Let me vent about the snow.......

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Attak man

New member
We recieved 18 inches of wet, heavy, snow here (Irma WI) tuesday into wednesday...right now I have 24 inches of snow in my back yard...more than I have had at any one time this winter season...BUT THE SNOWMOBILE TRAILS ARE CLOSED!!!! I will still go ride...but it's ditch banging in wet cement type snow...not exactly easy to do on a 700 lb four stroke (fully fueled)...but I'm not complaining cause I am riding.

But here's the kicker...the local radio guy was saying what a "snowy winter" we had, and he gave snow totals for our area...80 inches so far (average is 72)..which means we are above average for snowfall for the year...if you really think about it we had a POOR riding season..we'd get two good weeks in and then a thaw would wreck the trails.

My issue is if you just look at the numbers...say 5 years from now, it will look like we had a good year...in truth we didn't...the question is why??? La nina?? el nino???...I dunno..don't undertand any of that. I think it was just POOR TIMING...good snows followed by thaws....any other year if we had the type of snow we had this year...trails would still be awesome.

I don't think the Yoop...other than maybe twin lakes got much either this year....I can't believe I cant go ride there this year...again...we usually ride in april near mass city...have pics to prove it...have one picture from 5 years ago..says april 16th on it, with me sitting on the firesteel bridges...***???

Something is not right with our weather....if it's a pattern I hope we break out of it soon...I like spring/summer like the rest of you...but I want to snowmobile from nov 30th through april 15th...every year!!!

There done with my rant....lol
 
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snowhawk600

New member
Weather Manipulation

First "they" called it El Niño, then the next year La Nina, a few years later global warming, now it's called climate change. It smells pretty fishy to me, it smells more like weather manipulation to me.
 
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Skylar

Super Moderator
Staff member
We had another good year, IMO, here in south central Wi. It was another crap year in the U.P. It was a great year out west, tog, snowies.

It is just cycles, no more, no less. Weather does it's own thing, sometimes the snow gods shine on an area, sometimes they don't.

That much snow where you are though, Attack man, and the trails remain closed, that would infuriate me. But, what do you do eh?

I believe the yoop will have an EPIC year next year though!
 
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superski

Member
Yup, got more snow on the ground than we had all year, but can't get out because most of the trails here cross the lakes that are a mess. Where was this a month ago ? Seems like every time we get decent winter riding we get a week of 55 degree to screw it up then when the season ends we get the storm we should of had. Overall it wasn't a bad year here, just short with GOOD riding from Mid Jan to mid Feb
 
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bigvin

New member
Go Ahead and Vent!

I hear ya Attak!

Glad some one else is as frustrated as me.
(well,.. not really "glad"),..
I put on 17 miles yesterday in the same conditions.
Trail head is only 300 yards from the front door.
Woods are pretty wet here though.
If we would have recieved this Base back in Late November,...
Wow,... what a year we "could" of had.
I guess 17 miles is better than NO miles.
:(
 
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Attak man

New member
Yep...this winter ticked me off...but I am gonna go
back out and bang some ditches again tomorrow, and
every day I can until its gone...then the motorcycle will come
out ;)
 
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meathead

New member
good year,noawesome

Skylar said:
We had another good year, IMO, here in south central Wi. It was another crap year in the U.P. It was a great year out west, tog, snowies.

It is just cycles, no more, no less. Weather does it's own thing, sometimes the snow gods shine on an area, sometimes they don't.

That much snow where you are though, Attack man, and the trails remain closed, that would infuriate me. But, what do you do eh?

I believe the yoop will have an EPIC year next year though!
Click to expand...

skyler,i know we are dif kind of riders but we both had an awesome year 3125 mi in 3 wks but you 300 mi in 3 wks and great off trail ridein..we both stop at KRUPPSin fact scottking was waitin and grabed his COORS ( i was with DUBIE and friends )....this Year is in the books but look out for this old dog next year...lol.lolMEATHEAD
 
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Polarice

New member
Be thankful that you have trails. They say the same thing about winter here having soooo much snow in Ohio but yet it was trash snow pretty much every time. We have no trail system here but around Munising it was great for about a month. It's just snowmobiling; spend a lot of cash for a short amount of fun! Is it worth it....o yeah!
 
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Stack

New member
When temps reach 60 deg in Feb in the keweenaw its not a good sign for a strong winter. This winter was def better than last winter, but still just way to inconsistent with the thaws. Oh well, next year!
 
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02zr600

New member
easy on the ditches

haha banging rock hard ditches, that is all we can do around here. you get used to it after a while.
 
skiroule

skiroule

Well-known member
I don't think there's any question the weather has changed over the last few decades. Growing up in northern MN in the 60's, the end of March looked like the end of January. Not any more. Anything after mid-March is a long shot.

We've had great trips to northern Minnesota and the U.P. the last couple of years but our timing has been remarkable. I can only hope our luck continues. We've dodged the bullet more than once.

The thing that frustrates us in southern MN is how fast good conditions will go away. Several weeks of a slow build-up to good riding conditions can literally be wiped out in a weekend of warm weather and/or rain. A lot of the trails down here are routed across cultivated fields and as soon as some dirt clumps start showing, things go bad in a hurry.

Driving through northern Wisconsin this year, I can see why there is frustration. The trails around Eagle River looked pretty dirty in early January and the trails east of Hayward were pretty thin in mid February. It now seems to be a matter of timing. Good riding conditions will probably always be available somewhere but one may have to be ready to go to the snow at a moment's notice. I can only hope Skylar is right and next year is over the top for the U.P. (maybe like it was in the late 90's).
 
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longtrack

Member
Not to disagree, but Lincoln County Trails were open more Days this year than usual and I have about the same amount of Miles on as every other Year. The only difference is my UP Miles are way down and Wi miles are more. I started riding the 2nd Weekend in Dec and ended Today in Price County.(unless I sneak up there Sunday) I only missed last weekend because I had the Flu.
 
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Attak man

New member
The conditions werent very good for much of february here
in lincoln county....for once it was better south towards
merrill, than it was north (tomahawk area).

There is alot of snow here right now...the ditches are fun.
but I dont trust the lakes anymore, very slushy..thin spots
Its ditches only right now he re...but thats alright...more
work than I care to do...lol...but still fun.
 
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mjkaliszak

New member
skiroule said:
I don't think there's any question the weather has changed over the last few decades. Growing up in northern MN in the 60's, the end of March looked like the end of January. Not any more. Anything after mid-March is a long shot.

This is a pretty accurate statement. It may be cyclic ? I was born in Central NY, lived and snowmobilied in NY, PA, MI ( lived in 2 other states but did not ride ). Back in the late 60's to the best of my memory, the snow in C-NY would pack up 6ft high and stay all winter. In PA ( LES area ) when I was young, it would snow and it seemed from my memory to never go away all winter ? Even here in MI , over the last 11 years it seems like the average snow fall ( up north ) has decreased ? I talked with locals who lived in this area ( SWMI ) all their life and they too remember substancially more snow back in the late 60's-70's 80's.
Of course I have no data to support this but I thought I would "wine" a little, at least it's all a topic we can agree on !:)

Other than the " price of new sleds " is getting out of control. :eek:
Click to expand...
 
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qber

New member
snow loss

In Minnesota, Thanksgiving used to be a 50% chance of a decent first ride. Now Christmas gives only a 50% shot at a decent ride. Something has changed. However, good riding in MN (colder temps) this year but not as good in the UP where there were the nasty warm ups. I haven't given up hope for a last spring storm in the UP - when it happens I'm there.
 
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MZEMS2

New member
The Jan/Feb warm up into the 50's screwed us in south central WI this season. If that hadn't happened we would have had a GREAT season instead of just a good one. It was frustrating, but it's WI and we all know the old saying, "if you don't like today, wait til tomorrow". Nothing any of us can do.
 
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