Trail openings
- Thread starter heitz66
- Start date
If they open doesn’t mean trails are anything but rideable certainly not good conditions early season at best. If you are renting a sled I suppose it doesn’t matter if you overheat ,tear up carbides and hyfax but zero fun factor for someone like me. Imo you need snow to enjoy riding snowmobiles. From the chatter on here I sense opening date means good conditions to some and it just doesn’t work that way.
pclark
Well-known member
I live about 10 miles south of Mercer if that’s what you are referring to. We have 4” on the ground, probably the same in Mercer, I haven’t heard anything that great about north of there. Iron county tends to open earlier but they have trails that go through swamps that won’t be open or groomed. My suggestion is for you to watch the Tuesday storm and chase that snow, southern 1/3 of state might pick up 8-12” and could open counties down there. I much rather ride that than 4”. All we have is a couple of 2” snows predicted next week but things could change.
indy_500
Well-known member
Not true for the southern 1/3 of the state, they let er fly with as little as 4-6”
SHOOT2KILL
Active member
Heres the latest forecast for the southern 1/3 of Wisco...
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI
202 PM CST Sun Jan 7 2024
WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>065-067>070-080415-
/O.NEW.KMKX.WS.A.0001.240109T1200Z-240110T0900Z/
Marquette-Green Lake-Fond du Lac-Sheboygan-Sauk-Columbia-Dodge-
Washington-Ozaukee-Iowa-Dane-Jefferson-Waukesha-Lafayette-Green-
Rock-Walworth-
Including the cities of Montello, Westfield, Oxford, Neshkoro,
Endeavor, Berlin, Princeton, Markesan, Fond Du Lac, Plymouth,
Sheboygan Falls, Howards Grove, Oostburg, Baraboo, Reedsburg,
Prairie Du Sac, Sauk City, Portage, Columbus, Lake Wisconsin,
Lodi, Beaver Dam, Waupun, Mayville, West Bend, Germantown,
Hartford, Mequon, Cedarburg, Grafton, Dodgeville, Mineral Point,
Barneveld, Madison, Watertown, Fort Atkinson, Jefferson,
Waukesha, Brookfield, New Berlin, Menomonee Falls, Muskego,
Darlington, Shullsburg, Benton, Belmont, Argyle, Blanchardville,
Monroe, Brodhead, Janesville, Beloit, Whitewater, Delavan,
Elkhorn, Lake Geneva, and East Troy
202 PM CST Sun Jan 7 2024
...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH LATE
TUESDAY NIGHT...
* WHAT...Heavy snow possible. Total snow accumulations of 6 to 11
inches possible. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph.
* WHERE...Portions of east central, south central and southeast
Wisconsin.
* WHEN...From Tuesday morning through late Tuesday night.
* IMPACTS...Travel could be very difficult. The hazardous
conditions could impact the morning and evening commute.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Snow will begin Monday evening, but the
most impactful period of accumulating snow is expected during
the day Tuesday into Tuesday night.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Monitor the latest forecasts for updates on this situation.
Tks, Indy. I was mainly referring to Vilas County as they seem little timid and very particular at times to open trails here. Of course, we do have lot of swamps as well so that would factor into their decisions as well. As of yesterday, they weren't even panning yet.
Snowbrap101
Member
If this extended forecast holds true for southern WI, there will be a influx of people trying to scratch the itch. Watch out if riding this weekend, if we get the snow...
Pay attention to trail openings! I have no idea what to expect since no snow yet and ground is very soft. Jmo but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if trails stay closed this week in SE WI and don’t open until cold comes in next week. I know ground isn’t frozen in Racine and Walworth counties and could be a mud hole. I’m hoping for the best and have a club meeting on Thursday night. No lakes or rivers are safe here either so be careful.
Good to hear you have frost in the ground Jim
That makes sense to me for UP and multiuse trails that have gravel stone base that take time to settle below the base. No fun spitting gravel at high speed out and into your tunnel plus spindle paint damage. Not so much for dirt base Twistys Eagle River does a lot with a little snow and snirt base typical conditions primarily because they have too. I’m a fan of letting early bird sledders ride the weeds in at their risk and groom later when the deeper snow is available.I also think safe lake and swamp ice has a lot to do with releasing groomers no one wants to sink a groomer.
I listen to Chicago station at shop and last I heard they were 1 - 3" so must be inchin somewhere, here... Im telling people a trace to 12" . when I wake up weds morning Ill look out the window and that's what we got, would be nice if helped northwoods out.