A Northwoods Almanac for November 5 – 18, 2010
Wind!
The storm that struck on 10/25-26 was a truly historic storm, producing record low barometric pressures by a non-tropical system for both Wisconsin and Minnesota. The pressure dropped to 28.20 inches of mercury in Minnesota and to 28.38 inches in Superior, Wisconsin. To illustrate how strong of a storm this is, 28.21 inches is equivalent to a Category 3 Hurricane. The lowest pressure for the storm that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald on November 10, 1975 was 28.95 inches. Even during the massive Armistice Day blizzard in 1940, the lowest pressure recorded was 28.55 inches.
In the upper Great Lakes area, the storm had a wide variety of impacts. A lot of precipitation fell across the region, with the highest total of 4.94" of liquid precipitation recorded through the morning of October 27th at Askov, in Pine County, MN. Some of that precipitation changed over to snow on the evening of October 26th, and a band of 2 to 6 inches of snow developed through the Brainerd area and up along the north shore of Lake Superior to near Tofte. Isolated totals of up to 9 inches were reported just northwest of Duluth.
The winds were extremely strong causing extensive multi-day power outages. The highest gust recorded in Minnesota was 65 mph on the Blatnik Bridge that connects Superior and Duluth. In Wisconsin, the highest gust was 76 mph at Sherwood, with 68 mph gusts recorded at Algoma and Kenosha.
The winds were also strong out over the Lake Superior. A ship reported 61 mph winds in the open waters of western Lake Superior. Just east of Grand Portage, the Rock of Ages observation on Isle Royale, Michigan, recorded a sustained 68 mph wind at 3 a.m. October 27th, with gusts to 78 mph. The very strong winds over the lake helped to generate huge waves. The western mid-lake buoy on Lake Superior reported wave heights up to 18.7 feet, while wave heights in the far northern part of the lake were measured at 26.6 feet at the Canadian NOMAD buoy.
The Northwoods lost many individual trees in this storm, but I’ve not heard any reports of extensive forest damage. As for the general types and effects of windstorms on forests in Wisconsin, we experience three principle sources of extreme winds:
1- Severe low-pressure systems (extratropical cyclones). These storms, like the one last week, are a significant source of small-scale canopy gaps in a forest, but they are not known to cause catastrophic wind damage.
2- Tornadoes. Two researchers (Canham and Loucks) reviewed weather records from a 25-year period (1953-1977) in Wisconsin and determined that the expected frequency of tornado-caused windthrow is 5 patches per year covering 2062 hectares, or around 5,000 acres. So tornadoes are also not a significant mechanism for catastrophic forest loss.
3- Thunderstorm downbursts. These storms are usually far wider than tornado tracks, and they are considered the principal mechanism for catastrophic windthrow in Wisconsin forests. The 7/4/77 windstorm that hit eastern MN and northern WI contained 25 separate downdraft cells and flattened some 40,000 acres in just 3 hours over an area166 miles long and 17 miles wide.
All of these windstorms demonstrate that “change is an immutable rule for forests . . . Even though species come and go, the forest itself is resilient. What stands out is the mosaic of restless change (Loucks).”
We need to also be careful how we appraise such natural changes. In describing a blowdown in the Adirondacks in 1995, author Jerry Jenkins wrote that it is “conventional to emphasize the destructive aspects of powerful storms, using words like “disaster” and ‘devastation’ [but the] language of destruction is inappropriate – it contains assumptions . . . seen in economic terms . . . From a biological view it makes no sense to describe a blowdown as a disaster.”
He further notes that blowdowns “actually create small increases in diversity . . . a longer pulse of carbon and nutrients cycled through coarse woody debris . . . [They] will replace old trees with young trees, and probably increase canopy diversity . . . Openings will be filled with herbs, shrubs, tree seedlings and saplings, and will be much used by birds and mammals. The blowdown sites are very much alive, and can in no sense be considered wastes . . . One hundred years from now the overall state of the forest may be little different than if the blowdown hadn’t occurred.”
Perhaps author Jan DeBlieu, who wrote a book on the power and beauty of wind, and its historical impacts and importance, should have the last word on this. Among other notable quotes she wrote, “Wind is capable of tender caresses yet is strong enough to destroy any being or structure on earth. It has the power to arrive unbidden, to slip through the cracks in our houses, in our lives, and hurl us to the ground. All this makes it more like the god we purport to worship (every one of us, in our myriad religions) than anything else in the human realm of consciousness.”
Wolves and Deer
With hunting season upon us, it’s important to recall that last year eight wolves were found illegally shot during Wisconsin’s deer hunting season, a dismal display of disrespect for conservation and rule of law. I bring this up because I’ve recently run into a small cadre of angry people who believe that various predators are taking too many of “their” deer (or fish or grouse or whatever), and it is their right to both take the law into their hands and to determine the fate of wildlife species in our state based on their success or lack thereof during any given hunt.
This recent history of illegal killing of wolves in not only Wisconsin but other states led the leaders of numerous national hunting and conservation organizations to recently issue a joint press release that helps shed light on hunters’ traditional roles as conservationists. The statement reiterates the need for the return of the wolf to state management plans, but also admonishes those who espouse poaching or other illegal acts against wolves.
The statement comes from the heads of the Boone and Crockett Club, the Mule Deer Foundation, the Pope and Young Club, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Safari Club International and Safari Club International Foundation, the Wild Sheep Foundation and the Wildlife Management Institute, all strongly pro-hunting organizations. Here's an excerpt:
"Finally, as we seek hard commitments from government, we also need to draw a hard line for ourselves: we are sportsmen, not wolf-haters. Statements on the Internet about poaching wolves are an affront to the American conservation ethic. Illegal killing is wrong, self-defeating, and exactly opposite of how sportsmen created conservation and the privilege of ethical hunting in the first place. Hunters in America fought poachers and pushed for laws to regulate hunting. Later, sportsmen paid fees and taxes on our own licenses and equipment to fund wildlife restoration that brought wildlife back to abundance, including the game we hunt. Ours is a history of self-restraint and respect for wildlife."
Clearly hunters have played, and continue to play, an essential role in deer management, a role that I as a non-hunter and outdoor writer fully support. As a small minority (14%) of the population of this state, deer hunters have carefully and rightfully earned the general support of most state’s residents. However, the fastest route to losing public support is to self-righteously engage in illegal killing of non-game wildlife. Thus I wish hunters both a successful deer hunt this fall and the wisdom to keep their sights always trained on the bigger picture.
Second Blossoms
Diane Scapes in Boulder Junction sent me a picture of a lily that bloomed at her home on 10/11, and noted that “They won't even bloom in the spring and all other vegetation is dead around it.” She wondered how unusual it was for a spring flower to bloom so late in the fall.
Well, it’s certainly unusual, but not rare. Some cultivars of roses, daylilies, irises, and lilacs are bred specifically to rebloom in fall. And in the true wildflower world, on occasion Mary and I see various individual flowers in bloom in the fall. As for why this occurs in wild settings, it may be simply a case of normal behavioral diversity occurring within every species and every individual. Or it may be that plants detect the same amount of daylight and experience similar temperatures in the fall as in the spring and are triggered again to bloom, particularly if they didn’t bloom in the spring.
Gray Fox in Tree
Ed Brodsky in Presque Isle sent me a night photo he took of a gray fox in a tree on his property. One doesn’t think of a fox being able to climb trees, but unlike red fox which are not known to climb, gray fox are well-known for climbing.
Sightings
Mary, Callie, and I hiked a 9-mile-long trail in the Sylvania Wilderness Area on Nov. 1, and our most interesting sighting was of 10 tundra swans lounging on Deer Island Lake. Tundra swans are migrating into our area now, so be on the lookout for them. We also kicked up numerous flocks of snow buntings along the road there and back, so they, too, are currently migrating through our area.
Celestial Events
We’re down to 10 hours of daylight as of 11/3 – it’s getting dark fast! The new moon occurs on 11/5. November 7th not only ends Daylight Savings Time, but also marks the halfway point between autumnal equinox and winter solstice. On this day also look after dusk for Mars just a degree or two north of the crescent moon.
The Leonid meteor shower peaks on the early morning of 11/17.
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