Winter activities continue to confront challenges in northern Wisconsin

Organizers of North America’s largest cross country ski race are crafting contingency plans for another year with below normal snowfall.

The American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation is gearing up for nearly 12,000 skiers who have registered for a series of events Feb. 19-23. That includes the 51st annual American Birkebeiner Ski Race on Feb. 22, which typically runs from Cable to Hayward.

While bitter cold has made it possible to use snowmaking machines, snow provided by Mother Nature is in short supply.

Ben Popp, the foundation’s executive director, said it would be ideal for skiers to finish in downtown Hayward. However, he said the southern half of the trail is pretty bare.

“We would really need upwards of a foot [of snow] to get into downtown Hayward between now and race time,” Popp said.

The entire state has seen below normal snowfall, according to Josh Sandstrom, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Duluth.

He said the state has seen anywhere from an inch to 8 inches in southern Wisconsin. Across northern Wisconsin, the region has received roughly 10 to 20 inches of snow. That’s about 5 to 15 inches below average, especially along the south shore of Lake Superior. Hayward has seen about a quarter of its normal snowfall of 33 inches so far this winter.

Over the weekend, northern Wisconsin could see 2 to 4 inches of snow and higher amounts in the Bayfield Peninsula.

“This is going to be another one of those systems that’s not a big snowmaker, but it’ll add a little bit to the total,” Sandstrom said.

A 2021 report from the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts found that winter has warmed twice as fast as other seasons in Wisconsin.

Last year, Wisconsin saw its warmest winter on record, and Birkie organizers celebrating the race’s 50th anniversary were forced to shift competitors from the traditional 50-kilometer Cable-to-Hayward course to a 10-kilometer loop with manmade snow.

Organizers currently have a 6.5-kilometer loop at the Birkie trailhead in Cable. They would like to build that to a 20-kilometer loop, but it might be closer to 13 kilometers if natural snow is lacking. Popp said the foundation will likely spend around $350,000 on snowmaking this year.

“This later stuff that we have to put down in a really compressed time period, we just blow it into one big mountain and then use excavators and loaders and dump trucks to move it out onto the trail,” Popp said.

Popp said it takes an average of 1 million gallons of water to create 1 kilometer on the course, adding they’ve already made around 1,100 dump truck loads of snow. Organizers say they’ll likely make a final decision on the race course by the end of next week.

In the early part of February, temperatures are leaning below normal across northern Wisconsin, and there’s a slightly greater chance for above normal precipitation. However, Sandstrom said it’s unlikely to make up for lack of snow due to weak La Niña conditions. Average temperatures across Wisconsin were above normal in November and December, but below normal in January.

While bitter cold descended on the state this month, the recent warmup has meant icy conditions on the Birkie trail and challenging conditions for the Madeline Island Ferry Line on Lake Superior.

Traditionally, thick winter ice between Madeline Island and Bayfield would allow the ferry to shut down in winter, with residents able to drive vehicles across an ice road.

But more volatile weather and unstable ice has made that impossible over the last two years.

Robin Trinko Russell, managing member of MIFL LLC, works with about 25 staff to operate and maintain the ferry line that runs between Madeline Island and Bayfield on the mainland. The ferry has been running its two smallest boats, the Nichevo and Island Queen, to carry people to and from the island. They have a hull that can break through thick ice, but it’s been slow going with inconsistent ice due to the weather.

“What we’re seeing this year is we’ve got 7 to 10 inches on the island and around the dock, and that’s windrowed ice, which is broken up and then refrozen, which is tougher to get through,” she said.

The ferry line has been forced to slow down its speed, running every 45 minutes instead of every half hour. They’ve also asked residents and contractors to lighten loads or carpool. Trinko Russell said it’s tough on residents and businesses, as well as the ferry line.

“Most everyone that you would talk to up here looks forward to the ice road, because they can go back and forth to the mainland five times a day if they want,” Trinko Russell said. “They don’t have to be worried about the ferry schedule, and it’s free. The ferry line likes the ice road because it allows us to help catch up on our maintenance.”

The ferry line has been operating more than 1,000 days in a row since April 10, 2022. After more than 50 years in operation, the ferry line has increasingly been forced to operate year round.

The changing weather patterns also mean the ice caves on Lake Superior are inaccessible.

In 2014, the ice caves created an estimated $10 to $12 million economic boon when photos of ice formations on sandstone cliffs near Meyers Beach went viral on social media. The Apostle Islands drew in more than 290,000 visitors that year, of which more than half descended on the park during the first three months.

Conditions haven’t allowed access to the ice caves at Meyers Beach since 2015. Guides were offering tours of ice caves in the Chequamegon Bay over the weekend, but it’s unclear whether conditions are safe enough to allow access due to higher temperatures.