Around the Mille Lacs area or the BWCA, it has been a very wet late summer or early fall. In the Mille Lacs area, we have had the wettest August-September on record with about 14-15 inches of rain. Now, in October, we already have received 2" plus and I see Ely is getting hit hard this morning. This makes for cold, wet camping and very tough getting good campfire wood.

Not around Chicago. We only got 1/4" of rain in September. The normal is 2.5". The lakes went from an all time high since I've been up here to very low right now.

Try building a house in this.

And to top it all off it seems as though the rain concentrates in the Thursday - Sunday timeframe, which is extremely convenient......we canceled my father-son BWCA trip this year due to literally 72 hours of straight rain September 15-17.

We might get another 3 inches today. Farmers getting stuck in the fields constantly.

Nothing to speak of here in N. Illinois since the end of July.

quote awbrown: "Nothing to speak of here in N. Illinois since the end of July."

Yes. It is the polar opposite of what is being described for northern MN. Grass is dry and crisp, and the dirt underneath hard and cracked. Lots of green leaves fell without even changing color due to the drought. Heard we might luck into some rain later this week.

Harvested apples up by mille lacs yesterday, and the same trees have never been so juicy or numerous! We thought it must have something to do with the wet weather.

Too many pies, and filled every jar we had with sauce.
...17gal of cider bubbling away with yeast right now.

quote muddyfeet: "Harvested apples up by mille lacs yesterday, and the same trees have never been so juicy or numerous! We thought it must have something to do with the wet weather.


Too many pies, and filled every jar we had with sauce.
...17gal of cider bubbling away with yeast right now.

"

Lucky you my apple trees had enough apples for 1 pie this year. My tomatoes this year were monsters this year tho.

Our annual trip this year was Sept 16 - 22. After 31 years, this year was in the top 3 for rain, but definitely the top one for muddy portages. They haven't had a chance to dry out for weeks.

We had 2 afternoons that became partly cloudy, and one day that was sunny. Otherwise, cloudy, misty, rainy the rest of the week. Despite the weather and a few muddy challenges, still enjoyed the trip and had time to plan next year's.

On the positive side, it means higher water levels on some of the rocky creeks and rivers. I’m sure my Northwind will thank me in a few weeks after our MEA trip (assuming water levels stay up). I’m anticipating some muddy portages. Got my muck boots on standby, I’ll probably need them.

quote anthonyp007: "On the positive side, it means higher water levels on some of the rocky creeks and rivers. I’m sure my Northwind will thank me in a few weeks after our MEA trip (assuming water levels stay up). I’m anticipating some muddy portages. Got my muck boots on standby, I’ll probably need them. "

Portages are getting shorter.

quote Lightfoot: "Our annual trip this year was Sept 16 - 22. After 31 years, this year was in the top 3 for rain, but definitely the top one for muddy portages. They haven't had a chance to dry out for weeks.


We had 2 afternoons that became partly cloudy, and one day that was sunny. Otherwise, cloudy, misty, rainy the rest of the week. Despite the weather and a few muddy challenges, still enjoyed the trip and had time to plan next year's."

A day or so a person can handle the rain. Than after that you can't dry anything out and very tough to get some dry wood that will burn decent.

Was out on the Kawishiwi last week... rained every single day. But we still had a blast!

quote Papinator: "Was out on the Kawishiwi last week... rained every single day. But we still had a blast!"

One thing it wasn't too cold much of the time.

Lots of rain when I was in MN, but pretty dry here the last few months. Nothing but sprinkles last 6 weeks. Many of the leaves are just turning brown without any "Coloring."

quote ozarkpaddler: "Lots of rain when I was in MN, but pretty dry here the last few months. Nothing but sprinkles last 6 weeks. Many of the leaves are just turning brown without any "Coloring.""

We had a year like that once,it was very dry and many leaves did not get much color,they just fell off brown.

The Rum came up over 4' with that last rain and there's more in the forecast. You tip now and you're a goner!

quote : "The Rum came up over 4' with that last rain and there's more in the forecast. You tip now and you're a goner!"

What is extremely dangerous in streams under those conditions is you run into a overhanging branch or something the force of the water will turn your canoe sideways and I don't care who you our,your tipping over.

quote awbrown: "Nothing to speak of here in N. Illinois since the end of July."

Same here in SE Wisconsin. We are in a prolonged drought the last several months.

quote nctry: "Try building a house in this."

I feel your pain, signed a proposal to do a driveway back in mid Aug. They said they were backed up 5-6weeks. Just got a call yesterday saying that the cold/wet weather has delayed them and without a nice warm dry spell it's probably best to wait till next year.

The NOAA official statistics for precipitation for the northwestern area of WI where my farm is located is: it rained 57% of the days from May to October. Basically that says it rained about every other day, and I believe it to be true since I'm outside all day everyday during the summer up here. I don't recall many times when there was three days in a row without rain. And, hey, rained two days ago (2 inches) and its going to rain again this afternoon!!

It was too wet for my garden to do well. Last year I harvested 60 butternut squash, this year 2 (same number of plants). The beets did well though and so did the yellow summer squash.
Tomatoes and peppers didn't do so well, too wet.

Oh well, I'd rather it be wet than too dry. That way the fire danger is lower.

As close as Minneapolis the official total for September was 1.04 inches, about one third the average. Kind of a disappointment when there was one evening when they were predicting 3 inches for that night.

On the other hand, the 6.75 inches for August was 2.45 inches above average.