Anyone live in north central wisconsin

[lonelyfarmgirl]

More specifically, the Eau Claire area? I am interested in hearing about the area, but more primarily, the specifics of the weather. Looking at some property there also, and I know it's colder than where we are now. Kind of scared, but the price sure is right.

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by lonelyfarmgirl

More specifically, the Eau Claire area? I am interested in hearing about the area, but more primarily, the specifics of the weather. Looking at some property there also, and I know it's colder than where we are now. Kind of scared, but the price sure is right.

I am just a few miles from Eau Claire.
Lived most of my life here.
Very friendly area, lots of small farms, a huge farmers market in EC.
EC has a small town feel to it. But yet has lots of entertainment, many places to shop, many lakes around to enjoy, lots of parks to go to.
EC also has a shuttle to the MN. airport, and Mall Of America, Also a airport that offers many flights to O'Hare.
And as far as weather goes. Yes it is cold in winter, with plenty of snow, but roads are cleared very quickly for good winter driving. We may have a few degrees below zero at times but most of the time it is teens and single digits.
The TV Station has its own radar for tracking storms so you can get a very accurate read and just what is coming.
Here is the web site for the one of the local TV Stations.
http://www.weau.com/
May give you some ideas about how things are in EC.
And two very large hospitals, one tied into the the Mayo Clinic, so we have some of the best health care around.

Not sure how much detail you want but this will give you a start and if you do move, welcome.

[lonelyfarmgirl]

If you only get a few degrees below zero at times then we are way colder. That is unusual since we are way east, but about 2 hours south. We get 20 below, but 10 below frequently is common.

Do you grow a garden? I am interested in when you plant things out and how they go for you. have you had frost yet? Also, are you very windy or no? Is the snow fall usually dry or wet? How about average humidity levels?
How hot has it been for you this summer?

My big issue is length of summer. I am from south. Coming here I 'lost' roughly 6-8 weeks of warm weather. Although I have acclimated, I still notice a huge difference. I enjoy hot humid weather. It makes me afraid to go further north, but we are discovering, considering the other options, that might be the best choice.

I am having a tough time coming to grips with it.

[arabian knight]

Well I guess when it comes to below zero there is not much difference in 8 below to 15 below.
Which may happen just a few times.
Wind no not much wind at all, compared to Southern MN.
I don't plant a garden but I have friends that do, great area for growing most things, from corn to lettuce to tomatoes most all things grow fine.
No have not had frost yet, but may get close to it latter part of this week.
The trees have not started to change yet. Getting close though.
A good year is planting from mid may and getting everything through mid sept. Something like that. Sweet Corn is around 90 days give or take a few.
And this summer has been rather warm, upper 90's with quite a bit of humidity, Yes the humidity is high at times, around 80% AT Times. But again that is not the norm and for the most part is short lived.

And this year that lasted nearly 2 weeks, BUT that is not the norm.
But after that breaks many fine summer days can be had. And FALL, Wow not many places in the country can offer the falls like the upper midwest have.
Around the last week or so of Sept. is the average tie for a frost, then have close to two months of nice fall weather. Temps in the 50's to low 60's nights temps in the 40's to low 40's No bugs, no skitters, no gnats, just a fine time to be outside.
So really you are having warm reps from early May to nice reps into Oct. and maybe even into Nov.
The first snow fall Late in Nov. Thanksgiving time "Deer Hunting" MAY have snow on the ground, but the last few years snow has not come until into the first to second week of Dec. In This Area that is.

Now as far as cold to really cold temps. Then end of Dec. Through Jan.
And even in January there4 maybe a day or so above 32. We call it a January thaw, lol
And then back to being cold again teens to single temps.
The snow is 90% of the time Very Dry~! We don't get the "wet snow" until late in the winter season, like in Mid February or into March.
March is the "Transition Month" from winter to early spring.
We may get one or two freezing rain type situations but not as bad as those further South like in Iowa etc.
Right now it is Wonderful check this out:
current conditions
A Few Clouds and 77 F at Eau Claire, Chippewa Valley Regional Airport, WI

Winds are West at 8.1 MPH (7 KT). The pressure is 1015.0 mb and the humidity is 58%. Last Updated on Sep 11 2011, 10:56 am CDT.

Not bad eh?

[arabian knight]

And rainfall.
This year has been Wonderful.
Rain at the correct times.
Maybe too much at times LOL
But crops~!!
WOW I have NEVER ever seen crops as good this year for years and years.
The bean crop is so high it looks like bean fields in Iowa~!
Way over a foot high.
Hay WOW my landlord chopped 4 Crops this year and we on on lots of sand here.
So hay is in so plentiful supply some farms ar sending hay to other state that have huge problems this year.
My grass grew so fast that a few weeks in a row I had to mow 2 times in a week, I did this 3 Weeks in a row.
That is fast growing grass and hay crops for sure.
And as far as living frugal If you wanted to just get TV stations via a outside antenna you can get ALL 4 major networks plus a few PBS, and the CW channel.
Just a FYI.

[arabian knight]

And having a few animals they get nice winter coats to protect them from the cold, My sheds are just "run in type" no doors etc. to close, and they do just fine.

[lonelyfarmgirl]

That information is exactly what I was after. Thanks for taking the time. We have highlanders and colored pigs, so they do real well in the weather.
It gets bitter cold here, and the wind almost never stops blowing. Blizzards are common. It just seems winter never ends, and I stay cold forever. I am comfortable now. Sounds like todays temp is pretty similar to yours, but our frosts are a little further out by a week or two.

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by lonelyfarmgirl

That information is exactly what I was after. Thanks for taking the time. We have highlanders and colored pigs, so they do real well in the weather.
It gets bitter cold here, and the wind almost never stops blowing. Blizzards are common. It just seems winter never ends, and I stay cold forever. I am comfortable now. Sounds like todays temp is pretty similar to yours, but our frosts are a little further out by a week or two.

Your welcome.
And as a side note I lived 10 years in the Phoenix metro area. Tempe.
And I moved BACK to WI even knowing what the winter time was like.

[Ardie/WI]

We live 40 miles West of Appleton.

If you like definite 4 seasons, you'll like WI! Sometimes, the weather changes are over night!

Gardening wise, we grow all kinds of veggies and fruit. A good seed catalog is Jung Seed Co. out of Randolph,WI.

People are, for the most part, friendly. In rural areas, sometimes it takes awhile to become friends with the neighbors. It isn't that they mean to be unfriendly though. In small communities, the people are inter-related and tend to keep to stay with who they've known forever.

[StatHaldol]

All the descriptions sound like heaven to me!!

[tallpines]

And if you need a drink of water, someone may send you to the nearest "bubbler".
That may be a term used more-often in eastern Wis.

I grew up on the east side of Wis but have lived 40 miles east of Eau Claire for 40+ years.

Mosquitoes can be wicked, but then we live in a woods.
The soil is not quite as sandy in our area as it is in EauClaire.

I've almost always had a good properous garden-----any failures were due to my own negilence.

Eau Claire County, and next door Clark County have hundreds of miles of forest trails for horse back riding, snowmobiling and ATVing.
Those trails are the place to go for picking blackberries!

Plenty of public hunting grounds and good fishing lakes.

Good variety of stores for shopping and a nice mall.
And Minneapolis-St. Paul is only 90 miles away.

On the temperatures ~~~
We can get as cold as -40 but it doesn't happen too often,

Most cities and towns are well equiped for fast snow removal.
They can clear out 20 inches of snow a heck of a lot faster then Indiana can clear out 2 inches!

[lonelyfarmgirl]

I already live in Wisconsin. I've been here 3 1/2 years. We are straight across the lake from OshKosh, so I am familiar with the general weather and 'localite' rules, so to speak. And yes, the first thing I learned when I moved here was what a bubbler was. I was asked, and my answer was something that bubbles. There was pointing and laughter.

Anyway, I just am apprehensive about moving further north, due to the decrease in the length of summer and over all temperature highs. Thats what I want to know about. When do you Eau Claire area people plant corn and tomatoes (I don't plant tomatoes, just an easy weather question)? When is your first kill frost?

If we buy wooded acreage in clark or taylor county are we going to be forever plagued by ravaging hordes of mosquitos? We might be going to look at some places in Gilman and Stanley next week. Seems there are a lot of places for sale in that area. Wish I knew why.

[billfosburgh]

no place i`d rather be. we are from there but moved many years ago. all my dads family is from there. my dad was born in the family farm house in Ladysmith. i move back in a heartbeat if i could get my wife to go.
not a whole lot of work where we are from

[4sam]

I lived my entire life in Price County which is about 2 hours north east of Eau Claire. In 2000 we moved to Chippewa Falls and lived there two years. I loved living over in that area. So much to do!! Lots and lots of entertainment. We eventually moved back to Price County where we have our family and kids but I sure miss that area lots!

[lonelyfarmgirl]

Price County?!? What's your growing season, 90 days with 70 degree summer highs? Yikes!

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by lonelyfarmgirl

Anyway, I just am apprehensive about moving further north, due to the decrease in the length of summer and over all temperature highs. Thats what I want to know about. When do you Eau Claire area people plant corn and tomatoes (I don't plant tomatoes, just an easy weather question)? When is your first kill frost?

OK this page may answer a few of your questions.
http://www.wisconline.com/almanac/ga...ringfrost.html
And my folks live in Oshkosh. I went to HS in Oshkosh.
And over on this side of the state we get warmer at a earlier date in the spring time.
You get a lot of weather conditions from the Lake, and lake effect snow, very very seldom do we have "lake effect snow"
I know when I talk to my Dad, we compare temps etc.
And we warm up faster in the spring. And killing frost well that is somewhere in late Sept. I would say as average.
Here is a page with a map showing the first killing frost dates.
http://www.wisconline.com/almanac/ga...fallfrost.html
And as far as moving further North. Ya I like to say this Oshkosh is as far South of the center of WI as Eau Claire is North.
We do get a few days the edge of those "Siberian Clippers" but not as bad as those in say ND or MN.

[lonelyfarmgirl]

According to the map, you are 2 weeks sooner on the kill frost and two weeks later for the last spring frost. But that spring map isn't entirely accurate for here. I guess its because of the lake. I really don't mind the snow we get. I figure if its going to be freezing cold, might as well have snow. At least it insulates the ground.

[mnn2501]

Originally Posted by lonelyfarmgirl

When do you Eau Claire area people plant corn and tomatoes (I don't plant tomatoes, just an easy weather question)? When is your first kill frost?

I used to live an hour NW of Eau Clair and I always planted the 2nd or 3rd weekend in May dependingon how the month fell (it was always the weekend after my birthday on the 13th, thats why I remember)

[tallpines]

Well now-----we are about 5 miles from Stanley!

I plant cold weather garden seeds just about anytime in May depending on how the ground is warming up.
This last spring we still had about a foot of snow in our woods in April but that was not the norm. Usually the woods is is popping out a zillion wildflowers by April.

I generally wait until Memorial Day weekend to plant the corn and tomatoes ------ sometimes earlier if the ground has warmed up.
But, I'll mention again, that we live in a woods so we don't get quite the normal hours of sunshine that a place on the "open" might get.


They are predicting a possible frost the end of this next week but that is a week or two earlier than average.


So---did you ever make that drive straight across the Winnebago ice in the wintertime?
I knew a fellow who use to ride his bike across that lake on that Ice Road.

A couple of winters ago, my cousin and his buddy lost their lives when they drove their snowmobiles into open water.
They had parked (unloaded their machines) by High Cliff and then went towards Menasha where they didn't expect the open water.

Mosquitoes!
I'm a mosquito magnet so they are always a problem for me.
I generally spray repellant almost every day I spend time out doors ---- particularrily in the evenings!

[tallpines]

I think the reason for lots of real estate available in the Gilman area is the lack of jobs.
And Gilman is another 45 miles away from Eau Claire --- pretty much in the middle of "no-where".

I'm 40 miles east of Eau Claire, but I am very close to Highway 29 --- which is a direct route to all sizable cities.

Gilman, on the other hand is about 20 miles off highway 29.
Hwy 64 goes through Gilman, and Hwy 73, too ----- but they are much lesser highways than 29.

Stanley --- seems to have more job opportunities --- several churches, a movie theater, a small hospital ----- a few reataurant options.......is right on Hwy 29.
The most recent gossip from there is that Father Joe ----- hmmm----- let's say he got caught with his trousers not properly fastened ----- he was escorted to the Bishop, and for the last couple of weeks there has been a repacement priest standing in.