EXCESSIVE FORCE
New member
We run about 4,000 miles per season and have no doubt it will happen again this season...
So I'm fooling around with one of my early Christmas presents today. You've probably seen the commercials for Amazon's Echo, it's the voice activated Google Box thingy. So I asked Alexa, "When will the snowmobile season start in Wisconsin?" Alexa responded by saying, "I don't know the answer to that".
But she did say that Sea & Snow is fine in a pinch, hand signals are optional, and we should stay on our own side of the trail.
I have a very different memory of snow conditions in Vilas County during the '90's. In the '90's I was going to my in-laws place in Sayner every winter and I only remember a few times when there would be 2+ feet of snow on the ground during a trip. I also remember a few trips over X-mas where they had 4" of snow on the ground during X-mas. If the trail markers were buried, it was because of a plow or the marker was on a very short pole. I had to call locals in Sayner before each trip to make sure there was snow and the conditions of the trails. I have a very vivid memory of my father-in-law preaching every winter in the '90's how it didn't snow up there like it did in the 70's. "In the '70's the town plowed every night and the snow banks were 4, no 5, no 7 feet high!" "I couldn't see over them!" (He is a short man.)
I remember going on a club snowmobile trip to Crivitz in the late '90's and driving back home the same day because of no snow, and this was in January.
All I am saying is that I have been hearing since the '80's, when this global warming/climate change thing started, it doesn't snow like it use too. The '80's was compared to the '60's. The '90's was compared to the '70's. The 2000's was compared to the '80's and now the 2010's is compared to the '90's. The winters in the '90's WERE NOT any better then they are now. There was not feet upon feet upon feet of snow except for a few isolated areas or at short, isolated times. At some point this "it doesn't snow like it use too" B.S. has to stop. It is like they have everyone brainwashed. Unless you have photographs of every day during every winter at every location, it is just your memory, and we know how reliable eye-witness accounts are. I know I only take pictures during the bad storms, and not days like today. So I look at the pictures from one event and say, "Boy, it really snowed back then." Not considering it was 40+ degrees and no snow the day before. Boy, 2011 was a very snowy year for Chicago because of the Ground Hog Day's Blizzard. The snow was gone a few weeks later. Chicago had more snow than the UP at that time because we attended John's Ride-In, which occurred right after the blizzard, and noted how much less snow the UP had.
Here is a picture from the Ground Hog Day Blizzard with my SUV and trailer ready to go to John's Ride-In.
View attachment 59633
With the 4, no 5, no 7 foot drift blocking the car. (It was actually 3 foot max. No big deal.)
I will agree there were some very cold nights in the '90's up there. We also had very cold nights last year.
John should keep these threads from the 2010's so when we cry about the lack of snow in 2030's and compare it to 2010's, we have proof the winters sucked then too.
The winters of 1994-95 and 1997-98 were to of the worst I have ever seen as far as lack of snow, cold.
-John
So I'm fooling around with one of my early Christmas presents today. You've probably seen the commercials for Amazon's Echo, it's the voice activated Google Box thingy. So I asked Alexa, "When will the snowmobile season start in Wisconsin?" Alexa responded by saying, "I don't know the answer to that".
But she did say that Sea & Snow is fine in a pinch, hand signals are optional, and we should stay on our own side of the trail.
I have a very different memory of snow conditions in Vilas County during the '90's. In the '90's I was going to my in-laws place in Sayner every winter and I only remember a few times when there would be 2+ feet of snow on the ground during a trip. I also remember a few trips over X-mas where they had 4" of snow on the ground during X-mas. If the trail markers were buried, it was because of a plow or the marker was on a very short pole.
All I am saying is that I have been hearing since the '80's, when this global warming/climate change thing started, it doesn't snow like it use too. The '80's was compared to the '60's. The '90's was compared to the '70's. The 2000's was compared to the '80's and now the 2010's is compared to the '90's. The winters in the '90's WERE NOT any better then they are now.
I was specifically talking about 95-96, and 96-97. 1995-96 was deeper than 1996-97. We couldn't even park in my buddy's driveway anymore (near Boulder Junction) because we fell behind by not going for a few weeks, and it was hopeless with a snowblower (big looping driveway). But that was mostly lake effect, because the rest of the state didn't do very well that year, and the snow got thinner in southern Vilas. I guess the winds were just right to get it into northern Vilas frequently. I have pictures, but they are paper, not digital. Even in late March, there were no bare spots or bare corners, because the snowpack was so deep. And 1995-96 started early, because I remember trudging through about 2 feet of snow for gun deer hunting. Not fun; should have brought snowshoes.
This is from Hurley, but you can see exactly where those two kick-*** winters were, even if you can't remember them. It looks like Hurley had more in 97, but in Vilas my pictures show more snow in 96. Feb 1996 was record cold, and Superior eventually froze over completely, but not before we had enough snow to ride through the end of March.
View attachment 59635 http://ironcountywi.com/recreation/winter-activities/snow-capital/
I grew up in the 70's here in south central Wi, and I can remember plenty of low snow winters, the same in the 80's. I started snowmobiling in the late 80's, and have been ever since, such an addiction! I REALLY paid attention to winters once I got hooked into snowmobiling, we've had great winters, and sucky winters all through the 90's and 2000's. It's amazing how people from the same areas can recall such a difference in winters past. I'm a firm believer that everything is one huge cycle. Some winters are going rock, and others are not. The only consistent snow areas are in the lake effect snowbelts, and even a low snow year u.p. there, its still pretty dang good!
Okay, fine. Two kick-*** years makes a decade of phenomenal snow (in your mind). Yes, Boulder normally has more snow then Sayner, and Presque Isle normally has more snow than Boulder, and Sayner normally has more snow than St. Germain. That is normal in Vilas, but what happens in Hurley does not always equate to the entire Northwoods area. I have closed the trail twice in Iron County over the last decade. But that is the exception and not the norm. In the '80's, I correlated great snow years in NE Iowa to Iowa going to the Rose Bowl. Great snow in NE Iowa in '81 and '85 at X-mas time. (Iowa went to the '82 and '86 Rose Bowl.) The rest of the years where a bust for snow at X-mas. So much so, we cased snow in St. Croix, WI, Togo, MN (3'+ in X-mas 88-89), Yellowstone, WY, St. Germain, WI, Hayward, WI. Getting back to the topic at hand. I, and it is my belief, believe the number of prefect winters anywhere are the exception and not the norm. And we are piecing together discrete memories of the severe storms thinking that is the norm and drinking the global warming alarmist cool-aid.
I have been reading about bad winters on this website for almost two decades. I makes me think, "If we ever had a perfect winter?" And the deeper question, "What is a perfect winter?" Ask yourself those questions and then check the facts.
Okay, fine. Two kick-*** years makes a decade of phenomenal snow (in your mind). Yes, Boulder normally has more snow then Sayner, and Presque Isle normally has more snow than Boulder, and Sayner normally has more snow than St. Germain. That is normal in Vilas, but what happens in Hurley does not always equate to the entire Northwoods area. I have closed the trail twice in Iron County over the last decade. But that is the exception and not the norm. In the '80's, I correlated great snow years in NE Iowa to Iowa going to the Rose Bowl. Great snow in NE Iowa in '81 and '85 at X-mas time. (Iowa went to the '82 and '86 Rose Bowl.) The rest of the years where a bust for snow at X-mas. So much so, we cased snow in St. Croix, WI, Togo, MN (3'+ in X-mas 88-89), Yellowstone, WY, St. Germain, WI, Hayward, WI. Getting back to the topic at hand. I, and it is my belief, believe the number of prefect winters anywhere are the exception and not the norm. And we are piecing together discrete memories of the severe storms thinking that is the norm and drinking the global warming alarmist cool-aid.
I have been reading about bad winters on this website for almost two decades. I makes me think, "If we ever had a perfect winter?" And the deeper question, "What is a perfect winter?" Ask yourself those questions and then check the facts.
I was specifically talking about 95-96, and 96-97. 1995-96 was deeper than 1996-97. We couldn't even park in my buddy's driveway anymore (near Boulder Junction) because we fell behind by not going for a few weeks, and it was hopeless with a snowblower (big looping driveway). But that was mostly lake effect, because the rest of the state didn't do very well that year, and the snow got thinner in southern Vilas. I guess the winds were just right to get it into northern Vilas frequently. I have pictures, but they are paper, not digital. Even in late March, there were no bare spots or bare corners, because the snowpack was so deep. And 1995-96 started early, because I remember trudging through about 2 feet of snow for gun deer hunting. Not fun; should have brought snowshoes.
This is from Hurley, but you can see exactly where those two kick-*** winters were, even if you can't remember them. It looks like Hurley had more in 97, but in Vilas my pictures show more snow in 96. Feb 1996 was record cold, and Superior eventually froze over completely, but not before we had enough snow to ride through the end of March.
View attachment 59635 http://ironcountywi.com/recreation/winter-activities/snow-capital/
I was in Iron Cty on Fisher Lake in 95-96, and that was an unbelievable snow year....like 250 inches in Mercer and even more north of there on Fisher Lake. I recall spending half my time up there shoveling the roof on my parents cottage. The snow banks up on Fisher Lake Rd were 10-12 feet tall - no exaggeration. Snow collapsed one of those Mennards sheds we had built. Minocqua had roofs of gas station pumps collapsing from all the weight. It was crazy deep. 1996-97 - complete opposite.
I was in Iron Cty on Fisher Lake in 95-96, and that was an unbelievable snow year....like 250 inches in Mercer and even more north of there on Fisher Lake. I recall spending half my time up there shoveling the roof on my parents cottage. The snow banks up on Fisher Lake Rd were 10-12 feet tall - no exaggeration. Snow collapsed one of those Mennards sheds we had built. Minocqua had roofs of gas station pumps collapsing from all the weight. It was crazy deep. 1996-97 - complete opposite.
That is true 1996 zrt red lite rally Hurely a lot of snow and below 0 it was a good frost bite night.. I believe the year before about 10 inches of snow
You must be thinking of 97-98 (bad El Nino). 1996-1997 was very similar to 95-96. It's in the graph I posted, but I have a few pictures of my brand new 1997 ZRT in the deep snow, if you don't believe me. I got that sled stuck that winter more times than every other sled I have ever owned.
I grew up in the 70's here in south central Wi, and I can remember plenty of low snow winters, the same in the 80's. I started snowmobiling in the late 80's, and have been ever since, such an addiction! I REALLY paid attention to winters once I got hooked into snowmobiling, we've had great winters, and sucky winters all through the 90's and 2000's. It's amazing how people from the same areas can recall such a difference in winters past. I'm a firm believer that everything is one huge cycle. Some winters are going rock, and others are not. The only consistent snow areas are in the lake effect snowbelts, and even a low snow year u.p. there, its still pretty dang good!