Freeze to death.
Contributors to this thread:Wisconsin
From: DoorKnob
29-Jan-19
I wonder how much damage this lil cold snap will do to the flora and fauna?
Around here there have been 2 deep snows atop an ice layer, not just sleet but flood the land flat, rain and freeze it... Not much to eat that isn't a tree and no water anymore.
Gotta be tough to be a critter or grape vine.
From: Drop Tine
29-Jan-19
I was reading a forestry paper that read the Emerald Ash Borer will likely succumb to this cold snap also which is good. Maybe tics also??
From: Franklin
30-Jan-19
Luckily it`s not a prolonged period. The beginning of next week we could get into the 40`s with a chance of rain.
From: DoorKnob
30-Jan-19
I'd be all for what DT suggested. About rain. Imagine another layer of water freezing up on the existing base. Might be worse than just cold. This might get interesting.
From: Crusader dad
30-Jan-19
35-40 on Sunday. I’ll be golfing!
From: Hoot
30-Jan-19
Minus 31 right now and temp is dropping. The wind chill must be off the charts. Drizzle on Sunday, rain on Monday then 2 degrees Monday night. Wildlife will be suffering.
From: Two Feathers
30-Jan-19
It amazes me the birds don't have to wear socks.
From: skookumjt
30-Jan-19
This will have zero impact. It's winter. It gets this cold pretty much every year and we've had much worse. A few years ago we went an entire month below zero with similar overnight lows.
From: bobbinhood
30-Jan-19
Trad. outdoor bow shoot this week end in Sussex, WI! Sherwood Forrest Archery club!
From: Jeff in MN
30-Jan-19
For those of you that are near lake Michigan, I am wondering if it is starting to freeze over, Not talking about the ice in the harbors or where protected by piers or piling up along shore but real ice. My dad ran his ice boat in the lake at Two Rivers probably in the 30's. Wind picked up the next day and it was gone.
From: Hoot
30-Jan-19
Drizzle on Sunday and then rain Monday then back to two degrees Monday night. That should freeze up everything pretty good.
From: RUGER1022
30-Jan-19
This yo- yo type of winter creates dangerous hidden ice conditions . Be carefull out there .
From: Hoot
30-Jan-19
Ruger1022 --- +1 We've still got plenty of ice under these past snowfalls. I've taken a few spills, but cleats are a must now.
From: jjs
30-Jan-19
Black Ice is the biggest issue, when you on it just hope for the best and expect the worst.
From: DoorKnob
30-Jan-19
DoorKnob's Link
jeff... here is gomer http://cam.algomafishing.com/
From: Hoot
30-Jan-19
I hung a wet tee shirt outside this morning to see how fast it would freeze. 39 seconds later it was froze solid
From: ground hunter
30-Jan-19
Ruger last weekend there was a heave, on Big Cedar Lake, in Washington County,,,, I work part time for the conservation district, as was out, checking ice,,,, by one island 50 yards out, I hit a 4 inch spot, and yep soft ice,,,,, now with the snow on top, will only insulate that area.....
very dangerous out there,,,,, only atv traffic and they are staying on the same path...
From: Jeff in MN
30-Jan-19
Hoot, this morning I saw a pic where someone froze 2 pair of jeans in a shape like they were being worn. Then stuck them in the snow in their front yard. Looked interesting.
From: DoorKnob
30-Jan-19
Speaking of damage. It seems some peeps have lost power today. Now that has to be a bummer.
You all lit up or are your electrons froze a tad?
From: GoJakesGo
31-Jan-19
Power lines shrink when cold. Some lines had enough tension and snapped. We didn't lose power but some of my neighbors did for about 6hrs last night. No one contacted us but I had the generators warm and ready for use if anyone needed.
From: Drop Tine
31-Jan-19
Pretty much the whole village of Merrill was without power Tuesday night.
From: Hoot
31-Jan-19
Jeff - I saw that on FOX news this morning. Funny.
From: northbound
31-Jan-19
Way off topic but Title of this thread was the thought in my head yesterday at 4am and I'm bored so going to share. Neighbor needed to go to hospital yesterday am. We have pretty crazy drifting here so they called asking me to push open their driveway. Made it about a half mile and skid steer died. I just installed the front door for the first time a few days prior in preparation of the cold. Once I realized it wasn't going to get it started again likely gelled up fuel. I also realize the door won't open if boom is up. Crap... I remember the emergency release on rear window, pull that and it breaks. Guess that plastic wasn't engineered for minus 28. No vehicle without a plow is going to make it down this road so waiting for a passerby is out of the question. My neighbor on a intersecting road so if someone comes for him they won't see me. Start kicking like hell at back window and it's not going to break, not to mention I kick like a girl with so many layers on. Finally find a clevis and hammer that I didn't know I owned behind the seat and was able to smash glass out and run home
From: CaptMike
31-Jan-19
Ugh, the reward for trying to help someone.
From: Jeff in MN
31-Jan-19
Hoot, I saw it on Fox too but that was a different pic of a similar thing.
Go Jakes said he had the generators warm and ready. I was just wondering a couple days ago that if I needed the generator would I be able to get it started. Might need to fire up the knipco heater to warm up the generator, but I would need the generator to run it. ;=( Time to get the can of ether out, but will it have enough pressure to squirt out of the can...........
I need to add some anti gel stuff to the fuel in my skid steer. I usually blend #1 in with it this time of year plus additives but the neighbor filled the tank and pretty sure it was all #2, hope it had additives because it is too full to add any #1. I will siphon some out when it warms up and add some #1 and additives. Reminds me I better put the battery tender on it. Snow likely Sunday night.
On another side track, about a week ago I bought an extra generator that was posted on a local buy/sell web site. Owner couldn't get it started so he wanted it gone. $25 for a real nice one, he even delivered it from east of Winter to the Hayward area (25 miles one way) for an extra $10. I have not tried to start it yet.
From: Hoot
31-Jan-19
Northbound - Murphy's Law Did they get your neighbor to the hospital? Hope all is fine. Last day of these polar temps today. Almost 36 below this morning. Rain on Sunday and Monday- Crazy!
From: Jeff in MN
31-Jan-19
Northbound, I had a similar experience with the skid steer arm stuck up, engine was running but the controls would not allow the arms to go down. It would go up so I got it up enough that the door would open but I really did not want to get out under the arms with the snow plow up in the air. The fix was something simple, I think it was one of the auxiliary control switches that I don't use was turned on somehow.
From: northbound
31-Jan-19
He did make it in and all is well as another neighbor a mile in other direction was able to get him out.
I even doubled up on the anti gel additives but still didn't work.
Friday should be interesting with south winds to start moving snow in yet another direction
From: skookumjt
31-Jan-19
Skid steer should have had an release to lower the arms. I have been there before too.
From: Jeffd
31-Jan-19
Probably need to take the fuel filter or filters off and dump some 911 in.
From: casekiska
31-Jan-19
Winter 2019, mother nature's PMS (Pretty Miserable Season).
From: Crusader dad
01-Feb-19
Speaking of skid steers, three weeks ago I had to hop out of mine to hook a chain up to a stuck van. My car keys fell out of my pocket and I didn’t realize until I was finished clearing snow. I was cleaning out an inside corner that had gotten too full after the big snow we had this past Monday. After 1 1/2 hours of clearing this corner I’m just about done. I managed to break loose a snow boulder the size of my machine. It broke as I picked it up and BAM my lost car keys!
From: CaptMike
01-Feb-19
CD, lucky!
From: Live2hunt
01-Feb-19
I don't know Case, around me it didn't get cold till the past couple weeks, we have basically no snow. To me winter just started mid January.
From: skookumjt
01-Feb-19
Until this week I am sure we have had a WSI of less than 5. Very mild winter by any measure. A handful of cold days and no snow. If anything turkeys might be suffering because of the ice on the ground so they can't scratch for food.
From: casekiska
01-Feb-19
Yep, until mid January I would not have thought or written that, but lately with the approx. 19 inches of snow we've gotten in the last ten days and the minus twenty degree temps we have had I'm thinking it's a tough one now. Overall, maybe not,...now, yep! (Although it's supposed to be in the forties or fifties within a couple days. We'll see I reckon...)
Just my .02$ worth. IMO.
From: DoorKnob
01-Feb-19
I think the thaw and rain will make things worse with very thick ice layer production. Great for logging. Guess I need to get out there and drop some firewood and tree top treats for the critters.
From: RJN
01-Feb-19
We had a cold Nov., warm Dec., and this week record cold with -55 wind chill. There is about a foot of snow on the ground. 40 this weekend with rain and then back to a high of 1 on Wed with up to 4 inches possible. I'm definitely hoping for an early spring. My tree order is getting bigger by the day, lol. I really want to get a few acres of thermal cover established on our land.
From: Hoot
02-Feb-19
Feels like summer, a whole whopping 12 degrees today.
From: casekiska
02-Feb-19
Yes, feels warm! 'bout time! If we say that in public people either think we're nuts or from WI. Jimmy the ground hog says we're only going to have four more weeks of winter.
Hey Jim, how's life in the Northwoods?
From: GoJakesGo
02-Feb-19
Groomed my ATV trail for the first time this winter. Found multiple bedding areas with small amounts of blood in the beds. Looks like hoofs are taking some wear from the ice.
From: Jeff in MN
02-Feb-19
Northbound, thanks for the post about your skid steer adventure. I knew mine did not have any additives in the fuel, just whatever quik trip puts in it this time of year. Today I added some extra 911 anti gel additives and thought I would start the machine and get it well mixed with the rest of the full tank. I plowed a little in front of the shed, total time from warming up the engine a little and the little plowing was probably 5 minutes when the engine started to chug. Man, I dropped the arms immediately. Not sure I would have reacted so quick without your story fresh in my head.
It was chugging bad, I was backing up into the shed and just about when I was under the overhead door it got worse, quickly went back out so the door wouldn't be blocked from closing. It started to run a little better and I got the machine into the shed.
I am thinking the fuel filter got jammed up with slush. With tomorrow being warmer I will try it then and see how it goes.
From: Hoot
02-Feb-19
Case - Doing as good as can be. Did some hiking today looking for sheds and checking cams. I see Jimmy the ground hog says were going to have an early spring as did Punxasutawney Phil. Jimmy is right 80% of the time and Phil only 38%. Why do they even need a ground hog? If's it cloudy = early spring, sunny = late spring. DUH! Didn't Jimmy take a bite out of one the handler's ear a few years back. I probably would too if you woke me up from a sound sleep.
From: Drop Tine
02-Feb-19
My shoulder tells me six more weeks.
From: Hoot
02-Feb-19
DT - Probably better accuracy than the rodents. lol
From: DoorKnob
02-Feb-19
"....we're nuts or from WI. "
Not mutually exclusive !!
From: northbound
02-Feb-19
Jeff- you may want to consider a different additive for preventive protection. Then again my advice might be worthless since I was the one stuck a few days ago lol. That 911 stuff says 'de-gel' not 'anti-gel'. The 911 isn't something you should make a habit of running is my understanding, more of a emergency fix which I'm guessing is why they call it 911. The white bottle is the anti-gel and also a lube substitute. if your diesel is older than 2007 (somewhere in there) should run a lube additive anyways as that's when they took away our sulfur. Running the white bottle I've only had gel ups 2 times in ten years, both of which where below negative 20.
From: Jeff in MN
03-Feb-19
Jeff in MN's Link
It is a 2009 S185 so I guess I am in that 'somewhere around there' category. I usually have the 911 in it but since the neighbor filled it for me (using quik trip highway fuel) I had not gotten around to adding it before yesterday.
So, what do you recommend to use in summer and in winter?
It was above 35 yesterday when this happened but not that long after the -30 days so the fuel was probably still pretty cold. If it doesn't start and run good later today I will gently use a heat gun on the fuel filter since I m guessing that is where the gelled up stuff got concentrated after a few minutes of running.
From: Hoot
03-Feb-19
Heavy fog this morning and everything is iced over. Freezing rain tomorrow, then snow and back to the deep freeze. Just what the wildlife doesn't need.
From: casekiska
03-Feb-19
The ice crust on top of the snow is already too thick in many places, even here in southern WI. When we get our freezing rain/drizzle that is predicted and then it all freezes together a lot of our critters could be in deep trouble. A lot of animals suffer and die in the late winter/early spring period when their reserves are low and they cannot bust the crust to get to their food sources. I know it's cyclical and nature's way, but still I find it troubling.
From: Hoot
04-Feb-19
Terrible out here this morning in Washburn County. Everything is coated in ice. Not good. Jeff in Minn - How's it up your way?
From: Live2hunt
04-Feb-19
Yep, rain in winter is not a good thing. It is a mess where ever there was snow or there was packed snow on the roads. I think the deer will be OK as they can move around with the lack of snow and are able to get to the browse easily. I'm betting the Turkeys will take a hit in area's without fields though.
From: xtroutx
04-Feb-19
I got out yesterday and did some looking on public land. I checked out some new cuts from last spring and the deer are hitting them heavy. Seen several deer and an enormus amout of sign. The deer I spotted all looked real healthy. We only have about 8" of snow on the ground here so easy eating for the critters for now.
From: casekiska
04-Feb-19
I I've done a bit of scouting since my last post...what a difference! I think we have lost 2-3-4" of snow depth overall and there are now patches with no snow at all. Sure, everything is wet and there is still something of a crust where there is snow, but IMO the landscape is looking better for the critters around us. Good! Hey guys, this is northern Dane County, unsure of conditions elsewhere. Hope for the best for all.
From: Live2hunt
04-Feb-19
Case, you guys got all the snow this winter, we have had hardly any all winter. I was Ice fishing yesterday North of Rice Lake and it's about the same up there.
From: xtroutx
04-Feb-19
