More winter-like temperatures are expected in Wisconsin by early next week after fall-like weather resulted this week in the cancellation of a cross-country skiing race, a sport utility vehicle crashing through thin ice and brisk business on some golf courses.
With little natural snow and temperatures too warm to make show, organizers canceled the 24 Hours of Telemark cross-country ski race scheduled Saturday and Sunday at Cable in northern Wisconsin’s Bayfield County.
“We worked on the course as much as we could, but with the above freezing temperatures and lack of snow, our base is down to less than one inch,” organizer Harry Spehar said Thursday.
Organizers considered holding a shorter event, but decided against it.
“Last year, our skiers completed 2,980 laps of the course over the 24 hour time span,” Spehar said. “Even shortening the event to 12, six or three hours would be more than the course could handle.”
Spehar said the Telemark trails were closed, but the nearby Birkebeiner and North End trails were groomed and open to cross-country skiers.
Temperatures got into the low 50s Wednesday in southern Wisconsin, reached nearly that high Thursday and were expected to approach that level in the southeast on Friday.
Highs even reached about 40 Wednesday and Thursday in the far north of the state and were expected to approach the mid-30s around Superior Friday.
“The weather has been coming up from the southwest, producing milder conditions, similar to what has been the case the last few weeks,” National Weather Service meteorologist J.J. Wood said Wednesday. “But there will be a more northwestern type of airflow by early next week. That’s slightly cooler, but not an arctic air mass.”
Milwaukee had an average December temperature of 32.6 degrees, the 14th warmest December on record. Temperatures Thursday were above the freezing mark for the 27th consecutive day, only four short of the record set during the winter of 1931-32 and tied last year.
By early next week, highs in the city are expected to reach only to the mid 30s, Wood said.
“But they’ll still be above normal for this time of year,” he added.
A sport utility vehicle being pursued by authorities broke through the ice Wednesday on Shawano Lake.
“Maybe any other winter, the ice would not have broken,” Capt. Alan Schultz of the Shawano Police Department said. “But with the warmer weather we’ve been having, it wasn’t a good idea to go onto the ice.”
Police responding to reports that an SUV was being driven recklessly caught up with it at a service station, only to see it speed away, Schultz said.
After the vehicle broke through the ice, the driver was able to scramble out. He was walking on the ice shelf when he was arrested, Schultz said.
The Milwaukee County park system had six of its courses open for play Thursday, compared with only two when conditions permit during a typical winter, said Brian Zimmerman, the system’s golf operations manager.
There were 3,000 rounds played on four county courses in December, and business has continued to be brisk this month, he said, adding that 55 golfers had played by mid-afternoon Thursday at Whitnall Park alone.
“We’ve been blessed with some warm weather, but things can change,” Zimmerman said.
However, Wood, of the National Weather Service, said above normal temperatures and slightly below normal precipitation are anticipated for the remainder of the winter.
