (99) 90: 4/28/1952 (90) 85: 4/23/1980 (89) 80: 4/17/2001 (81) 75: 3/29/1910 (78) 70: 3/8/2000 (72) 65: 3/8/2000 )72) 60: 2/19/1930 (60) Last temp of X or lower so late in the season -40: 2/25/1928 (-43) -35: 3/1/1962 (-36) -30: 3/18/1939 (-30) -25: 3/23/1906 (-26) -20: 3/31/1923 (-21) -15: 4/1/1924 (-18) -10: 4/15/1928 (-11) -5: 4/20/1928 (-5) 0: 4/20/1928 (-5) 5: 4/20/1928 (-5) 10: 4/30/1945 (10) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geos Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Someone please tell me we're eventually going to get out of this funk. One nice day every 10 days? If it's cloudy anymore I'm going to cry... I know this is really dragging on this weather. Wish it could be cloudy and mild at least. 60s for your area on Wed and Thurs it looks like. So a little better before the big trough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chambana Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 7 out of 9 days of May have been below average, and possible sub 60 degree high on Saturday, in the middle of freaking may!!! Oh well, the frequent soaking rains have the grass and shrubs looking almost artificial they're so lush green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherbo Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 7 out of 9 days of May have been below average, and possible sub 60 degree high on Saturday, in the middle of freaking may!!! Oh well, the frequent soaking rains have the grass and shrubs looking almost artificial they're so lush green.It's beginning to look as if it may not get out of the 30's here on Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geos Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 It's beginning to look as if it may not get out of the 30's here on Saturday. That's brutal. Looking like sub 50° here that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.