IT IS FINALLY HERE! ... Blogdate 0412.08

It's finally here... yay! We're now streaming live video 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!
What does that mean for you? Well, that means you and everyone across the world can now watch all of our live newscasts via the world wide web. When we're not showing the local newscast, enjoy our 24/7 weather channel via the live stream. Our 24 hour weather channel is already available over the airwaves and you can watch the 24/7 weather channel on Charter Digital 247, or DTV 7-3.

A little bit more information about "our" weather channel vs. the "other" weather channel. Our weather channel is run locally at the NewsChannel 7 Studios with all the local forecasts being produced by one of our StormTeam 7 Meteorologists. The National forecasts are provided by the fine folks at AccuWeather. The local forecasts on "our" weather channel (24/7 weather), are available every few minutes.

The "other" weather channel that many people are familiar with, is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the time, our forecasts will differ from their forecasts... for one important reason. To save money, the "other" weather channel runs a computer model and that in turn "spits" out the numbers that you see on the screen. As any meteorologist will tell you, taking a computer's forecast without human intervention can be a risky proposition.

We get a lot of calls about why are forecasts differ so much sometimes, compared to the "other" weather channel... and the simple answer is, Local Local Local. Our forecasts are done locally, while theirs is not.

Enough of that business,,, anyone care to guess/forecast the last day we'll have to worry about snow this Spring? Have a good weekend!

Respond to Chad's blog here:

I've been thinking about writing to let all of the team know that I love watching your show. I use to never watch the boring news but now with your help, Its not boring anymore! I believe your the "best morning personalities", noon and evening also. I appreciate that you're not robotic, but human! Now to Chad, If you're gonna predict snow in the Medford area this spring, stay off my T.V. lol Esther from Medford

CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER... Blogdate 0408.08

Once a year, the Wisconsin Broadcaster's Association (WBA) release their winners of various awards for both television and radio stations throughout the state of Wisconsin. While this may not seem like a big deal to the average reader, some of these awards are some of the major feats and accomplishments in a broadcaster's career. There are a few people that I would like to congratulate: our very own Chief Meteorologist Mike Breunling won "BEST WEATHERCAST" for 2007. That is awesome!
I would also like to congratulate my good friends, Lee Peak and Nikki Montgomery from 101.9 WDEZ, for "BEST MORNING PERSONALITIES". I still think they must have sent their samples in while Lee was on vacation or something. LOL Just kidding Lee!

SNOWFALL THIS TIME OF YEAR ... Blogdate 0321.08

It was only a few days ago, when I grabbed our Graphics Expert/Jack of all Trades Bill Mercer and was showing him the differences in forecasting this time of year. When the weather patterns are active, it is really difficult to say the least. I think Bill was really impressed with my weather "nerdiness"... then again, he never said a word... maybe not! LOL
Here's how much fun it was forecast this week- this past Tuesday morning, one computer model (formerly the "Eta", now called the NAM) was predicting 8" of snow for parts of our area. Another computer model (formerly the "AVN", now called the GFS) was predicting nothing for most of our area.
Well, as of yesterday afternoon, the computer models finally came to some agreement, with a heavy snowfall band from southeastern Minnesota right into southeastern Wisconsin. Madison will possibly break 100" of snow for the season with today's expected snowfall and Milwaukee may crack 90". (92" and counting for Madison and 84.5" and counting for Milwaukee). That snowfall band is about 60 miles farther south than where it looked just a few days ago.

Other factors to consider for snowfall totals this time of year are: temps are mainly in the 30's during the afternoon snow, the sun angle is higher in the sky, the ground that is bare now has been warmed a bit and a little thing called Insolation. Insolation is named for INcoming SOLar radiATION. It is the amount of energy that is coming from the sun, and because the sun's rays are striking our part of the country more and more (otherwise known as Spring), more heating can occur.

Due to all of these factors, my forecast shapes up like this:
The first number is the amount of snowfall, the second number is the amount of snowfall accumulation. The snow will compact easily and will be wet at times.
Wausau- 1/2". Little accumulation.
Marshfield- 3.0". 2.0" accumulation.
Stevens Point- 3.5". 3.5" accumulation.
Wautoma- 3.0". 2.5" accumulation.
Wisconsin Rapids- 4.0". 4.0" accumulation.
Adams-Friendship- 6.5". 6.5" accumulation.

It was last year on this day, that we had a high of 55 and that marked the last time we had an official report of snow on the ground here in Wausau. However, it did not remain that way, for we had 4" of snow fall from April 11 to April 12th of last year. It melted a few days later and that was the last of the snowfall in the Wausau area until this past fall.

hey chad, kathy jensen here from antigo. thanks for the "last year's weather at this time" reports. caught that. i heard mike do it also. way cool. i have to agree with one comment made, i too think you and alison make a cute couple. you two are very funny. too bad you only think of her as a sister you never had. you make me laugh. i prefer your charm over anyone's. lol. you make my lunch hour. lol. take care

Have you noticed that most of our "interesting" weather has fallen on a Monday? Hmmm,Laura M.

Chad, Thanks for the answer concerning "Cane". I am very disappointed. Bonnie ashby

If you're really good at writing letters, start writing them now to CBS. Jericho was cancelled again too and we'll see if a letter writing campaign can save either of these shows again.

SNOWY WINTER ... WHAT'S NEXT FOR SUMMER? MY TAKE ON FAVRE'S RETIREMENT ... Blogdate 0307.08

This year, we're in a La Nina type weather pattern, where water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean are slightly cooler than normal. In the winter of 1990/1991, the water temps were slightly ABOVE normal, but it was NOT considered an El Nino. In the winter of 1995/1996, the water temps were slightly cooler than normal, but it was NOT considered a La Nina. For the current year, temps have been cool enough that it is considered a weak La Nina.
What's the point of all of this.... well, notice how 3 of the top 10 snowfalls in a season were considered a La Nina, 2 more were considered slightly cooler than normal, and one of them was slightly warmer, but yet, not an El Nino. The other 3 of the top 10 are left as blank, do to a lack of data, record keeping and theory at that time.

The current forecast for the summer is what the Climate Prediction Center calls.. EC. Equal Chances. That means there's just a good of a chance for a warmer, cooler or seasonal summer ahead. We shall soon see...

Now, on to Mr. Favre...
Here's a personal and quick note about Brett Favre's retirement... I played football for 14 years and ended up "retiring" from college football when my eligibility was up, although I did have one scare when I shattered my fibula my Junior year of college. A doctor I went to told me I would have a metal rod inserted into my leg and there would be no more football,,, I remember that very well and felt like I had been "cheated" out of the rest of my career (one year). Thankfully, I returned for my Senior season and even played in a game against NFL great Adam Vinatieri, and one time Packer Offensive Lineman, Adam Timmerman.
I was heartbroken the year after my eligibility ended and when I was no longer in the game to continue on the journey with my friends... my teammates... my extended family. I can't even imagine the emotions that #4 is going through right now... 30+ years of playing organized football is now at and end for Brett.
Imagine doing one activity for about 80% of your life... 2 or 3 a day practices in the fall, training all year round and mini camps in the Spring and Summer. The game consumes you, but as much as it does, it's nearly impossible to walk away from it because it is so much fun!
#4 will go down as one of the greatest in the game- and unlike a lot of past QB's who try to extend their career one more year without success, Brett knew when it was time to call it quits... it's a decision only Favre can make, for Brett knows what is best for Brett and no one else can decide that for him.
Best of luck #4, we will miss you and your sportsmanship in the NFL.

Chad, I know you are the weatherman but you seem to know some about the entertainment area, so can you find out when or if the series "Cane" with Jimmy Smits will be coming back on? It was aired on Tuesday nights at 9pm before the writers strike. Thanks for any help you can give.
Bonnie Ashby Gleason, WI

Good Morning Bonnie,

Well, I wish I had some better news for you this morning... I made a request to our Operations Manager (Patti) to contact CBS concerning the series "Cane". The response was probably not what you want to hear... (paraphrasing here...) the show has not yet been picked up for the Fall and there are no new episodes to air this Spring.
I can tell you that most shows would have been renewed by now. There is still hope, but not much. You can send letters to CBS about getting the show renewed, and for CBS, it has worked in the past... please see my blog titled
WELCOME TO THE RATINGS PERIOD IN TELEVISION Blogdate 1102.07

from last November's ratings period. Jericho, Cagney and Lacey and Touched by an Angel (all CBS) were brought back by letter writing campaigns... One of the more famous shows in television history, something called "Star Trek", was brought back by a letter writing campaign too. (originally on a different network than CBS)

HI CHAD, KATHY JENSEN HERE, FROM ANTIGO. JUST AN IDEA. INSTEAD OF TELLING US WHAT WEATHER AND TEMPS WERE LIKE FROM YEARS PAST, HOW ABOUT WHAT THEY WERE LIKE: " AT THIS TIME LAST YEAR" ? THANKS. PEOPLE TEND TO FORGET.

Hi Kathy!
Thanks for blogging. I will make it a point to bring up last year's weather information more often and as necessary.

Chad, I just wanted to write you quick and let you know you and Allison are so cute together on the afternoon show. You guys seem to hit it off REALLY WELL! You two would make a CUTE couple!

Alison is like the little sister I never had... minus the fighting. LOL
We click really well because we enjoy the Noon show so much. For me, it's normally the end of my day and I'm ready to go home so I'm usually in a super good mood. :)
We're also in that "gray" area when it comes to the different newscasts... lemme explain a bit.
The morning newscasts are usually very laid back and relaxed, unless there is some kind of "hard or breaking" news. Your standard night time newscasts are usually a little more "serious" ... meaning you are delivering the "newest news" to your audience and they are looking for the news with a side of personality for the day.
The Noon show is a different critter all on its own... we're serious when we need to be, but normally we're touching on stories that you will see more in depth during the night-time newscasts. Therefore, we have time to show more of our personalities during that mid-day newscast than may be available during our other newscasts.
That's my take on the whole thing... oh and back to your original point ... Alison and I are good friends and we have a great time working together and we are just friends. After all, I think of her as my younger sister I never had!

It's not knocking on any of our other newscasts, but the Noon show is a lot different than the other newscasts we have on NewsChannel 7... whether it's the DayBreak show, the 5pm, 6pm, 10pm or any of our weekend newscasts.. the Noon show is just a bit different.

Hey Chad,

My question to you today is: do you tend to believe the groundhog who is in Pennsylvania (I believe that is where he lives) or the groundhog in Wisconsin? I tend to go with the one in our state, since it is weather for our state he is trying to predict. In all honesty, in the pastI have gone with the groundhog who has predicted an early spring since I really hate winter and spring is my favorite season (could that have anything to do with my birthday being on the first day of spring? hmmmmmm? ).
Have a great day! Y

Hello!
In all honesty, I don't trust a single one of them critters! LOL It's basically all luck of the draw in my honest opinion. For instance, most of the national prognosticators/ground hogs predicted an early Spring, including Jimmy in Sun Prairie. Punxsutawney Phil (in Pennsylvania), predicted 6 more weeks of winter. Therefore, the non-local critter got it right.
I think it's just one of those things that have been around for a long time (tradition) and it could go either way from year to year.

Another prognosticating tool that people use is the Farmer's Almanac. The forecast for this winter was for below normal snowfall... and we know that isn't the case. As of this writing, Wausau has seen 66.0", with a seasonal average of 58.6".

In addition, the National Weather Service has a branch called the Climate Prediction Center that specializes is long-term forecasting (outlooks). In all honesty, we have a tough enough time forecasting out to 7 days in advance... much less several months.

Bottom line, Mother Nature is very difficult to predict... but we continue to work at it and do the best we can to forecast the weather!

say good morning chad just reading your blog on the top 10 record snow. do you really think we should ponder on this anymore. spring is just around the corner march 20,tell old man winter to give up there are some people who have spring toys that need to be used like my motorcycles it has been a long time since it has been used. i put my away just before deer hunting last year. enjoy thanks donald

It's been really interesting the past few weeks.. after a very snowy start to February, it really ended on a very cool and relatively dry note. That's how we're starting March too, so who knows if we'll crack the top 10 at this point. Early next week (around Monday/Tuesday March 17/18), there is a more "interesting" storm system slated to hit the upper Midwest. At this point, it may be too warm for a heavy snowfall... so stay tuned.
I'm really excited to be riding the bike soon, so we'll see how quickly Mother Nature can clean up about 20 inches of snow! Have a good one!

Chad ... I hope you are the kind of guy who can graciously and humbly accept accolades; we have some outstanding talent at your station, but for some reason (with all due respect to your colleagues!) I really find myself enjoying your presentation of weather. There's a "real person" element you possess that is extraordinarily welcome in my house ... its something I see in Jeff Thelen a lot too. Perhaps its a little revealing about your personal interests (in your case, cycling, etc.; in Jeff's it was "grandma Thelen's popcorn balls" during the holidays). It is the genuine personality coming through and the job still getting done in a professional manner. I like all you folks a great deal, but I get the strong impression that it'd be a real kick to share a cold one with you and Thelen. A couple of guys comfortable in their own skin, getting a hard job done, and keeping a "real"ness to their presence in our homes. Keep up the good stuff; we enjoy it all!

I am very humbled by your comments and I thank you very much for them. We all try our best here at NewsChannel 7 and we all seem to offer a little bit of everything for the viewers at home.

NEW WEATHER FEATURES ONLINE ... Blogdate 0227.08

You may have seen a few of our promotions floating around in the last week, touting our new and improved wsaw.com webchannel. There's one where our web producer, super guru, Bill Martens; is holding a lit stick of dynamite and drops it in front of Alison, who is doing the news. It is funny! There's also another one of us in weather, talking about how our weather page has more than just My Local Titan (MLT). Basically, it pokes fun at me a bit, since I'm such a huge MLT fan, and the rest of the weather team is trying to convince me there is more than just MLT! Good stuff.... by the way, MLT's first birthday is coming up in MAY!

Okay, back to the task at hand... new weather features... as our promotion mentions, there's a things like a Severe Weather Planning Guide, our Detailed Forecast, and a list of current watches and/or warnings in our area.
We have also added some more weather maps to click through, including the state temps and wind chill. They can be found on a tab, right above the big 7 Day forecast in the middle of the screen. Look for more features to be added very soon!

Hope you enjoy the new look of wsaw.com. Questions or comments, feel free to post them below!

Chad
When you shoot a piece from the newsroom all I can look at is the stuff
in the background including people walking by. Can't you put up a screen?

That's a good question. To be honest with you, there is a reason why they show that stuff in the background... it's to show the busy newsroom and people working hard. If you are ever in another television market watching tv, I will bet more times than not, that those stations will have something similar to it.

how in the heck can the average snowfall for wausau be 58 inches when we havent had snow in years IM very confused about this? how do you calculate averages?

The average is a 30 year climatological average.. the last period of record is 1971-2000. The average is 58.6" and is calculated by the National Weather Service and the State Climatologist's Office.

Nice dive,Mr.Spitz,lol.Great jump on Saturday,you and Alison looked great.Laura

Thanks... I'm one week removed from my early morning jump... and I still feel cold and no feeling in my pinkie finger tip. LOL
We had a great time out there and I'm "sure" Alison would love to do it again next year! :)

POLAR PLUNGE ... Blogdate 0222.08

Well, I did it this morning... jumped into an ice covered lake to show that anyone can do the Polar Plunge to help raise money for Special Olympics. It's still not too late, registration starts at 10am at Man Made Lake... the site of this year's jump.

Here's me diving in.. which you are NOT supposed to do. Notice the great Superman resemblance I have!

Chad Franzen Takes the Polar Plunge in Wausau

A big thank you to Steve Woller for bringing out the hot air balloon to share in our coverage of jumping in an ice cold lake. In addition, a big thank you to Dave Kalloway and Stacy Cole from 95.5 WIFC for taking my updates... before and after the plunge. They will be out at Mad Made Saturday and I am going to see if I can talk one of them into jumping with Alison Struve and me! A HUGETASTIC thank you to Theresa Pries and her crew from Special Olympics for getting the hole prepared this morning.
See y'all out there this weekend!

*** Update Sunday***
I'm still not quite thawed out... since a few of my finger tips have no feeling... but again, they call it "freezin' for a reason" .... :)

I did you one better! Posted the video on my blog...

Your Noon Cohort/Coanchor

Tom from the blog below, please click over to Alison's blog to see her and I jump in the freezing water from Saturday.
See what happens when you put a co-worker on the spot on live tv, she was almost "forced" to post the video from this past weekend.

Great dive - however where is the proof that Alison jumped on Saturday? Tom

I believe Alison will be posting a picture of our jump on her blog. If not, I will post one later this week. She jumped... and she was cold!

Congrats and thank you. It's such a great cause!

Now then, what's the new air quality scare all about. It's a beautiful clear winter day but the air quality is poor?
I'm confused. Thanks.

Alison and I had such a great time out there Saturday... we're looking forward to doing it again next year!

The air quality has been poor for a lot of different reasons, but I'll throw some of the main ones out there. One, do you remember the last time we had a decent wind? It's been a few days, so the weather has been rather stagnant from this weekend into Monday.
Other things that can contribute to poor air quality include: emissions from cars, power plants and other vehicles (such as snowmobiles). This has been one of the best seasons for snowmobilers in the past 10 years and there has been a lot of sleds being run over the past several weeks!

Now that we're seeing a pretty strong storm system move through the Great Lakes, the winds for today and tomorrow should help clear things up.

Hey Chad. I can't believe you dove in head first. lol. I've always wanted to do the jump myself, but once I see the frigid open water, I cannot bring myself to suffer the extreme cold and the possibility of getting sick afterword. Any words of encouragement?

Clay.

Hi Clay,
If you ever jump, do NOT dive! I only did that cuz I have my Private Tornado (Superman) cape on! LOL
In all honesty, after that first 15 seconds of being in, it wasn't really that bad on Saturday. It was sunny and 25 degrees. Friday morning when it was -7 ... it was a much different story!

Words of encouragement... the reason for jumping is to raise money for the Special Olympics... it's such a wonderful organization and once you meet the athletes, you'll be ready to jump in year after year.

hey there its nice you jumped well actually dove into that frigid lake.. see you Saturday Im jumping too!
Jaymi

Thanks Jaymi! It was great to be out there... over 300 Polar Plungers... AWESOMETASTIC PEOPLE! Great job!

Chad,
The wife and I enjoy watching your antics in the morning and this last snowstorm you called the storm track even a little more accurately than the NWS models did.

K.F. Reinke, Adams

LOL
That has me smiling ear to ear...
I have what someone once referred to as a "Honda Davidson". LOL I ride a 1985 Honda V65 Sabre... at that time, it was the fastest production bike available, and a pre-cursor to the "crotch rocket" that raised controversy last summer on Jeff Thelen's Blog. It is a street rider with 131 hp.
It was my first motorcycle that I purchased from a gentleman in Marathon City about 5 years ago. Kudos to Tom Z. (a photographer down the road at another station on Grand Ave.) for taking the test ride back then and telling me it would be a good starter's motorcycle for me!
I'll be riding soon... I'll see y'all out there!

STORM FOLLOW-UP ... Blogdate 0215.08

Here's some totals as of yesterday courtesy of the National Weather Service. Some of these may not be the official "final" totals....
Wausau- 3.7"
Phillips- 3.1"
Rhinelander- 3.2"
Antigo- 3.0"
Merrill- 3.2"
Stevens Point- 3.2" ... older report
Wisconsin Rapids- 3.0" ... older report
Arkdale- 6.2"
Wild Rose- 5.6"
Friendship- 10.5"

So, as we dig out from yesterday's snowfall, the next storm system quickly approaches for Sunday. Heavy snow looks likely for northeastern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin for Sunday.
A few days ago, it looked like this storm system would miss Wisconsin altogether.. but over the past few days, it has trended farther and farther north ... no only into Wisconsin, but into the far southeastern part of our area. Stay tuned to updated forecasts throughout the weekend!

Also today, one of our DayBreak staffers/jack of all trades is leaving us... our morning sports reporter/camera operator/tape operator/sports guru Eric Rajala is moving on. Eric is a student at UW-SP majoring in Communications and will be graduating soon. This "kid" has done some great work for us since last May and we wish him the best as he continues his career. He's a good friend and a lot of fun to chat with during the shows... I'm sure we'll be seeing this kid again on television in the future.. probably ESPN sometime down the line. Thanks for your hard work and dedication to waking up and making that drive every morning (minus yesterday when you called in! LOL).

By the way, his ugly sweater today looks like my couch cushions after they get sick. Thought you'd like the pic Eric! LOL

Love the new web page design.

Courtesy of Mr. Bill Martens. He does such great work, doesn't he? Not just saying that because Bill has to read this stuff everyday... well, kind of... :)

You have a great sense of humor Chad!How about the Clapper for snow,clap on,clap off,no snow,lol.Wish it was that simple,huh? I bought some plastic yellow flowers yesterday,just to get in the Spring mode.The bright colors are a nice reminder that spring is on the way.Laura M.

In my job Laura, I have to have a sense of humor! LOL
I have a feeling a lot of people would love to have a device where you clap your hands and it starts/stops snowing!

Please, don't forecast anymore snow!!!!/
LOL!!!!!!!--- Unless you are coming over to my house to shovel ; )

Okay, where do you live. I'll send Mike Breunling, Katie O'Brien, or Jeremy Tabin over with the station's snowblower. Just Kidding! At least it will be rather quiet over the next few days for snowfall.

Good Luck to Eric! His sweater,tho,I think I took that trip in the '70's.LOL,kidding Laura M.

LOL. Maybe he got it from the set of That 70's Show?

can you make the snow stop? Please?

No, but I can tell you we should be relatively snow-free until Monday. Only one little, itty bitty system late Thursday night and into early Friday.

hey there buddy what happened to the 1-2" of snow...theres more like 4-5" out there! i think it can all go away now...im ready for the summer time! youre still my hero although you lied about the weather lolz
~kasi

If you're referring to Monday's forecast, it called for 1" to 3" of snow. We were closer to the higher end in Wausau, picking up 2.9". If you received more than 3", consider yourself "lucky".

I've fallen in a snow drift and can't get up.Help! LOL,Laura M.

Nice spin on that commercial. How about Snow On, apply directly to the snowbank? Okay, my attempt at humor was horrendous.

What is the total amount of snow that has fallen so far this winter?

51.4" so far. The average season of snowfall in Wausau is 58.6".

That's mean! i think he looks cute!

LOL. If you know Eric, I am sure he is NOT offended by my random musings about his sweater.

IMPENDING STORM #2 ... Blogdate 0214.08

First of, Happy Valentine's Day!

Next, here's an update on where we stand with our storm as of 7 am this morning.
Friendship: 2.7"
Neillsville: 4.0"
Owen: 4.0"
Antigo: 3.0"
Wild Rose: 2.8"
Wausau: 3.7"
Rhinelander: 3.2"

I still don't have the totals from all the cities listed below, but by using the ones above that are relatively close in proximity... you get the general overall totals of 3" to 5" for most areas.

Here's the forecast from yesterday:
Wausau- 6"
Phillips- 6"
Rhinelander- 6"
Antigo- 6.5"
Merrill- 6.5"
Stevens Point- 6"
Wisconsin Rapids- 5.5"

Current situation... while 80% of the area is currently snow-free, there will be another shot at some fairly light snow showers throughout the day. The other 20% of the area (Juneau, Adams, Waupaca, Waushara, southern Wood and southern Portage Counties) is where we'll see an additional 2" to 5" throughout the day.

The heavy snow band that happened from last night, ended up being 50 miles farther south. In addition to that, the available moisture was limited and the strength of the storm system was overestimated.

Wausau is now more in line for about 4.5" or so, with only 4.0" in Rhinelander and Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids look both end up around 5" or 6".

IMPENDING STORM ... Blogdate 0213.08

This next storm system for Wednesday night and Thursday still looks "interesting" at this time, with heavy snow likely for most areas through Thursday afternoon.

A lot of times when Wisconsin gets these real "humdingers" of a snow storm, there is usually a lot of moisture streaming northward from the Gulf of Mexico. Well, the unusual aspect of this storm is, the Gulf of Mexico is pretty much shut down with a high pressure system located over Texas. So, what does that mean? It means we're going to have a very strong storm system with really good forcing rates to get a heavy snowfall... and that's exactly what it looks like will happen.

As of the afternoon model run, which now looks slightly heavier in central Wisconsin:
My expectations:
Wausau- 6"
Phillips- 6"
Rhinelander- 6"
Antigo- 6.5"
Merrill- 6.5"
Stevens Point- 6"
Wisconsin Rapids- 5.5"

It still looks like a few "lucky" locations will end up with 8 or 9 inches of snow... especially in Taylor, Clark and western Marathon Counties.
Regardless of how much falls.. please be CAREFUL on the roads tomorrow. At this time, I would anticipate a few schools closing tomorrow morning or maybe with early dismissals... depending on how it goes tonight with the snow.

Happpy Vanentine's Day! Hope your enjoying the day. What's this you don't like chocolate? Love the dancing you and Bao did on Daybreak this morning and the singing card for Alison. It makes my day to see you all having fun while doing your job.

Happy Valentine's Day to you. It's not a secret, I've never been a big chocolate fan.
In alll honesty, I enjoy my job quite a bit... sometimes probably too much. Hope you have a great day!

Just wondering if there is a romance brewing with miss Srtuve? She seemed very touched by your singing Valentine. I think you two would make a great couple. You seem to have so much fun together.
Sherry

Hi Sherry,
No no no.. we're just good friends. The singing Valentine was to "get her back" for putting my birthday on air last week at this time. The noon show is a totally different critter from the other shows.. it's just one weather person and one news anchor... which makes it easy for the 2 people to become good friends. That is all we are and we have a ton of fun on the noon show.

Hi Chad,
Just wanted to say your weather pridicting has been pretty much right on this winter. Yesterday you, made the comment to the snowplowers that they would have to be ready for poor road conditions. Why is it that you hardly see a snowplow in Wausau till after 9am.
I guess I was wondering if anyone else has noticed the poor snow plowing or lack of snow plowing in Wausau. When going south on Grand Ave, you sure can tell when you are in Schofield the roads are clear.
Like I said earlier, the weather predicting has been great, keep up the good work.

Scott

Hi Scott,
Every city and county has different ways of attacking a snow storm. Some cities contract with professional weather forecasting companies to know exactly when the snow will start and when it will end.
Isn't that interesting/funny when you can drive between communities and notice a huge change in the roads?

and PLEASE people...turn on your headlights if you want to be seen instead of hit!

Also, please make sure all of your lights work before driving on the snowing highway..

Great Advice!

Your pretty hot! Thanks for the predictions on the weather!!

You're pretty hot too.. thanks for watching!

Chad
Just wondering why your forecast for Adams and Juneau Counties says 2-3 inches of snow for this storm and noaa and Channel 3000 is saying 4-8 in.
Why such a difference? Stephanie

Hi Stephanie,
I'm guessing that the other media outlets (NOAA and 3000) are referring to storm totals that are expected from start to finish. During the morning, I had those areas expecting another 3 to 5 inches of snow, and during the noon show, an additional 2" to 3" on top of what has already fallen. The very southern part of Juneau and Adams counties will have totals up to 10" by the time it winds down.

So, bottom line.. they were referring to totals.. I was talking about additional snowfall on top of what was already on the ground. Hope that clarifies a little bit?

I'm missing football,but spring training is almost here.Where will we put all the new snow? Happy Valentine's
Day a little early.You rock!!!! Laura M.

You Rock Too Laura!
The Pitchers and Catchers for the Brewers report Saturday... Spring Training is almost here. On a side note, my Rockies report the same day... :) Go Brew Crew and Go Rox.

Maybe we can send this snow to Arizona so the Brewers can feel like they're back at home? LOL

NFL PRO BOWL ... Blogdate 0211.08

After watching the NFL Pro Bowl this past weekend, I was left wondering if Roger Goodell's new proposals may have some merit in the future. The NFL Commish has proposed two different things recently at an Owner's Meeting concerning the Pro-Bowl.
1) The owners discussed moving the Pro Bowl to another site after this season's game is played in Hawaii.
2) They're also considering the possibility of playing the Pro Bowl the weekend before the Super Bowl at the Super Bowl site.

While I think moving it to the weekend before the Super Bowl would be great (that week off from the NFL is BORING), I'm not sure about moving it from Hawaii. It's always great this time of year, to see the sunny weather and 80 degrees as we are usually in the middle of the coldest stretch of weather here in Wisconsin.

What do you think?

HAPPY BELATED B-DAY CHAD!

Thank you!

Do you think as many of the pro bowlers would participate? The players involved in the Super Bowl the following weekend would be afraid of injury, I would think.
It IS nice to see them playing in beautiful Hawaii!
B - Wausau

That was addressed as well... with the reasoning that a lot of Super Bowl players don't end up playing in the Pro-Bowl game, unless they are in contract years. Tom Brady dropped out this year as did Randy Moss. Since the Pro-Bowl voting is completed well before the playoffs, the NFL would give that player that couldn't play, the check as if they did play in the game. For instance, Tom Brady still got his $20,000 bonus this year, although he did not play.
It's an interesting proposal.. that's for sure.

First of all...late Happy Weather Forecasters' Day. And now...late Happy B'day! I've never tuned into noon news. But my 89 year old father still does in Wisconsin Rapids. And I got hooked on you and your coworkers. It is a very informative, yet entertaining, coverage and I enjoy it every day. Thank you. Stay warm and know that the public appreciates you.
B.

Thanks for the well wishes!
We all try to do our best... even when we're not feeling the best!
Thank you again!

NATIONAL WEATHER PERSON'S DAY ... Blogdate 0205.08

The big day is here... National Weather Person's Day... so here's a bit about the very special day:

Yes we get our own day every February 5th. National Weather Person’s Day honors weathermen, and woman who work hard to predict the often fickle weather. Despite major technological advances and supercomputers, forecasting the weather is still a tricky, and ever changing business.
According to the Air Force News, Weatherperson’s Day “commemorates the birth of John Jeffries, one of America’s first weathermen”. Jeffries was born on Feb 5, 1744. He kept weather records from 1774 to 1816.

Have a great National Weather Person's Day!

Hi Chad
another b-day..
probobly old enuf to drink now.
see you at the last shot in arpin for
beer/pool
cliff/arpin

Thanks Cliff. I'm just barely of age now to go to the adult establishments. LOL Have a good week!

SALADS AND WHERE ARE ALL OUR NEW SHOWS FOR FEBRUARY RATINGS? ... Blogdate 0131.08

Alison and I, during the noon show Tuesday, were discussing various things to put on our generic salads to make them really yummy! This week, I added almonds to my daily salads and found them to add so much more flavor to my salads. Alison brought up putting peas on a salad, and I think that they are very under-rated in the salad community! My question to you at home, anything weird, normal, exotic that you put on your salads to get them to be something other than Romaine lettuce and that's it?

Today, the television broadcast industry started our ratings period for the month. To find out more about the television ratings (sweeps) period, hit ctrl-f on your web browser and search for 1102.07 . That was the last in depth blog entry concerning ratings.
Here's where it gets a bit interesting... you may have read on my blog, or have heard us talking about it during various NewsChannel 7 shows, that the Writer's Guild of America (WGA), is still on strike. In the last week, a few movie studios have signed interim contracts with the WGA, but the television networks do not have contracts at this time. As I have also mentioned in the past, with the strike continuing, new tv programming in the sweeps/ratings periods, is going to be sporadic. Instead of all new shows for the 4 weeks of sweeps, including some of the most popular shows (CSI:Miami, NCIS, Cold Case, Shark, Numbe3rs)... mid season replacements, newly released shows (finished pre-strike), and reality shows will fill the primetime tv landscape. (Since reality shows do not need writers, hence the word reality, you'll get a lot of reality shows until this strike ends and new scripts return).

Here are some of the predicted changes that are coming in February....
CSI:Miami, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Cold Case, Shark and Numbe3rs all have only ONE new show left to air.

In addition, The New Adventures of Old Christine (starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Wanda Sykes) will start Monday Feb. 4th. Jerico (a fan favorite {Read my previous 1102.07 blog to find out how it was rescued from cancellation} returns. Other shows in February, Survivor: Micronesia-Fans vs. Favorites, Raquel Welch's Welcome to the Captain, the 50th Annual Grammy Awards (Feb 10th) and primetime The Price is Right will return as well. CBS has also ordered 3 new reality series for immediate production and is bringing a show from a Cable Movie Channel (Dexter from ShowTime) into its programming lineup.
Until the WGA Strike is over, expect your favorite shows to remain on hiatus until the writer's strike is over and Hollywood can start cranking out some new shows. The next ratings/sweeps period where most shows would be new, is the month of May... programming could even get more interesting for May if the strike doesn't end soon!

ONE LAST IMPORTANT THING:
Tuesday, February 5th, is National Weatherperson's Day! Don't forget to wish your local weatherpeople a happy holiday!

Hi Chad,
I watch every morning. You do a great job. I have a question about the snowmobile trail thing. If 2/3 of the deaths are related to drinking, and well over 2/3 of the people out there are drinking than statically wouldn't that mean that you are more likely to die if you don't drink? Very few people die by getting hit by a drunk on a snowmobile like is the case with cars. With snowmobiles people hit trees and rocks and fall off going too fast. That being the case, if you're relaxed your chances of surviving are much better. If 2/3 of the people who don't die on snowmobiles have also been drinking than clearly that number means absolutely nothing. Why is it that when one person uses poor judgment people are ready to take away freedom from everyone else?

Interesting take on the snowmobile story/issue. If Wisconsin would make the penalty for riding while intoxicated like Minnesota and Michigan... some people may think twice. However, that is NOT a solution to the problem... people choosing to drink too much is. Thanks for your input.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAD your work should be done for the day and now it's time to go and celebrate. Enjoy yourself. Today should be a NATIONAL PAID HOLIDAY for you and NO WORKING

I agree! I was trying to convince my bosses that I should have the day off, or the day after off.. but as mentioned in my previous blog, we're in our ratings period for television... usually getting time off is next to impossible.

Happy Birthday Chad,you have a wonderful day and keep smiling! Sincerely Bev

Thanks Bev... have a great weekend and stay warm!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAD
HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR DAY!!
DEB IN DANCY

Thanks Deb! It's been good so far... Alison brought me balloons and a really funny card!

hey there lol heres a big shout to the ota s every one in norman ok got a laugh at that lets hope chad gets it right today

Those guys down in Norman, OK (at the Storm Prediction Center) should have a holiday everyday for the hard work they do.

HAPPY NATIONAL WEATHER DAY CHAD I LOOK FORWARD TO WATCHING YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY THE MORE STUFF YOU CAN PUT ON A SALAD THE BETTER FROM NUTS TO RASINS ENJOY YOUR DAY
DEB IN DANCY (TOWN OF BERGEN)

Thank you very much Deb.. great tips!

Chad Happy National Weatherman's Day to our favorite forecaster. I would have Allison take you out to eat for your special day. Enjoy your day and keep on smiling it makes our day to.

I actually think Alison owes me our next lunch.. I'll let her know. LOL

Chad,
Happy weather person's day to my favorite weather person!! I was getting ready for work @ 1pm Monday afternoon watching the snow fall and wondering how the roads would be when it started to thunder and lightning. (In the Dubay area) wow crazy weather! By the way I love pumpkin seeds on my salads it adds a little crunch to them... enjoy your salads and your day!
Kelli

Yay.. I'm your favorite.. thank you! :) I am glad you got to experience the rarity of thunder and snow! It makes weather a bit more interesting, doesn't it?
Pumpkin seeds.. Hmmm, that is very intriguing!

HI CHAD,
JUST WANT TO WISH YOU AND THE REST OF THE GROUP A HAPPY NATIONAL WEATHERDAY HOLIDAY.I REALLY ENJOY WATCHING YOU ALL.:0)

Thank you.. have a great week!

Chad,
Good call on the almonds, I love them on salads! My favorite salad is cold grilled chicken, strawberries and/or mandarin oranges, almonds, and red onion on a bed of romaine lettuce and some kind of sweet, tangy vinaigrette dressing like raspberry. Or, oriental ginger/sesame dressing works too. If you're in a hurry, Wendy's and McDonalds have oriental versions of this salad that are pretty good.
Enjoy! -Stacy

I forgot how much I like vinaigrette dressing.. good stuff! Thanks for the advice... we all get in a hurry at some time and need that healthy alternative don't we! Thanks for the advice!

no storm updates Chad? lol

I would have been doing them daily, but I actually was off this weekend and spent most of the time sleeping. I apologize for the weekend updates.. but that's why Jeremy and Katie do such a good job and I don't have to worry about it.

I saw a bunch of robins in my back yard yesterday and thought Spring was here. Isn't it to early for them to return to WI?? Has anyone else seen any?

I've heard of some robins being back in the area... had a viewer send a picture in to the newsroom last week with robins on it. There always seems to be a few renegade robins around the area that don't disappear for the winter.

Happy WeatherPerson's Day to all at Channel 7.You all Rock.Thanks for all your hard work throughout the year!!!! A Loyal Viewer.

Thanks a Loyal Viewer! I'll post the reason for National Weather Person's Day tomorrow.

Happy National Weather Persons' Day!
I and my husband saw you out on Friday Night at Mularkeys and we were shocked to not see you working. We're also shocked to no longer see the beard ... don't tell my hubby, but I thought it made you look very cute!
Are you going to grow it again or anytime soon?

Thanks for the well wishes.
Amy Pflugshaupt and I stopped by Mularkey's Friday night to check out the band... they did a great job.
I dunno if I'll grow it back again... people seem to be split 50/50 on if they hated it or liked it.

I enjoy lima beans in my salad,or any crunchy green vegie.The crunch seems to make ya feel like your eating more. Good decision on the beard.

Never thought of Lima beans before on a salad.. sounds like something new to try. I'm surprised I haven't heard anyone mention sprouts yet!

Eating a handful of almonds before or during a meal makes you feel full faster and lose weight.

Almonds are good.. I will take that into consideration on my evergoing quest to lose weight!

What happen to the beard? I was just getting used to it. But I must say you look much better with out it! =:)

I thought I had better "clean up" my act before our ratings period.

Why are you the only one that update's there blog all the time? I do like that you write about other things then just weather and I like even more that you dont' have you're beard anymore! You are much cuter without it!
Keep up the great work, I wish you would do more nite shows becuse I cant' get up early all the time to watch you.

I love blogging and as much as I can. I just randomly blog about things sometimes.
As far as cuter or the later shows... that is not likely to happen!

So glad the beard is off, We like your fresh shaven face much better.

Thanks.. about 80% of the audience is happier that my beard is gone...

SATELLITES ARE COOL ... Blogdate 0125.08

Hi-Res satellites are leaps and bounds above the first satellites from the very first weather satellites of 1960, TIROS 1 was the first weather satellite to become operational. TIROS 1, had the first image beamed back from outerspace using 2 different television cameras on April 1, 1960. I have purposely left the images between the two, stacked on top of each other, to not compromise how great the resolution of today's satellites really are. Notice what 47 years of technology has done for satellites! In addition, the satellites of today no longer use cameras, they use Imagers and Sounders. Imagers, are instruments that measure and detect energy (radiant and reflected) from the Earth's surface and atmosphere. A Sounder, is a device that detects the vertical aspect of the atmosphere, including temperatures of the surface and cloud tops, and different distributions in the ozone.

Here is the view from TIROS 1 on April 1, 1960. BTW- TIROS stands for Television Infrared (abbreviated IR) Observational Satellite.

and now here is the view from GOES 12 with a 1 km view of Wisconsin. GOES stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite.

As a weather nerd (meteorologist!), I find it absolutely amazing how far technology has come just in the weather world! The high resolution satellite still shows the path from the June tornadoes from the lack of vegetation that area had the rest of the summer. In addition, you can see that the Bay of Green Bay is frozen over and is rather solid. Don't even get me started on how far along computer modeling has come along just in the past 30 years!

Update on long range weather- It still looks like the Arctic Air will be bottled up in Canada over the next few weeks, with the bitter cold just on the other side of the border in extreme southern Canada. Because it is so close to Wisconsin, I would expect that there will be wild swings in the extended temperature forecast during the next few weeks. At this time, it still looks a bit cool for the last few days of January, but not nearly as cold as what we've had the past few weeks.

why did you grow a beard
Tory from Antigo,WI

Originally I came back from vacation with it and was going to keep it as the Packers moved through the playoffs into the Super Bowl. Well, unfortunately, they didn't make it... and neither will my beard past Wednesday Night. I am shaving it for personal reasons... I think that's the best way to put it. :)

NO SUPER BOWL FOR THE PACKERS :( ... Blogdate 0121.08

My fellow colleagues are still in shock after the loss from Sunday, so I will write a few words on this last game of the season for the Packers. First, what an emotional rollercoaster ride this game was... the lead changes, missed field goals and even winning the toss to get the ball first in overtime... it left me tired at the end of the game. (of course, my bed time is usually a few hours before 10pm, since I get up at 2am). In addition, I played football for 14 years and coached for a year after my eligibility ended in college... and this game left me buzzin' mad from a former football player's standpoint.
They always say hindsight is 20/20... and during/after the game I was left with 4 things that really bothered me.
1) The Packers reverted to earlier this year with their running game.. i.e. they didn't have one. Grant had 13 carries for 29 yards and only 6 of those carries were in the second half. The offensive line was facing a very strong defensive front from the Giants, but they needed to find a way to make the ground game work. The offensive line delivers the punch during running plays... the defensive line delivers the punch on passing plays because the offensive lineman will give up some ground and takes the blow from the defenders. I loved running plays in college, better to hit than be hit, especially with the trapping offense I played in.... while on passing plays, you're continually getting lit up by defensive linemen.
2) Al Harris' interview right before kickoff when he stated "I'm going to do what Al Harris always does" was probably NOT a good sign. (I've never been a fan of an athlete that refers to themselves in the 3rd person!) I know he's in the Pro-Bowl, but I still believe Woodson is the better CB, and Plaxico Burress made Harris look silly on plays. (not that Woodson getting run over at the beginning of the game was a good play for him either, but he made the tackle) Mind you, Plax still has a really bad ankle and still had over 150 yards receiving.
3) I'm not sure why there were so many screen passes called, but very few of them netted positive yardage. They tried screens to the RB's and WR's and still didn't get much out of it. Then a dangerous shovel pass play was called with lots of defensive traffic in the area towards the end of the game. I just didn't understand the play calling at the end.
4) If it's 3rd and 10, you don't run a quick 3 yard route and through the ball to the receiver... chances are he's never gonna make the 1st down. If it's a check down, then you are going to have to take those 3 yard passes. However, some of those short passes didn't seem to be check downs, but rather, quick throws to see if the receiver could get some yards after the catch (YAC). When I was coaching, if we needed 9 yards, we called 10 yard routes... get that 9 and 1 more just to be sure.

Again, hindsight is 20/20 and this is all after the fact. Hey, at least they made it... my Steelers got beat by Jacksonville in the first round this year.
Now, hopefully Favre comes back next year and 2 of the most storied franchises in the NFL (Packers/Steelers) can hopefully meet in Super Bowl XLIII in February 2009.

Plaxico Burress... sounds like a disease or something.

He was (a disease) against Packer's Defense last Sunday. Mr. Bill Martens and I (die-hard Steelers fans) debated whether Plaxico would have been as good as he is now, should he had re-signed with the Steelers a few years back. I said no, he says yes.. he wins this debate.
Bill, can I borrow the Steelers road to the Super Bowl DVD again... I tear up everytime I watch that on their way to Super XL a few years ago.

MISCELLANEOUS RAMBLINGS ... Blogdate 0116.08

For those of you loyal readers of my blog (my parents! LOL) I apologize for not updating my blog during my vacation. The week off that I had, was the longest vacation I have had since I was at Graduate School.. and honestly, it felt really good to be away from work for a week. I've also paid the price for being off that long too.. I've been a bit rusty over the past week, so I apologize for that!

First rambling today, is about an airline that I will not name .... but I will give you the situation. I had problems with numerous delays on my way out of the Central Wisconsin Airport when I left and then had a huge delay on my way back to Wisconsin. I made it back to one of the airport hubs (again, not naming the city, because then it would be easy to pick out the airline), and arrived around 1pm. During my flight into that hub, this airline canceled all flights to CWA for the rest of the day, which was my flight that afternoon and then a flight that was scheduled for the evening was canceled as well. The reason given- the weather. I've had that happen before on airlines, and I usually call my colleagues to find out if weather is really a factor, so I did just that. There was some fog around CWA, but visibilites were over 4 miles and I found that to be odd that the airlines were canceling flights with a 4 mile visibility. I know that airlines have lots of input from other sources before flights are canceled, so I checked with another airline (that I wasn't flying) and they were still flying in to CWA. So, knowing that, I went up to the customer service counter and asked again why are flights were canceled and again I was told "weather". I was then handed a sheet and a voucher for a "discounted" hotel room. The one sheet explained how weather related cancelations are not their fault and that out of the "goodness of their heart", they were handing out discounted hotel room vouchers even though they did not have to.

Here's my beef.... once I read the sheet that stated they weren't responsible because of weather, I knew I was going to have to get a hotel room and have to pay for it myself. Yet, a different airline flying into CWA had all their flights that day and no one was inconvenienced with a flight cancelation and having to stay overnight. Once it becomes "weather" as an excuse, you're expected to pay for your hotel room for the night. Here's the other fun thing, I, along with 40+ others on that canceled flight, were NOT allowed access to our bags... the airline refused to let us have access to them overnight. I've always been told to take a change of clothes with me in my carry-on, but never have had to.. until this time. As you can tell, I was very frustrated and sent a rather nice letter to the airline last week, with my issues and have yet to hear back from them. I doubt I will.

Rambling number 2, this next storm system coming in tonight has a little more moisture to work with, so now instead of a few inches of snow tomorrow... we may end up with more of the 3 to 6 inch snowfall. Here's a look at what I'm expecting across the area:
Wausau - 4
Phillips - 2.5
Stevens Point - 5.5
Wisconsin Rapids - 4.5
Antigo - 5.5
Rhinelander - 3.5
Shawano - 6

as you can see, the heaviest amounts will fall from Juneau county northeastward into Langlade County. Parts of Shawano and Waupaca counties could see over 6 inches... so we'll be watching this storm carefully throughout the day and will have updates under the weather section on our webchannel.

Rambling number 3, I had the pleasure of attending Saturday's Packer game in Green Bay during all the snow. I was as amazed with the Packers win as I was with the snow. I kept cheering for more snow too... you should have seen the looks I was getting from the fans around me! LOL

Rambling number 4, I spent Friday night in a hotel (again un-named) in Green Bay so I could go to the Pep Rally at Lambeau that night and not have to drive back for the game on Saturday. It was one of those rooms where there was a bottle of wine in there and if you chose to drink it, they would automatically bill your room for you. There was also a few bottles of water and a corkscrew in the room that you could take/use and they would charge you for that too. I did NOT drink the wine and hardly spent any time in the room because of all the festivities for the short time I was there. Well, I got a bill in the mail yesterday charging me the 11.95 for the bottle of wine that I never drank and had left in that room. The hotel manager has not returned my calls at this time and I will be calling my credit card company to dispute the charge if I do not hear back from them this week. Even more upsetting, is the fact the maid was there to clean my room right as I was leaving it, so you would think there should be no question on it.
Here's what I take from this situation, when you stay at a hotel that has those things in the room for you, take a picture of the room as you leave it. I hate to say that, but I may be learning it the "hard" way... costing me $11.95 in the process.
**UPDATE: the hotel called. Turns out my room was supposed to have 2 bottles and not just the one I saw. Problem solved!

Rambling number 5, Chastity says "hi" to everyone here in Wisconsin!

Hope you all are having a great January so far... with Thursday's snowfall, hopefully the snowmobile trails can get re-opened soon!

Hi Chad. I know you and Chastity are good friends. Where did she go? If it was announced I missed it and apologize.

Thanks,
BJA in Marshfield

Hi BJA,
She's in North Dakota now.. enjoying it, just heard from her Monday.

Hey Chad,
I have been watching you every morning just about since I mover here Jan of 07.
Every year my buddies and I celebrate Abe Lincoln's birthday by going ice fishing and drinking the weekend right around it. We have been doing this for quite a few years now. Any ways exactly one month before his birthday we all have to start growing an Abe Lincoln beard. We all look pretty goofy when we go out to the bars at night together on that weekend but it is a lot of fun. I was wondering if you had the same tradition or it was just a heck of a coincidence.

One heck of a coincidence. Abe Lincoln was over 6 foot tall, I'm not. LOL

duh...there are only 2 airlines out of CWA...50/50 on guessing the right one...were you flying out of the twin cities??

There are actually 3 airlines out of CWA that offer passenger service. Again, they will go nameless at this time while I wait for their response to my inquiry.

Hi Chad,
I hope you bought "Travel Insurance" when you went on your vacation? If you did, you can file a claim for your expenses (depending on the policy purchased).

Luree

As soon as I got my email from birthday boy Bill Martens, saying I had some blog responses to get to, I read yours first and just shook my head. I remember seeing it and thought I checked it when I made my purchase, but to no avail. I've traveled quite a bit over the years, relatively mistake free, but after this one time, I won't let that happen again. Travel insurace it is! Thanks for the tip!
Chastity is in cold North Dakota.. wait until you see how cold it's been out there, it's on its way here!
Glad to be back.. thanks for watching!

Hi Chad, I'm glad to hear that you had a good vacation and that you got to spend more time with your parents. But, you had me worried. I thought you were out looking for a new job. I really missed you the first time you left and didn't want to go through that again. Keep up the good work and I'm happy that you're back!

I wouldn't look for a new job in Seattle because my parents plan on retiring within a year or two and then are planning on going somewhere with a little more sun.
It was funny that you mention the first time I left.. I met someone in a local store the other day that was confused by which station I work for. LOL
It's good to be home again!

Hey Chad, such is life...get over it

and you have a nice day! :)

I blogged on such things so that people can learn from my mistakes and not have it cost them unnecessary amounts of money. The above blogger hit the nail on the head... buy travel insurance to at least get your money back should such unfortunate things happen. Being stranded at an airport for an adult isn't all that big of a deal. I saw a young girl, no more than 16 or 17, that was told the same thing as me. She was traveling alone. How many teenagers have credit cards to purchase a hotel room for the night?

Hi Chad, glad you had a nice vacation, despite your travel problems. And it's o.k. that you neglected your blog for a bit, we all need a break from work every now and then. I have a weather question for you: It seems like this year it has been snowing a lot in the south/east portion of the state and not much in the north portion. Is it just me, or is that the opposite of a normal weather pattern? I only ask because I love snow sports and am always wishing for a little more snow in Wausau during every storm event.

Stacy - Weston

The storm tracks for the 3 snowstorms we've had this season have all had a favorable track for the heavier snow in southeastern Wisconsin.
The far north has had some lake effect snow, but it's been kind of missing parts of our area right here in central Wisconsin. At this time, it just seems to be a luck of the draw as to where these systems are going to dump some heavy snow.

See someone reads your blog besides your parents...someone who hasn't been met for coffee in quite a while..;)lol..Anyway, as a frequent traveler for work I have ran into that problem and you can ask them to clean out the room for you if you don't wanna risk being charged...just a tip...Have a great day...

Another great tip.. especially since I was at the door opening it, when the maid was there to clean it.
When are we going to coffee?

BYE BYE ... Blogdate 1231.07

Well, it's here, the end of the year... so now what? Well, we say goodbye to 2007 on a cool note and greet 2008 the same way.

It's also that time of year where we make our New Years Resolutions and see how long we can keep them going. Mine from last year is again mine for this year... get in shape. I'll see y'all at the local gym.

On a sad note, today is also Chastity's last day working at WSAW. She is moving on to a different station and you can read more about her leaving on her blog too. I had the absolute "pleasure" of helping her pack her stuff in her moving truck this weekend and am sad to see her go. I'm gonna miss this girl... it's always tough to see a "family member" move away and in her case, it's no exception. Congrats Chas... I'll miss ya stealing coins from my change cup all the time -and then leaving me notes on how much you took. LOL

Thats sad Chasitys leaving. She was a good news reporter, and she had is so easy.
Scott Z.

I miss the girl already... altho, I don't miss packing all of her stuff (shoes!) into a rental truck in the middle of the cold and snow!

First Mrs. Walberg and now you are gone too! Why did you all leave channel7?

I'm not gone... I'm here. I was just lucky enough to have my first vacation (over 5 days off) in the past 10 years of broadcasting. I normally take a few days off after the 1st of the year to go visit my parents and spend time with them in the Pacific Northwest. By the way, I wore my Steelers jersey Saturday (before they lost... grrr) and the Seahawks fans in Washington are still bitter about Super Bowl XL. I was catching flak from a bunch of people out there. Then, when I flew back home, I wore my Packers t-shirt in the Seattle airport, and again Seahawks fans were upset and jawing at me.

I am in awe that Wood County was not added to the weather advisories. It started snowing here in Wisconsin Rapids at 9:30 this morning, and hasn't stopped!! We already have at least 4 inches on the ground. 1 to 3 inches my eye!!!

The National Weather Service originally issued Winter Storm Watches for Wood and Portage counties, then dropped them for a 24 hour period. When they issued the Snow Advisories, they left Wood County out. You can contact the National Weather Service in Green Bay if you have any further concerns or issues.

EL FINE' ... Blogdate 1223.07

As this storm system starts to wind down a bit this afternoon, I would like to take the time to thank everyone for their emails to me this past weekend. It helped me pass the ooodles amount of time this weekend while stuck indoors at work. LOL

Please be careful travelling the next day or so as the road crews get caught up from this weekend's storm!

"Stay safe" as a former colleague of mine used to always say.

Its about time We got some snow. Hopefully it sticks around for spring, so the ground can soak it up.

I agree.. more snow coming up today!

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW ... Blogdate 1223.07

The snow really continues to fly out there for today, with the heaviest of snowfall now slowly pushing out of the area. Storm totals are all going to end up with 6" to 10". I still think we're going to get some reports of 12" to 14" of snow in some isolated areas up north. Obviously it's going to take a while for the road crews to get things treated and cleaned up for today, so be very careful if you must venture out this morning. Road crews (and all plow drivers for that matter) will be putting their hours in today, plowing, salting, then plowing again until this evening. Give them all a break and give them some extra distance (and have some patience!) while they move through the area getting things cleaned up.

Most of the snow accumulation should be done later this afternoon/early evening across most of the area. Blowing and drifting of snow will be likely all the way into Monday morning with visibilities greatly reduced until then. If you must travel today (must, being the operative word), you're probably better off waiting until the noon time to give the crews a chance to get the roads cleared and that's also when the snow should start to wind down across the area.

Once I start getting some snow totals from around the area, I'll post them up here to let y'all know.
Please be very careful if you must travel today!

Questions? email them to cfranzen@wsaw.com and I'll be answering them through the weekend. All blog questions will not get answered and posted until Monday, so please email questions about my blog to my email address.

MID-AFTERNOON UPDATE ... Blogdate 1222.07

I'm starting to get edgy/concerned with my forecast for tonight into tomorrow afternoon. The polar air has already moved into northwestern Wisconsin, and the heavy moisture has not even moved into Wisconsin at this time. Several blogs ago (from Thursday) I mentioned that temps would make or break my forecasted snow totals... well, right now it's looking like this will be an all snow event with very little rain mixed in tonight. I'm starting to think that everyone will end up with at least 6 inches with totals up to 12 inches by tomorrow afternoon. Bottom line, traveling tonight through tomorrow afternoon will not be recommended.
If you're around tonight through tomorrow morning, Jeremy and I invite you to watch our 24/7 channel for live and local cutins throughout the duration of the storm.

FROM "HO HUM" TO OH OHHHH Part Tres ... Blogdate 1222.07

Here's the update for Saturday morning on the upcoming winter storm expected later tonight and especially into the first part of Sunday morning. OFLG... or in other words, Ongoing Forecast Looks Good from yesterday with some slight modifications. I thought that most of this storm would be out of here by the mid to late morning hours for Sunday, but that has since changed. This storm system will slow down a bit as it rolls over Wisconsin, so now we'll have another 3 to 6 hours of snowfall across the area, so I am adding another two inches or so, to my previous predictions from before due to the length of time that the snow will fall into tomorrow afternoon. The revised numbers are as follows:

Rhinelander- 9.5"
Phillips- 8.5"
Merrill- 7.5"
Antigo- 7.5"
Wausau- 6"
Stevens Point- 5.5"
Wisconsin Rapids- 5.5"

You'll notice that the heaviest snow is still expected to fall in the northern and western parts of Wisconsin, with lesser amounts the farther south you go in Wisconsin. In addition, a bulk of the snow that is expected to fall will fall between 12am and 9am tomorrow (Sunday) morning. Traveling to your local services tomorrow morning will be a very slow go, so if you are venturing out to your Sunday Morning Services or to do some shopping, expect sloppy road conditions for the morning. While the weather conditions will slightly improve tomorrow afternoon as the snow winds down, expect very gusty winds to cause quite a bit of blowing and drifting all the way through tomorrow (Sunday) night.

Have a happy and safe "holiday" weekend. By the way, Winter officially started at 12:08am early this morning (Saturday).

Questions? email them to cfranzen@wsaw.com and I'll be answering them through the weekend. All blog questions will not get answered and posted until Monday, so please email questions about my blog to my email address.

FROM "HO HUM" TO OH OHHHH Part Deux ... Blogdate 1221.07

As mentioned the past few days, I'm continuing to finalize the details on the upcoming winter "mess" for this weekend. It's not how much snow we're going to get that concerns me, it's the fact that we're going to have a lot of people traveling this weekend! In addition, we're still going to have some dense fog through tomorrow morning which will continue to hamper traveling for tonight and early Saturday.

For most locations, expect a rain and sleet and snow mix from tomorrow morning through the early afternoon. Areas off to the far north and west (Taylor, Vilas, Oneida, Price and Clark counties) will see the snow start to accumulate from the early afternoon all the way through tomorrow night. I'm still leaning on a rain and snow mix with minor slushy accumulations through the mid afternoon for Wausau and then east and southward from central Marathon county. If this falls as all snow, then Wausau will end up with more than the total snow I'm predicting below... so without further adieu:

Rhinelander- 6"
Phillips- 7"
Merrill- 4.5"
Antigo- 4.5"
Wausau- 3.5"
Stevens Point- 3"
Wisconsin Rapids- 3"

Of course there are a huge number of variables that will make or break this forecast, so plan on another blog entry for tomorrow morning, tomorrow night and then again for Sunday morning.

If you are traveling over the next few days, please be very careful and remember to take a winter weather safety kit and put it in your vehicle. These kits should include: blankets, candles and matches, non-clumping kitty litter, a small shovel, booster cables, non perishable food items (such as energy bars), cell phone and charger and maps to know your location should you need to call 911.

Have a happy and safe "holiday" weekend. By the way, Winter officially starts at 12:08am early Saturday... how fitting Mother Nature gives us another winter snow storm on the first day of Winter.

Questions? email them to cfranzen@wsaw.com and I'll be answering them through the weekend. All blog questions will not get answered and posted until Monday, so please email questions about my blog to my email address.

hey Chad-
Thank you for the update on Sunday morning on you're weather chanel. It was very helpful to my family and me to know if we should drive on the roads that morning. Well, we chanced it going in to church and we drive by the you're news chanel 7 to get there. I saw some man out there shovelling your drive wearing a Steeler coat. You're the only Steeler fan I know so it must have been you? Is their any thing you dont' do there? Thank you again Chad -Have a Merry Christmas.
Jeff H.
Wausau

Hey Jeff,
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your family and everyone reading this.
I was out there shoveling... the city plows came by 2 times before our local person got back to us, so there was a nasty 3 foot by 3 foot drift in front of our driveway. I am lucky enough to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle, however, most of my co-workers are not... so to make sure they could get into work, I shoveled that drift down. My back certainly got a workout that day!
I am a total weather nerd and I just love our 247 Weather Channel, including doing 15 minute local cut-ins during the snowstorm. Glad the information helped out!

FROM "HO HUM" TO OH OHHHH ... Blogdate 1220.07

Before you read this blog, read my last one about 24 hours ago first, then come back up to this one. I will wait, so go ahead and read (re-read) the blog entry below...
no, seriously, go read the last blog entry titled "MAJOR WINTER STORM - OR IS IT?
good, now having read that.. here we go again.

While I was emailing one of my favorite reporters at the Wausau Daily Herald early this morning about the upcoming weekend forecast, I was still thinking as I did yesterday.... a 1" to 3" snow with the 3" coming up in Rhinelander. (Don't worry Jocelyn, I won't tell anyone it was you! LOL)
Okay, here's the good news... as of this afternoon, most of the 6 models I look at every day are in pretty good consensus as to what will probably happen this weekend. It seems now, that this storm system will rapidly intensify as it rolls across Wisconsin with a strong low pressure area expected to move across the Upper Peninsula Saturday Night. A few days ago, the low pressure area did NOT look as intense, and it looked like a low pressure area in the central Plains would be much stronger and then "phase" with the other low pressure farther east. However, that doesn't seem like it will happen as previously thought.
So you're saying "okay Franzen, what's gonna happen?". (go ahead, say that outloud...) Well, here's what it looks like now: (Thursday forecast at 3pm)

Rhinelander- 5"
Phillips- 4"
Merrill- 3"
Antigo- 3"
Wausau- 2.5"
Stevens Point- 2"
Wisconsin Rapids- Around 1.5"

this will be a heavy wet snow for some areas too:

Few factors that also can influence amounts expected... will it all be snow? Surface temps may be near 35 and with warm air being pulled into the system, this may be a rain and snow mix for the daylight hours, with very little accumulation. There now seems to be plenty of moisture available for this storm, so heavy snow is a threat, especially far north. The bulk of any snow will come Saturday after 6pm with terrible road conditions expected overnight into Sunday morning. Irregardless of how much snow does or does NOT fall... Saturday travelling from 6pm to Sunday morning 6am does NOT look to be recommended at this time.

As I've been saying since last Friday... it's not the snow amounts that will be bad, it's the fact it's a very VERY busy travelling weekend for many, and I'm just trying to give the heads up for Saturday night.

I will blog again Friday and I will be up and around Saturday night and again Sunday morning for more updates. Stay tuned!

MAJOR WINTER STORM - OR IS IT? ... Blogdate 1219.07

Since this past Friday (Dec. 14th), I have been watching a major storm system that has looked like it was going to crush the Midwest with sloppy and nasty winter weather (for Sat. Dec 22nd), but as of today, things have changed just a little bit. Let me explain-

The past few computer model runs (Dec. 18th afternoon, Dec. 19th morning and Dec. 19th afternoon) have started to trend this storm system a bit farther south and with less energy and moisture this far north in Wisconsin. 2 of the 6 computer models I look at are now showing a very light snow event with windy and cool conditions for Sunday. (just for the hay of it, those models are: GFS, NAM, MRF, NOGAPS). The other 2 that are different still show a relatively moisture laden system and hit for parts of Wisconsin. (those are the: DGEX and ECMWF, aka. European Model).

With the GFS and NAM having a bias in the cool system with storms coming up from the southwest, I'm not discounting the fact we could have some heavy snow, but as of this writing (Wednesday at 11am), I am leaning towards a 1" to 3" snow for Saturday afternoon and evening with another 1" or so with all the wind and cold for Sunday.

So, with all that said, stay tuned!

Hey Franny, i plow snow for many busnesses around the merrill area. We have differnt places to plow depending on how much snow we get. 1 inch is about 3 hours plowing, 2 is about 6, and 3 and up is alomost 12. So When you throw out a forecast of 1 to 3 or so, it really makes it hard for a guy like me to know when to go to bed, so that I can be up and ready without falling asleep in my front endloader. I guess what im asking is can you be more area spacific on your snow fall forecast? I know when we were blasted with 8 inches awhile back you had layers across the state as to how much snow each would get in the veiwing area, that was good! The vewing area is to broad a space to say some snow or a little accumulation. I would be very happy if you narrowed down the snow forecast to countys or something like that! Thanks!!!

I totally hear where you are coming from on that... I used to work for a company where we provided city-wide forecasts so the city and plowing businesses knew exactly how much snow to get and when it would start and stop snowing.
In the 2 to 3 minutes I get for weather every day, it's just not possible to go county by county, I just don't have enough time. However, I will make it a point to try and list more cities with the forecast like I did a few weeks ago.
As it stands right now, we're looking at a general 1" to 3" of snow across the area for Saturday and Saturday night. The other issue we'll have for Saturday, is temperatures will be warm enough that we could see some snow mixed with rain and freezing rain at times for Saturday night. So, here's what I expect across the area for snow totals through early Sunday morning:
Rhinelander- 3"
Phillips- 2"
Merrill- 2"
Antigo- 2"
Wausau- 1"
Stevens Point- 1"
Wisconsin Rapids- less than 1"

The things that will make or break this forecast... how much moisture gets up to our area, and will temperatures allow for any liquid to mix with the snow that falls. Stay tuned... I'll have an update tomorrow morning which should be able to pinpoint the forecasted snowfall and wintry mess a bit better.

JAN JANSSEN MAKES A GUEST APPEARANCE ... Blogdate 1214.07

As you may have noticed the past few days, one of our NewsChannel 7 alums has made quite a name for himself over the past 6 months. Our good friend Jan is back in town for the holidays and spent some time with us chatting about his life out in Hollywood. After this afternoon's weather forecast, he can now add assistant forecaster to his resume, which "obviously" will look much better than CSI:New York, CSI:Miami and the Shield and other tv shows that he has done... he has now experienced a weather forecast at WSAW, NewsChannel 7 in Wausau, WI.

Chad Franzen's Afternoon Weather Update (December 14)

Now more weather updates from the StormTeam 7 WeatherLab.... I made a change to the radar color schemes for the upcoming winter season. It was tough to see the snow showing up because the snow only shows in a few shades of white, so I changed the colors to shades of blue now for all of our radar products, both on tv and on our WebChannel (My Local Titan). I hope you enjoy!

GIFT IDEAS NEEDED ! ... Blogdate 1212.07

I was at the hair cut place the other day to get my "ears lowered" and I was chatting with my hairdresser about the upcoming Christmas season. We were brainstorming on what I could get for gifts for my family for the upcoming holiday season. I pretty much know what I am getting everyone, but I am always stumped when it comes to family... my parents and my brother and his family with 3 kids. So, that is why I blog to you, yes you at home to help me out!
My parents have everything they could ever want... married 45 years this year, retiring within a few years and two great kids! (hope you're reading mom!)
My brother and his wife have 3 great little boys... so taking care of them isn't going to be too bad... I'll find something to come up with.

I've never been good with gifts and probably never will. I am lucky that all I have to worry about is gift shopping for them family and don't have to go through the stress of shopping for a bunch of people!!

I know the holiday season isn't about gift giving- and sometimes it's better to give something from the heart and hopefully I'll be able to give both to my parents and brother this holiday season.

On a different tangent... ever remember the "worst" gift you ever got as a child? I remember getting the Incredible Hulk Underoos... embarassing enough right? Well, then my parents made me put them on to show everyone... SUPER EMBARASSING! Whenever I see my extended family (20+ people), that is one story (of many) about me that comes up and makes me red in the face and quiets me down quickly!

Happy Holidays everyone....

Seriously? No special someone to shop for? That kinda hurt Rocky's feelings!

How could I forget Rocky! Hope he's staying warm in the Pacific Northwest!

I actually play raquetball with Chad at the Y on a daily basis, don't let him kid you---if he hated the "incredible hulk underoes" he would have stopped wearing them by now! Isn't that right Bill Bixby? --Jacktastic

Don't make me angry... you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
Okay, this coming from the guy that looks like Drew Carey with the racquetball goggles/eye protection on? LOL

I once gave a certificate for Merry Maids for Christmas to a friend that had 2 kids & both parents were working 50+hrs a week. She cried when she found out that ONE DAY she didn't have to go home & clean the house... just an idea.
I try to give gifts that really have nothing do to with "stuff", but with relaxing instead. People sometimes don't think of the "blahs" that sometimes follow the hustle & bustle of the holiday season. All this GO GO GO and then.... nothing. Try giving Manicure/Pedicure gift certificates, (guys can get these too you know) 1 hour massages, Relaxation CD's & lavender sachets, offer to babysit for an hour or two while they go to dinner ALONE for once. We tend to lose focus on ENJOYING the season. Make them take a 2nd look. ;-)

Ahhhh, great ideas and I will be looking in to them! I'm really hip on the babysitting thing for them and then sending them somewhere nice for the night (2 hours max since they have 3 little boys and I have no kids of my own!) LOL
It sounds as if you are an expert gift giver or idea maker!

Thanks for the help!

FINAL THOUGHTS ON PAST STORM ... Blogdate 1202.07

As I go through the final snow totals, I think that we did a good job overall, of predicting snow totals and when we would have the freezing drizzle mixed in with the snow. As I pry things apart a bit further, I still am a bit upset with my forecast of the timing issue of being off by around 2 hours from Friday morning to Saturday afternoon, but those things happen this time of year.

Here's my forecasted totals from Friday morning:
Rhinelander- 6"
Phillips- 7"
Antigo- 5"
Wausau- 5"
Stevens Point- 5"
Wisconsin Rapids- 5"

Here's my forecasted totals from Saturday morning:
Rhinelander- 8"
Phillips- 7"
Antigo- 6"
Wausau- 6"
Stevens Point- 6"
Wisconsin Rapids- 6"

Here's the actual totals from the storm:
Rhinelander- 7" (off by 1")
Phillips- 4" (off by 3")
Antigo- 7" (off by 1")
Wausau- 6.5" (off by .50")
Stevens Point- 6" (exact amount forecasted)
Wisconsin Rapids- 8" (off by 2")

They heavier snow band obviously set up farther south than I originally thought, which is why I was an inch or two, too much for the Northwoods and a few inches too short in the far southern part of the area. Using all the forecasting tools/methods, the 850mb/2840 critical thickness line method correctly identified the heavy snow band in it's width, but missed out by 25 miles too far north. You can ask Bill Martens about the hatched areas I drew on a few maps of Wisconsin where I thought the heavier snow band would be and where it would end up.

I hope y'all made it through the weekend safely and now that the snow is here, the questions to me now turn to "will it stick around until Christmas?". We will have to see what kind of a warm up we get next weekend.

What is Washington weather like?

Washington is a magnificent state with a huge variety in weather. As Todd Hicks can attest to, northwestern Washington has a wide variety of weather, but is best known for it's cloudy days and somewhat cool days.
The eastern side of Washington is the exact opposite, basically a desert, east of the mountains. The Columbia River rolls through that side of the state and there are some excellent areas of crop production with the irrigation available from the Columbia.
It's a beautiful state, that's for sure and well worth visiting!

I love helping you out during this time of the year. It was amazing how many customers saw the piece on the news. It's good for the community over there and over here. I already know what I will be next year......:)
-Super Hanke

That's great... the SYH (Share Your Holidays) Campaign has been very strong this year and after freezing outside for 4 hours this morning pumping gas, I can tell you we look forward to a strong finish this year.
Thanks again Super Hanke!

hey chad

Thanks you for the updates over the weekend. I noticed you had Monday off, seems like that is first day off you have had all year. My family and I are glad that you work so much, but what does your family think? How come you do not get all the time off that others get?

I was happy to do the updates over the weekend, least I could do while inside trying to stay warm like everyone else. Weather is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week kind of job!
LOL It's not the only day I've had off all year! I normally take a week after the first of the year to spend some time with my parents in Washington. I will be doing that again in January.

Chad,
I LOVE IT. Updating your blogs, keeping us up to date from home regarding the snow storm. Be careful though, as you are spoiling us (we may look for it every storm)LOL
you do such a great job and I hope your employer sees how you go above and beyond and I hope they show you they appreciate it as well. I went to turn you on this morning (monday) and you werent there :(
Keep up the great job. thank you Chad

Thank you for the kind words. I decided after reading through all my winter weather forecasting stuff, that I'd share my forecasting philosophies and methods with you at home. In addition, I posted a few of the computer models so you can see what goes into a winter forecast and why it can be rather stressful at times.

Did you play Dane Cook's friend in the movie "Good Luck Chuck"?

If I did, I don't think I would be working at a local tv station due to contractual obligations and the fact I could make a lot more money in Hollywood!

Chad,
"SuperHanke" was glad the snow waited til Saturday. I was hoping I would not have to fly in instead of driving in. Funny thing happened on the way there. It was so windy that morning, that a trash can had rolled into the street. Quick thinking Hanke should of got out of the van to carry it to safety. I passed, because I may of caused accidents ....
Thanks again to Channel 7 for having the "Share Your Holiday" fundraiser.

Thanks a ton for your support again this year! Loved the "SuperHanke" outfit... made for some great video! Did you save any trash cans in the middle of the road that morning?
Thank you again Dale... you've been very generous throughout the years!

SATURDAY NIGHT UPDATE #4 ... Blogdate 1201.07
As of 8pm, we're still looking at almost blizzard like conditions in parts of the state. In addition, some freezing drizzle has now developed in the far southern part of our viewing audience. This area of drizzle will continue to move into central WIsconsin tonight and will cause even more icy conditions for parts of the state.

Snowfall totals for most of the area will range from 5" to 9", with some isolated amounts up to 12" possible by tomorrow morning.

Please be very careful if you must do any travelling over the next 18 hours or so as the road crews continue their uphill battle against Mother Nature tonight. Remember to give those snowplow drivers some extra distance and let them do their jobs unimpeded!

SATURDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE ON WEEKEND WINTER WEATHER Update #3 ... Blogdate 1201.07

Okay, posting an update while I'm sitting at home washing clothes... my job never stops. LOL
Here's the major change from yesterday morning's forecast to this morning's forecast... TIMING. The storm system last night moved very quickly into the upper Midwest which has caused a major change to my forecast from yesterday morning. What I looked at, was light snow moving in around 2pm with the roads becoming messy after 4pm. As you can see, the timing was off by about 2 hours... the snow started in Wausau around noon and the road conditions have started to deteriorate around 2pm this afternoon. Due to the timing of the system being a bit quicker with the snowfall, temps today will not make it into the mid 20's like I thought would happen. When precipitation starts to fall, it cools the air around it by evaporative cooling until we hit saturation (relative humidity 100%). So, with temperatures near 20 this afternoon, the snow will not be the heavy, wet snow like I thought would happen.
Here's the interesting thing, this time of year, temps can sometimes climb overnight, and that's exactly what should happen tonight. Temps will get a huge boost due to this storm system bringing in some very mild conditions from the southwest. Therefore, as temps rise overnight to near 30, we will see some of the heavy wet snow, mixed with sleet, and freezing rain. That part of the forecast didn't change much from yesterday morning's blog.

Just trying to keep y'all updated. I'm a little unhappy (disappointed in myself, I guess best describes it) that the timing of the forecast and snow was off by a few hours, but that's what happens when you're forecasting winter storms that come up from the southwest. Notice the 2 hour difference, now the roads are becoming very slick around 2pm today, instead of 4pm this afternoon as I originally anticipated.

My snow total forecast still looks to be on track... I could probably add an inch or two on top of the totals forecasted for Phillips, Rhinelander and Antigo. Wausau maybe an inch more... but once the rain/sleet mixes in tonight and the heavy wet snow falls, it should compact (push down) the snowpack that we're seeing today before that changeover/warmup for tonight.

Make sense? Hope so! Be careful this afternoon and especially tonight!

THIS WEEKEND'S WINTER MESS Update #2 ... Blogdate 1130.07

As mentioned in yesterday's blog, I have posted a new set of computer models that are still valid for the same time frame.. late Saturday night into early Sunday. The first 2 images are again the NAM (aka Eta) and the second 2 images (side to side) are from the GFS (aka AVN) models. Just for a second... scroll back and forth between yesterday's and today's NAM model images and do it again for the GFS... notice how much they have changed in just ONE day. So, let's break it all down again.

The temps at 850 millibars are still about the same as yesterday's model run, holding around -6 degrees Celsius.. about 20 degrees F. Notice the huge change in the big bullseye of moisture... it shifted from being in northern Illinois/southern Wisconsin to a huge bullseye over western Wisconsin and especially southern Minnesota. With all that moisture, there could be some snowfall totals over 12" by Sunday morning!

Okay, with this computer model, there are big changes from yesterday's run to today's. Most notably, temperatures are slightly cooler and the heavy moisture area is farther south.

So, having looked at today's computer model run, what's your forecast? While there will be "gobs" of moisture for southern Wisconsin, temperatures there will more than likely make this storm system flip between snow, to rain, then sleet and eventually to all snow. Bottom line, travelling Saturday NIGHT is NOT recommended at this time.

There are several other factors that go into this forecast that I won't post on here.. some of it is rather technical and would take me longer than the hour I've already spent doing this! There are other things that I'm evaluating at this time... these methods are : Garcia, Top Down and then I am also looking at 850 mb and 2840m thickness rules and the Vorticity method.

So having said that, here's my forecast for a few selected cities:
Rhinelander- 6"
Phillips- 7"
Antigo- 5"
Wausau- 5"
Stevens Point- 5"
Wisconsin Rapids- 5"

Saturday night will be a bit "interesting" in regards to all the different types of precipitation I think we'll see. There will be snow, sleet, some patchy freezing rain, rain and even some thundersnow will be possible!

Bottom line is, no matter how much it rains or snows, travelling is going to be a tough thing to do late Saturday night through the early morning hours on Sunday. Here's a link to the Wisconsin Road Conditions:
Wisconsin Road Conditions

or you can call 1-800-ROAD-WIS.

Chad---You are adorable! I love your excitement about the weather."Having said that "--You make me crazy with your moving around during your forecast. Please slow down the movement, it is very distracting. "Having said that"--Do you realize just how many times you say that during your forecast? I know you just said that, I heard you! I still love you and will watch channel 7 in the morning. You all are great!

Thanks for the input.... I get these "crutch" phrases at certain times with certain things. I used to always say "dealing with"... I know now not to say that anymore! :)

THIS WEEKEND'S WINTER MESS .... Blogdate 1129.07

Here's a little bit of what a meteorologist goes through for a forecast for a possible winter storm or a possible busted forecast. I've only posted a 12 hour chunk of 2 different computer models for the upcoming weekend... the time frame is late Saturday night into early Sunday morning. I, personally, look at 6 different computer models a day, and let me tell you, there are many more I could look at as well. The biggest thing is finding a computer model that you think is handling the current situation well and that will handle your storm situation as well. The below model is called the NAM, formerly known as the Eta. The image on the left is temperatures at 850 millibars (about 4300 feet in the air) and the image on the right is the liquid precipitation that is expected to fall.

The temps, according to the NAM, shows about -6 degrees Celsius here in central Wisconsin. In addition, the liquid shown available for this system is around .30". With temps below freezing (-6 celsius is about 20 degrees) and .30" of liquid available.. this would give us about 4 to 5 inches of snow. In addition, because of this storm system's strength, we could add another 1" to 2" to that bringing totals to 5" to 7" in central Wisconsin. Notice 2 things.. the farther north on the models, the less moisture and the farther south, the warmer the temperatures which would make HUGE differences north to south across the NewsChannel 7 Viewing Audience. This could be a 3" snow event in the far north and then be a rain, sleet and freezing rain event far south with little snow accumulation. Okay, still with me? Let's move on to the next set of computer models.

These 2 images are the exact same time frame as the NAM model images above, but it is a different computer model. This next model we are looking at is called the GFS (formerly known as the AVN).

Look at the big differences between the 2 computer models! This is why forecasting can be so much "fun". The 850 millibar temps are at or slightly above freezing and notice where the huge bullseye of precipitation is... it's moved up to the Northwoods. If the scenario pans out, this would be mainly rain for Juneau, Adams and Waushara counties, about 3" to 4" of snow in Wausau and possibly up to 10" of snow in the Northwoods because of that bullseye of moisture.

Now, here's your job as the reader... what's your forecast? What model do you choose and why? Jeremy, Katie, Mike and I, go through this every single day we forecast. It does take awhile to get used to things and how to forecast and all this big difference in the modeling does, is just make it that much more involved!

Here's what I'm calling for at this time... noon on Thursday November 29th... for the upcoming weekend.

Saturday will be snow mixed with sleet and some freezing rain at times. Snow will be heavy at times during Saturday night and into early Sunday morning. I would say most places will see 3" to 6" with some locally heavier amounts possible in areas.

I will post another update tomorrow for the upcoming weekend! I want to hear from you and your forecasts!

I wouldn't want your job. Way to complicating for me.Good job on weather

I try to keep it as "uncomplicated" as possible... but as you can see, it is very interesting to do.

i'm forecasting a tsunami for central wisconsin.
but i'm not a very good forecaster.
not at all.
love, the blonde bombshell.

Nice try blonde bombshell... at least if we had a tsunami, it would be a lot warmer than it is now!

What a wonderful blog today. So informative. I enjoy the way you talk to us like we know something about the weather but yet the way you explain things takes into consideration that most of us don't know all the technical terms like you do. It's wonderful. Please keep it up. Thank you.

I enjoy teaching and giving as much information as I can. That's the benefit of lots of years in college and spending lots of $$$ for my Masters Degree. Now I just need to find time, money and a place to finish up my PhD so I can be "Doctor Franzen".

NOON SHOW TOUR ... Blogdate 1119.07

A big thank you to Peace Lutheran School for coming in this past Friday for a tour of the station and sitting in on the noon show with Alison and I. They made the long trek from Antigo to learn about what happens behind the scenes during a newscast. Here's a few images from their past trip...

Notice this last little weathercaster.. Alison Struve. I convinced her to give it a shot and see what it was like as a weathercaster and she did a great job... so did the kids! They had a great time and we had a great time hosting their tour for the day!

oh where's the snow big boy

It's in the sky with a little on the ground.

where's the snow, where's the snow and why is it 10 below! HAW

The snow is on the ground and in the sky. Thankfully it's not even close to 10 below. HA

Hi Chad,
I went to my family members houses over by lake michigan and it snowed, but wow the weather is amazing. If you would like to know more about kansas waether let me know.
Have a great day and keep up the great work,
kate s. plover,wis

Kansas weather seems rather nice right now with our wind chill of -5!

The county radars are superlisticallly cool! Is that one of you're words? ha ha

Other web sites have zooming radars but they are 10-20 minutes old. Even though I cant' zoom in closer on my county, at least it is newer information. My family and I have a farm and another personal busines we run and with out the County Radar it would be so much more tough.
I applaud Channel 7 for such a great feature that is on the web free. Who Ever made this free on the web should get a huge raise! please do not charge for this web site!

That's not one of my words... but can I use it and pay you the $ .25 royalty fees I charge others to use my words? LOL
I'm glad that you find the My Local Titan feature such a helpful tool.... lemme tell you, countless hours were spent working on MLT (the acronym given to My Local Titan by our web producer/guru Bill Martens). Let's put it this way, I came up with the idea for MLT in December of last year... Bill and I couldn't get it all done and up and running until early May. That should maybe give you an "inkling" of how much work went into it and how to get the logistics of such a project done.
Even better, Mr. Martens and I are working on some future upgrades to MLT, so look forward to seeing that sometime in the future.

Oh, about the huge raise for Bill and I ... please make sure you pass that along to our General Manager ! LOL

Thanks Chad & Allison for being such wonderful hosts during out tour! The students really enjoyed learning about the news and weather forecasting for each of you. Thanks for taking time in your busy day to show us the station and to play with the green screen.
- Mrs. Luerssen & the 4th Grade Class.

Glad you had a great time! Good to see you guys again this year! See you next fall once again! LOL

What's with all the people trying there hand at the weather these days? Alison, Chas... are they trying to tell you something Chad? Good thing you're still the best weather guy in the morning.

Topaz

Thanks Topaz! I hope I'm the favorite in the morning! You never know when you're going to need a 5th meteorologist at our station!

WANNA WIN A FREE TV? ... Blogdate 1115.07

Ever want to win a free High Definition Television? Well, now is your chance! Check out the link below, or go to our main page and click on the WIN ME Sound World Television link.

BIG TV CONTEST GIVEAWAY

You can also send a postcard to:
HDTV Giveaway
1114 Grand Ave.
Wausau, WI 54403
or by dropping one off at
Sound World
1980 Highway U
Wausau, WI 54401.
You must be at least 18 years old to enter and may only enter once.

In addition to this giveaway, which by the way, ends December 20th... we are hopeful to have something else to giveaway soon!

I ONCE CAUGHT A FISH THIS BIG ... Blogdate 1107.07

Alison Struve has posted some interesting screen captures of our Noon Show on her blog, some of which look horrendous! However, the one I have here this morning actually looks like I'm talking about a fish story... I'll let you be the judge.

On a different note, we're expecting a little bit of light snow tonight. It will possibly be enough to coat the road in areas, so be careful travelling overnight. I know it's Wisconsin and it's expected this time of year, but it always seems that the first snowfall takes a few unsuspecting drivers by surprise!

In the HDTV giveaway can more than one person in a household that is over 18 register for a chance to win????

Only one entry per person over the age of 18... so anyone in the household over 18 is eligible. Good Luck- the contest ends December 20th with the giveaway coming December 21st.

hey Chad.

I have been watchin the morning show the past few weeks and notice that most of you're news stories are not from Wausau. Seems like you're show is more like CNN doing stuff around the world. Why is that?

That's a good question. The new focus for the morning show in the past few months has been to concentrate on getting new news to our viewers at home. Don't get me wrong, we still run news from the day before because it is still important to let you, the viewers, know what happened the day before.
We want to make sure that you're not ONLY seeing the same stories from the day before's 5pm and 6pm shows, but are getting something new that you may have not seen before.
If you have further concerns, please feel free to contact our News Director, Sue Ramsett. Her email is: sramsett@wsaw.com

We should have a feature called "Wacky Screencap of the Day".

I like it... should I hit Dan and Patrick up for a fancy animation and sound? LOL The thing I don't understand Alison.. how do all my screen captures make me look even worse and all of yours, you still look great?!?!?

Hmmmm weathermen (er meteorologists) in Portland hardly ever get to forecast snow. I wonder if they ever get bored? Rocky thinks you're totally exaggerating the size of that fish by the way. :P

That fish was this big... LOL Pacific Northwest Meteorologists usually have forecasts that say "sunny breaks with a chance for showers". I try to use it in Wisconsin as much as possible... just not the same as being out there. Can't wait to be there in January! YAY, it will be so much FUN!

WELCOME TO THE RATINGS PERIOD IN TELEVISION Blogdate 1102.07

Whether you realize it or not, the new shows have started up this fall as the networks enter the "Ratings or Sweeps" season once again. Ever wonder why your favorite show gets cancelled, moved or extended from year to year? Well, it's all done by a company that you've probably heard of before named, AC NIELSEN. AC NIELSEN will call months in advance of a ratings period, ask permission from that household to log what that family watches so they can shape the programming for the future.
The premise is easy, track the shows a household (family) watches, find the most popular and then make those shows until they are no longer popular. If the show is a surprise success, then the show may get a new night and timeslot to make it that much better. The actual process of finding out what people watch, well, that's a bit more lenghty and difficult. There are 211 television markets in the country, with #1 being New York City and #211 being Glendive, MT. In the top 50 or so markets, there are little boxes that sit on top of the tv which records which program that person/family is watching throughout each ratings period. (Ratings periods last 4 weeks and are: November, February, May and July) Ever wonder why they do season cliffhangers (in May) and then make you come back in the fall (around November)? It's to get you to watch more and more and to come back for more the next season!
Okay, back to the task at hand... the Wausau/Rhinelander tv market is on the smaller end of things, market #134ish. So, in this sized market, the AC NIELSEN Company calls ahead, asks if you want to be a NIELSEN Family for the 4 week period and help mold the television programming of the future. If you're selected, and you agree to, they will ship "diaries/logs" for you to track as you watch television for that month... writing down which station/channel, which time and which day and night. At the end, they'll pay for you to send them back to the company so they can tabulate all the data across the entire country. In addition, they usually provide you with a nominal amount of money for your service.
Why is this important? Well, you, the average viewer, CAN make a difference in which shows continue to return to production and which maybe shouldn't return to production (cancelled). In addition, just because a show gets cancelled, doesn't mean a grassroots effort can't get it back on the air. Jericho, right here on CBS, is a great example of that. It was cancelled in the spring, and because thousands of viewers wrote into CBS, they ordered more episodes and put it back on the air this past summer. Here's a few other "Famous" CBS series that were revived after one poor season, but went on to become hits later because of viewer outcry. Cagney and Lacey, Designing Women, The Magnificent Seven and Touched by an Angel.
What has become interesting in the past few days, is the fact that the Writers Guild of America (WGA)has decided to strike and as of this writing, it is supposed to happen sometime Monday (November 5th, 2007). That means new things won't be written for shows, of which, the immediate impact would be shows like Late Night with David Letterman. So, if Letterman suddenly goes into re-runs next week, it would be due to the strike of the WGA. In addition, over the course of the next 7 months, the other 2 Guilds (Screen Actors Guild {SAG} and the Directors Guild of America {DGA}), are expected to strike. That could certainly make television programming and the MOVIE industry very interesting in the next year... so stay tuned!

TRICK or treat Blogdate 1031.07

I had some fun with Todd and Bao the other morning! I scared them on Tuesday morning and aired the clip on Wednesday morning.

Chad's Trick played on Todd and Bao (Tues Oct 30, 2007)

LOL @ your video. That was mean! If you scared Rocky like that, he'd hide under my bed :P

:)
So, if I scared him under the bed, does that mean I get to come fish him out? :) Not a problem, just let me know where/when! LOL

CHAD
YOUR WEATHER TODAY IS FRANTASTIC!
THANKS FOR THE BEAUTIFULWEATHER CHERYL

Anytime Cheryl... now will you thank me for the 30's, blustery and chilly weather coming up next week? :)

come on chat, listening to your weather today, "cover the exposed skin" you talk like its 30 below out, remember this is wisconsin we are used to it.

I assume you mean Chad?
Well, here's where I was coming from on that... I was golfing Tuesday afternoon and went to pick up my friend's son from school after the golf game. There wasn't one single kid with a jacket outside playing when I arrived. With temps in the 50's and 60's for a few days, the last thing you're thinking about is a wind chill ... which hovered near 30 yesterday afternoon. Skin may not freeze immediately in 30 degree weather, but it does not feel good to be outside for 2 hours with nothing covering the skin.
In addition, it's always easier to take a layer off if the kiddies get to warm, as opposed to put it on.

FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY

Todd and Bao still don't think it's all that funny. LOL

HA! HA! HA! HA! THAT'S AWESOME :)

I think I may have to play more shananigans on them down the road... once they let their guard down. They kept looking all over the studio today, wondering if I had something planned.

SWEPT AWAY Blogdate 1029.07

Well, the World Series is over and so are my Rockies hopes of their first National Title. I have to be honest, I really thought they would have won one or two at home, but after 2 close games Saturday and Sunday night, it was not to be. While I'm extremely bummed, I still find solace in the fact they are #25 of 30 teams in payroll, they are fairly young and hopefully will not be referred to as the "no name Rockies" next year. They had an amazing run, winning 21 of 22 at one point, just to get into the post season and continue on. At least there won't be a traffic problem tonight in Denver when the Packers take on the Broncos at Invesco Field at Mile High.

I'm now 100% into football mode with no baseball to "distract" me. Congratulations to the high school teams that have advanced to round #3 after this past weekend's games. I couldn't believe how close the games were, especially for both Wausau East and Wausau West in their losses this past weekend. My alma mater Mississippi State University knocked off Kentucky this weekend and the Badgers defense showed up to shutdown Indiana this weekend. Hopefully the Badgers will find a way to win out this year.

Now to weather... we're going to be close to 60 degrees today and tomorrow... we may not have a pair of 60 degree readings return again until 2008, so ENJOY the outdoors through Tuesday! I'll see you fellow bike/motorcycle riders out there the next few afternoons!

Hi Chad--My wife keeps asking to ask you if you were born in Oregon wisconsin --someone had the samer name as you---loved the Packers win! Carl Kutzke

Hi Carl,
I was actually born in Aberdeen, So. Dakota... although I have cousins that are from Wisconsin (especially Price County).

Sorry again about your Rockies... it would have been nice if they could have won one or two in the series.
Anyway, your blog would be much more entertaining if you posted pictures where you and I look like idiots. eh? eh??

Your Al Pal

Hey Alison, thanks for the kind words about my Rox.. wish they would have won at least one, but I'm still proud with how well they ran the table the last month of the season.. winning 21 of 22 is awesome!
Posting pics that make us look like idiots... I'll leave that up to you! You're much better at finding those "rare/hard to find" pictures of us looking like idiots! LOL
How's the parents sailboat trip coming along? Will we get an update on your blog?

FIRST SNOW COMING??? Blogdate 1019.07

The 2 images below represent an extended forecast... 9 days out and is valid for Saturday October 27th. There are 2 images... the one on the left represents temperatures (approximately 5000 feet up) and the right image represents how much liquid is available for precipitation.

The colored lines represent temperatures... the very light/sky blue is the (0 degree celsius) 32 degree line with temperatures cooling off behind it. The line that runs from Dubuque, IA to about Green Bay is the -2 degrees celsius line, which is about 28 degrees. In addition, notice how temps get cooler and cooler the farther north you go. In addition, notice the big blog of precipitation over Wisconsin... anywhere from .50" to .75" of liquid.

Here's the thing, if temps are less than 32 degrees, then snow would be a distinct possibility, especially the farther north you go. In addition, if it were all snow and didn't melt due to warm ground temps, then .50" of liquid could yield 6-9 inches of snow.

However, since this is an extended forecast, 9 days out, this time of year, computer models usually have a real tough time pinpointing it like that. Chances are it will probably be wet, but whether or not this storm system gets as cold as advertised, is a different story. Watch from today (Oct. 19th) until Saturday the 27th and see how much the forecast can change.

On a side note, I'm so proud of the Colorado Rockies... game #1 of the World Series is Wednesday October 24th... Go ROCKIES!

Chad, I was wondering. Why is the sky blue? My mommy told me it was because millions of little blue bugs fly around way up high. -Kevin in Michigan (I watch you on cable)

On cable, hmmmm... good to hear from you Kevin U. How's Traverse City, MI? With new technology and a thing called a SlingBox, it's possible to watch NewsChannel 7 all over the world, all you need is a high speed internet connection.
Your "mommy" is telling you the easy reason why the sky is blue. The actual reason is a clear cloudless day-time sky is blue because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colours because the blue light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight.
Have a good day!

C.F. Interesting info on the possibility on forcasting snow but do any weather phenominoms such as as Elnino or others like that are going to factor how much snow we get during the winter season;and about your Colorado Rockies IF there is a game next week Monday people in Wisconsin are going to be rooting for the Packers on ESPN that nite too Chad!. October 23rd,2007!

Yes, please see my blog below about La Nina, which is a cooling of the waters in the Pacific Ocean. I mention below that it doesn't mean there will necessarily be more or less snow in Wisconsin.

I am hopeful for a game 5 on Monday night... that would put the Rockies playing in Denver and the Packers playing in Denver as well. I'm not sure how long it's been since that has happened, but it was kind of close back in 1986. Here's what I found,

Having a World Series game and a Monday Night Football game in the same area on the same night is not unprecedented. Game 7 of the 1986 World Series between the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox was played at Shea Stadium on Oct. 27, 1986. At the same time, the New York Giants were playing the Washington Redskins in East Rutherford, N.J.
also:
When the 1997 World Series between the Florida Marlins and Cleveland Indians was pushed to a Game 7, the NFL postponed the scheduled 1 p.m. Sunday game between the Dolphins and Bears to 9 p.m. Monday. Same scenario took place during the 1987 World Series between the Minnesota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals, when the Broncos-Vikings game was moved from Sunday to Monday night.
(source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

For those of you not familiar with Denver, Invesco Field at Mile High is 2.50 miles away from Coors Field with Coors Field being near downtown Denver and Mile High just on the west side of I-25 (MouseTrap). For fans using the MouseTrap, there could be some massive delays depending on IF there is a game #5, and what time the game #5 would start. Fun stuff!

Hi Chad,
I hope the rockies win the world series. Go Rockies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great day,
kate s. plover,wis

Thanks Kate... I'll be getting NO sleep the next few days.

Just a fun comment for you, all this rain makes me want to sing the song "Raindrops keep falling on my head!"

I've been singing that song quite a bit lately! It's one of those songs that gets in your head and you sing it all day. Katie O'Brien was singing a song earlier this week and it was stuck in my head for 2 days!

So "Chet" we haven't heard anything about the Rossby waves lately--what gives with those guys? Also if you have a chance I would like to hear about the weather in Kansas--Jacktastic

Don't you worry about those Rossby Waves... they're there. For those of you that haven't read about Rossby Waves- use the Ctrl - F on this web page and search for Rossby Waves. I wrote about them this past winter. Right now there are 2 and a half Rossby Waves... with our weather in a small ridging of one of them. Once the very large troughing Rossby Wave moves over North America, things could get very chilly. However, Rossby Waves move very, very slowly, so a major cold snap of more than a week seems unlikely to happen for a while.

im so very confused. You guys always claim to have up to date, most reliable for casting even on the web. Well on the desktop weather you have available, had the whole area under tornado watch still at 9:30 last night (the last time I looked). could you please explain as that was the case most of the summer.
Thank you!

There could be a few things going on there. The First Warn Online is a program that is run by a separate company outside of NewsChannel 7.
In addition, sometimes the program will get a hiccup if the internet connection feeding it stops. So, in this case it kept the watch box up.
The Watch was also originally valid until 10pm, so once the cancellation came through, it may have not triggered the program to cease it's display. In addition, if there wasn't a valid internet connection from 3pm to 10pm, it wouldn't have gotten the cancellation information.
One last thing to check, is to make sure the auto-refresh is enabled on the program.
I'll have our webproducer Bill Martens, follow up with the company to make sure there are/were not issues there.

LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME Blogdate 1012.07

It was last year at this time that Wausau had its first snowfall of the year... .20". While that wasn't a whole lot, it did set the record for snowfall for today's date and we also had a record low last year at this time... with a low of 22 degrees. So while it's been chilly here the past several days, it was not as cold as last year!
Recapping last year... we had our first snowfall, then it remained rather chilly through the end of October and right into the first few days of November. Around November 5th through the 9th temperatures averaged 55.6 degrees for highs, which was 10 degrees above normal. You may remember November 10, 2006... we had 6 inches of snow that day! Temps remained rather cool until around Thanksgiving when we warmed up once again into the 50's. The end of November through early December was another chilly stretch of weather with normal temps once we got into the Christmas season.
We had a small thaw the first week of January of 2007, and then it was very cold from January 8th all the way until the end of February with average highs running 10 degrees below normal during that time.

Why do I type all of that... well because it looks like things will cool down towards the end of October and we'll have to see what happens. We're entering a La Nina year, which on average, usually has our temperatures slightly above normal and our precipitation is usually what we normally get.

By the way, referring to the Climate Prediction Center's (CPC)outlook for above normal temps and nearly normal precip.. let me explain how this works.
When the CPC makes the outlooks, it's the average of the 3 month period from December through February that they are looking at. All that has to happen for their outlook to verify is the average temps just have to be above average... doesn't say by how much. So, if the avg. temps end up .01 degree above normal, the outlook is correct. In addition, no generalization should be made as to how the snow outlook looks for the winter time from these outlooks. Reason for it... let's look closer. Average highs in January are in the lower to middle 20's... so let's say January of 2008 the average high is more like 28 or 29 degrees. When it snows, the snow to water ratio is higher with the warmer temps (28, 29 degrees), so it could actually lead to above normal snowfall!
Let's say during that same stretch (January 2008), we average 35 degrees for highs, well, then our snow would probably be cut down because of rain mixing it with any precipitation that falls.

I'm not trying to knock on the CPC, I'm just explaining how their outlooks work and why we shouldn't rush to speculate on snow/temps for the upcoming winter.

Case in point.. last winter our temps were super cold for most of January, but we ended up with high temps exactly where they should be for Winter (Dec-Feb)... avg high was 26.0 degrees, avg. during that time is 26.0. However, our snowfall was 3.1 inches behind during that time. What will Dec-Feb bring us this year... we'll know in 5 months!

Just want to go on the record here about my surging Colorado Rockies.. I'm so proud of this team that I have been following since their inception in 1993! I spent my summers in Denver from 1992 to 1997 and got free tickets to any game I wanted to watch from my job at that time... and I watched many a game through those years. I honestly think I'm probably the only die-hard Rockies fan in Wisconsin... here's my pic to prove it. Jacket, tie, Rockies purple dress shirt... I'm such a nerd. The only bad thing about them winning all the time, I have to stay up to watch them on tv and I don't get any sleep. I'm okay with that! Go ROCKIES!

Thank godness you are on the earily morning show. I have to work at 12am when you do the noon show, but at least i get to see your funniness in the morning show.
I am sory that you're former blonde bombshell is no longer with you on the show===== but i get to see her on the late shows with her.
Keep up the great job

By blonde bombshell, I assume you're not referring to me, Todd or Bao? LOL She's working hard and doing a super awesometastic job on the weekends and reporting during the week.
Thanks for the compliments!

Keep up the great work Chet... you keep us laughing in the morning. Iam guessing yoor cohorts think the same thing!

Chet, I'm guessing you mean Chad? If you do, thanks!

Hi Chad,
If the stealers go to the super bowl you will jump up and down or scream on the top of your lungs. I would do that if my favorite team won. I am looking for my soul mate with love of weather and safety of others. When are you comming to plover again?
Have a great day,
kate s. plover,wis

I'll have laryngitis if the Rockies win the World Series and will have it again if the Steelers make it to the Super Bowl!
Have a good weekend!

Some darn fine photography there!

I had the most awesomeist noon co-anchor in the world take that picture. Thanks Alison! :)

Hi Chad,
I am a badgers, packers, stealers, seahawks fan. I think the stealers will go to the super bowl. The weather is so amazing to me and the weather is different every day. Have a great day and keep on doing a great job with the weather.
your weather fan, kate s. plover,wis

I hope you're right.. I'm on cloud 9 with my Rockies going to the World Series... I can't imagine what I would do if the Steelers made it to the Super Bowl this year... probably explode or something?!

Hi Chad,
It was great to see you at the local restaurant where I work earlier this week. I hadnt' seen you and the beautiful girl that you normally come in there with in a long time and was hoping that you two were still dating. You too always make me laugh when I'm working in there and you make a great couple.
So, how soon before we see our first snow fall?

In regards to the first snowfall, see the above blog. I think we may see a taste of winter-like weather around the end of October.
Now the first part, I'm taking it that you're referring to my rendezvous with the wonderfully talented Vanessa Ryan from WDEZ. You're right, she is beautiful.... however, you're incorrect when it comes to us dating. We've been friends for nearly 10 years now and have been close friends during that time. With our schedules in broadcasting, there's no way we'd ever have time to date.. we commonly joke that our once a month that we get to see each other almost seems impossible with our schedules at work. She's a great girl and I love her to death, but we are not a couple.
Don't worry, we'll be having lunch there again sometime within the next month or two. LOL

FALL COLORS Blogdate 1002.07

It's that time of the year where the fall colors are at peak, or maybe just a little bit past peak already for this fall. Just a little bit on why leaves turn colors and which trees normally turn which colors.
Plants take water from the ground through their roots to feed themselves during the growing season. They take a gas called carbon dioxide from the air and then use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into glucose. Plants use glucose as food for energy which is how trees and plants grow throughout the year. The way plants turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar is called photosynthesis and a chemical called chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll is what gives plants their green color. As summer ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. This is how the trees begin to prepare for the upcoming winter season. During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis, due to the freezing temperatures and the very low sun angle. The trees make it through the winter and live off the food they stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their food-making factories and the green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along, it's just we can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll.
Common colors for trees include:
Poplar trees - golden yellow
Beech trees - tan
Black Maple - yellow
Dogwood - purplish-red
Hickory - golden bronze
Oak - red, brown, rust color
Red Maple - scarlet
Sugar Maple - orangish red
Here's a really cool link to a website showing how weather satellites are detecting the leaves turning color as well.
Wisconsin Satellite Time Lapse

Now some more thoughts on this past weekend of football. A big congratulations to the Badgers as they knocked the Spartans out of the ranks of the unbeaten. It was a tough fight, but the defense took over for the last part of the game to finally secure a hard fought win.
I was proud of my 2 former alumns with tough losses this past weekend... Mississippi State losing to #16 South Carolina and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T) losing to a traditionally tough Minot State University this past weekend. In the pros, a big congratulations to Brett Favre for breaking the all time passing TD record this past Sunday in the Metrodome. It was a great win for the Pack, but I still think they need to figure out how to run the ball a bit more effectively. Throwing 40+ times a game is no way to be playing football on the "frozen tundra" of Lambeau Field come December and January. They'll hopefully get more consistency out of the RB's this next week.
I'm dumbfounded by my Steelers loss to the Cardinals this past week.... but I think a lot of it was the fact that both Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm (the head coach and off. line coach for the Cards) were up against an organization that had passed two loyal employees over for the Head Coaching job of the Steelers back in January. I think Tomlin is a great coach, but it might have been extra motivation for the 2 former Steeler's coaches to win that game. We have the Seahawks at Heniz Field Sunday... should be an "interesting" game.
Finally, I can't say how proud I am of my Colorado Rockies for sticking out a 13 inning marathon tie-breaker game last night against the Padres. I watched the almost 5 hour marathon and I think there were some missed calls both ways. Bottom line, the Rockies continue to remain hot as they head off to take on the Phillies later on this week. If you're looking for a team's bandwagon to get on, I invite you to hop aboard my favorite baseball team since their inception almost 15 years ago. I'm so happy to see Todd Helton finally get to the post-season... now, can they take on a red-hot Phillies team and win? I certainly hope so....
Now, will Ryan Braun from the Brewers or Troy Tulowitzski get the ROY (Rookie Of the Year) and will Matt Holliday beat out Jimmy Rollins for NL MVP? I think Tulo will lose to Braun due to Braun's #'s at the plate, even though Braun has really struggled in fielding with a lot of errors. Unless the Rox beat the Phillies, the NL MVP will probably go to Rollins. I will just continue to hope my Rox roll and we'll see how far they get into the post season! Go ROCKIES!

Hi Chad
are there any long range forecast for cold and snow for this winter?
cliff from arpin

Hi there Cliff,
Current thought from the National Weather Service/Climate Prediction Center is for warmer than normal conditions and about equal chances for normal to above normal precipitation.
I think we'll see our first snowfall relatively soon, just like the very minor snowfall we had in the middle part of October 2006. Our first major snowfall of 2006 happened November 10th of last year.. we had 5.8" on that day last year. I think we may see our first significant snowfall a bit sooner than that.. but only time will tell!

why are you posting things about sports? arent' you a weatherguy?

I'm both... LOL I blog about the 2 things that I have a lot of passion for and a lot of knowledge of... Sports and Weather. I played football for 14 years and coached for a year, so it's near and dear to me and someday I hope to be more involved with football - whether coaching or doing radio play by play, someday I'll make that transition.
When I first went to Graduate school and didn't know anything about tv at that time, I dreamed of becoming a sports and a weatherperson... figured it would be a way for a tv station to get a 2 for 1 type person and save some $$$... but there's just too much to do with just weather or sports, so that will never happen!

PAST WEEKEND THOUGHTS Blogdate 0924.07

I had a chance to spend some time at the annual Exhibitour Gallery Night in downtown Wausau this past Saturday night. I must admit, I had never attended it before and after spending a few hours down there, I feel like I've been missing out over the years. It was great to see how good our local artists really are and it was awesome to spend a few hours going from shop to shop in downtown Wausau. Wausau Area Events did a great job with it this past weekend and I'm sure it was a huge success!
More ramblings on the football season ... Alison Struve, Chief Photographer Randy Bise, and I went to the DC Everest/Wausau East football game on a blustery Friday night and got to watch a very exciting game take place.
The Packers continue to impress me while the Badgers continue to distress me. It seems that the Badgers continue to play down to the other team's level, when they should be playing back at last season's level. They returned a lot of starters from last year, yet they struggle... we'll see how they do this week against a hungry and undefeated Michigan State. Mississippi State beat Gardner Webb, which I had to go look up to find out where it is! Gardner Webb is a private/liberal arts college located in Boiling Springs, NC and get this, also uses the Bulldog as their mascot, although theirs is a runnin' Bulldog as opposed to Miss. State's "regular" Bulldog. South Dakota School of Mines and Technology opened up the Dac10 conference with a loss at Dickinson State.
My Steelers continue to impress me and I've been so impressed with my Colorado Rockies in baseball... only 6 games left and they're on the outside looking in to get to the playoffs. They're 1.5 games out of the wild card race and will need some help from the Giants to beat the Padres and from the Braves to beat the Phillies in the series early this week. I really hope the Rox make it, but they control their destiny and probably will have to extend their current 8 game winning streak to 14 to make it in... Go ROCKIES!

CHAD
I WISH EVERY DAY COULD BE LIKE TODAY MANY MANY THANKS FOR THE LOVELY WEATHER
CHERYL

Anytime.. hopefully the nicer weather will remain for awhile... hopefully!

Hi Chad, Face it, the Steelers just arent that good of a team. I have to admit that the Card and their ex Steeler coach were playing with a lot of emotion but the Steelers were just flat throughout the entire game. It was a fun game to watch however especially the second half. I love my NFL Sunday Ticket!!
Jim

Hey Jim,
Bill Martens (our webproducer) and I, before the season.. discussed whether the Steelers would go 8-8 or 9-7. I still think that's the ballpark for where the Steelers will end up with the schedule they have for the rest of the season.
The Steelers dropped the last week and will face another tough challenge in the Seahawks this weekend. Even with the Steelers not allowing an 100 yard rusher for 28 consecutive games, they have been picked apart by an opposing offense that throws well. One thing that will help, they won't play in 95 degree heat this weekend... something that knocked several Steelers players out of the game this past weekend.
While I think the Packers are a good team and are surprising a lot of people, they will have a tough time with the next 3 games... Bears, Redskins and Broncos. I hope they go 3-0 during that stretch, but it may be more realistic going 2-1. It has been a good football season so far for many Wisconsinites with the Pack and Badgers undefeated!

Dear Chad
Thought I send you a joke
Theres this Nutt family They have a daughter and a son. Names are HAZEL AND COCO HA HA THANKS FOR THE LOVELY WEATHER CHERYL

Thanks for the humor.!

Hi Chad,
I hope your weekend was awesome. I had a awesome weekend camping with family. I went on a pontoon boat ride and got a sunburn the last day of summer. Let me know if you would like to talk about kansas weather? I remember one night at midnight I heard to tornado sound go off and woke everyone in my family up and went down stairs and watched tv and waited for the storm to pass. It was 4am in the morning when I went to bed. Keep on smiling. If their was a tv commercal to have viewers watch tv I would be more than happy to do a commercal for this station.
kate s. plover,wis

Night-time storms happen quite a bit in Kansas and the rest of Tornado Alley, but not as much up in Wisconsin. I don't remember the last time I heard a tornado siren when it wasn't daylight... and while those sirens are very unnerving during the day, they're even worse to hear at night. Have a good week!

RANDOM UPDATES Blogdate 0919.07

Lots of random thoughts today, very little of which is weather related, except for this first one. Let's clarify the start of Fall.. which is 4:51am on Sunday September 23rd. I've been asked quite a few questions lately about why Fall (Autumnal Equinox) is starting so late this year. When the seasons change, there is usually a "ball park" set on what day the change of the season should occur, for most people, it's usually the 21st of March and September. However, very rarely does it ever work out that all the equinoxes happen on the 21st of the month. The reason, the fact that the Earth does not go around the sun in a perfect 365 day orbit- it's actually 365.25 days for the Earth to revolve around the Sun. That .25 days is the reason why every 4 years, there's a Leap Year day added at the end of February, to correct for this "imperfection" in the way a calendar works.. when's the last time you saw a calendar that used more than just a whole number for a day? To break it down by hours, there's 24 hours in a day and a quarter of that is 6 hours.. which just happens to be about how much is added from one year to the next with the equinox change. There is also another factor as to why the start of Fall isn't on the 21st every year... and that is because the Earth's orbit around the Sun is not a perfect circle, it is an ellipse. Kepler's Law of Planetary Motion says that the Earth moves fastest when it is closest to the sun (about January 3rd every year) and the Earth moves slowest when furthest away (about July 4th every year). The "unequal" motion between the two times causes variations in the length of time of each day... the times of the sunrise and sunset. Confused? I hope not... bottom line is, very rarely do the equinoxes both happen on the 21st of each month (March and September).

Other musings... what a year for football so far, from the NFL all the way to local high schools.. it's been a good year so far. The Packers continue to impress me from week to week, but without a 30 carry a game started at RB, I'm still left wondering how they will continue to use Wynn, Jackson and Morency (when he gets back)tandem.. but they are doing just fine. I am only slightly concerned with the defense, they are giving up a bunch of yards, but thankfully not a ton of points. We'll see how this week against the Chargers, at home, goes. I've been cautiously optimistic about my Steelers and I think they'll get a good test this week against the Niners. I'm still not convinced Big Ben is worth the hype, but a W is a W.
Even at 3-0, the Badgers still concern me. I was at the game vs. UNLV a few weeks ago, and I wasn't sure the Defense was ever going to stop the "run and shoot" type offense the Rebels were using against them. But at 3-0, who am I to criticize? My Mississippi State Bulldogs shocked Auburn last week and look to get to 3-1... One time Packers Assistant Coach Sylvester Croom seems to have righted that ship after Jackie Sherrill retired a few years back. I've also been impressed with my other alma mater where I played, South Dakota Tech. The Hardrockers are 2-1 after a tough loss last week against Mayville State.. and will have even a tougher challenge ahead this week with Dickinson State College. Good luck to you fellow Miners/Hardrockers!
Local high school football.. what a week last week! Not only with huge games for teams, but for individuals as well. Kudos to Trevor Laher from Medford for 300 yards on the ground and 4 td's and also to Mitch Sutton from SPASH with his 313 yard and 4 td effort. As a former offensive lineman for 13 years, I congratulate you both on your efforts and to the "hogs" up front for getting those holes opened up for you in your games last week. Good luck to all players and coaches and teams this week for week #5 of high school football! The weather looks okay at this point, maybe a brief shower at kickoff and certainly much warmer than last week's games!

At one time a week's forcast on the Weather Channel showed scattered storms for a couple of days, isolated for a couple of days, then scattered again.
Is there really a difference between isolated T-storms and scattered T-storms? Or is that just a way to break a monotonous forcast?

First, don't be going to the Weather Channel when you can get your local forecast right here on our website! LOL j/k
There is a difference between Isolated and Scattered, just as there is a difference between partly cloudy and partly sunny.
There are no "set in stone" rules, but this is generally what is meant by isolated showers or storms.. approximately there is a 20 to 30 percent chance for precipitation. Scattered is approximately 40 to 60 percent chance for precipitation and likely is anything over 80%.
To be honest with you, I've heard different weatherpeople refer to isolated as meaning only 10 percent and some as 40 percent... it just depends on who the weatherperson is.
Hope that makes sense to you.

Chad,
If you would like to know about Kansas weather I would be happy to tell that to you sometime. Do you go camping? I went camping along time ago and ready to go camping again. Well have a great day. I am always watching the sky.
kate s. plover,wi

I first started loving weather and keeping an eye to the sky when I was just a kid in South Dakota. A tornado touched down within a 1 mile of where we were living and it destroyed a few homes that were under construction down the street. I got even more into weather when I was a teenager growing up in Montana. I'd go hiking/fishing up in the mountains and it would go from sunny and 80, to storming and 40 degrees. It wasn't uncommon to see 70s in the afternoon and then have snow at night.
You're right... Kansas weather represents all the extremes... forecasting in Kansas would be any meteorologist's dream (including mine).

Hi Chad

Awhile back you wrote a blog about Organ Donation, especially writing about your father's kidney transplant. I was touched that you wrote how CRUCIAL organ donation is! I also wanted to share a personal story about dialysis. My Grandpa started Dialysis, Hermodialysis, the spring of 2007. For about 5 years prior to Dialysis, he was fighting the doctors and our family- he didn't want to be "tied to a tree" (as he puts it) and was determined he would be just fine without Dialysis. However, my 81 year-old grandfather discovered that with one kidney completely shut down and the other kidney having 1/3 of it's functioning level, he was just getting sicker and sicker everyday. Finally he chose Hermodialysis. WHAT A MIRACLE!!!!!! I can't accurately express how Dialysis has improved my grandfather's quality of life, health, and personality. He's always been a whitty man asking his grandchildren questions like "Is there a road running past your place?" and we'd say yes then Grandpa would say "Why don't you stop it?" As Grandpa got sicker because of health complications leading to his kidneys shutting down, he was loosing his whit and desire to live. Our family begged him to schedule a consultation for Dialysis, which Grandpa did, but still wasn't going to hear of being "tied to a tree." Worse came to worse when Grandpa had a stint in his kidney to improve circulation this past spring. At this point, Grandpa's doctor basically said he had no choice BUT to have Dialysis or wither away. Our family's prayers were answered when Grandpa chose Dialysis! Now Grandpa goes to a facility three times a week. My Grandma is so devoted to ensuring his quality of life that she attends everytime, keeps a close tab on his strict diet, and also arranges for family members to take Grandpa and Grandma to Dialysis. A couple weeks ago I was FORTUNATE TO FINALLY ATTEND! I was at Grandpa's side when he was hooked up to the machines, watched the blood flow from the port in his body through the tubes, into the machine, through the filtration system, and back into the port in his body. Like you wrote, Chad, the process did take about 3 hours. The whole time I was in awe to see how modern medical technology has advanced to improve the quality of life like those of your Dad and my Grandpa. Now that Grandpa has been "tied to a tree" AKA going to Dialysis for about 6 months, our family is AMAZED by his health improvements: His skin coloring is pink (not gray as it was before Dialysis), he has the desire to eat (before he ate because he had to), his vision has improved (Grandpa is legally blinded because of health issues, but now can see bigger shapes further away!), and there's other subtle improvements. Now Grandpa says if he wins the lottery, he's going to build a Dialysis center on his farm so he doesn't have to drive so far! (The Dialysis Center he attends is 240 miles of driving per week). He definitely would rather be "tied to a tree" than suffer like he did before Dialysis. Grandpa has been driving home to our family how IMPORTANT it is to stay healthy, eat right, and NEVER take for granted how essential our organs are! Once again, Chad, thank you for your blog.

I am glad to hear that your grandpa is doing it right.. go on Dialysis and fight fight fight. At one point, my dad wanted to give up on all of it... I refused, as did my mother and brother. Sometimes, "tough" love is something you have to do to make your loved one realize there are better things ahead. I pray for you and your family!

Chad,
When I hear weather watches, I have all three weather radios ready to sound a warring. I am ready to go in the basement. I help the church I belonged to in Kansas get a weather radio and a plan of action so they know what to do. I would like to be a weather lady myself. Someday I would like to go storm chasing! Living in Kansas that was some crazy weather. I could tell you about the crazy weather in Kansas rightnow but it would be too long. To all the viewers out there when the weather team says all the severe weather alert take it seriously because trust me that will truely save your life.
Have a great day,
Kate s. plover, wis

Great to hear from you Kate... we're not as crazy with weather here like it is in Kansas... but sometimes it gets active. I agree, when the weather alerts come out... take them seriously!

FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE Blogdate 0903.07

It's that time of the year... time to grab the rakes, sweaters, coats, jackets, footballs, gloves, etc... you get the idea. It's football season and we're already into week #3 of the high school football season, week #2 of the college football season and just about ready to start week #1 of the NFL season. So, having said all of that, let's just say I'm pumped for this weekend's Badgers/UNLV game in Las Vegas. I, along with a group of 14 or so of my acquaintances, will be headed out to Vegas to cheer on the Badgers as they take on the Runnin' Rebels this weekend! This is our 2nd annual Badgers/UNLV trip out there to cheer on the Badgers and we're all looking forward to it!

It's also that time of the year where the softball and outdoor volleyball seasons are over and now the indoor volleyball and dart and pool season starts within another month. While I am always left wondering what happened to summer, at least the indoor sports season starts and I'll soon be looking forward to that.

While one of my Alma Mater's got destroyed the first week of football season (Mississippi State got crushed by LSU last Thursday), my other Alma Mater, one where I played football for 4 years, won this past weekend. Great job South Dakota School of Mines and Technology starting the season off with a win! Now, keep that momentum going and keep Grubby happy!

Go Steelers, Packers, Badgers, MSU Bulldogs and SDSMT Hardrockers!

Chad,
Just a quick comment on the Indian Summer...this is still summer, Indian Summers are after the fall season begins,right?

Well, from everything I've looked at.. Indian Summer doesn't mean it can't happen before fall starts. The definition of Indian Summer is a period of warm weather after the first frost... which is where we are... but no mention of Fall.
Which one of us is right? You got me on that one!

Hi Chad, I watch you every morning before I go to work. I have a question about weather! This weekend my husband and I will be going to Tomahawk for the Fall Ride. I need to know specifically about Friday early evening in Tomahawk. We usually bring our 9 year old daughter with us to ride in the parade on the bike. We can bundle her up for cold, but what are the chances of rain around 6:00 - 7:00 pm? I don't want a sick child next week due to getting wet and cold. See what you can do to find out. I promise I won't blame you for the forecast! :) Thanks. Cheryl

The Fall Ride should be mainly dry, although I can't rule out a brief shower north of Tomahawk through the early afternoon. I would recommend you be prepared for the very chilly conditions that are expected. Temps up north will only hit 50 today and 57 tomorrow. Lows will be in the upper 20's tonight with mid 30's for Sunday morning!
Have a great ride and ride safely... I'll see you up there next year!

Oh man Chad I hear ya on the dissappearing summer. Plus I had to watch those mean ol' Badgers stomp on my poor misguided Cougars. Kudos SDSMT on the win! And good luck to all the high school squads in the Wis. Valley Conf.

Topaz in the Gem State

Great to hear from you Dave. The Badgers really struggled this weekend with UNLV's run and gun type offense. They really never pressured their QB and he had plenty of option type plays to keep the Badgers on their heels on defense. I don't know how many they converted, but I have to believe UNLV converted probably 60% of their 3rd down plays, and a lot of them were 3rd and more than a few yards. The good news, they pulled out the win and that's what they needed.
Get this, SDSMT Hardrockers got another win this past weekend... that makes them 2-0, but 0-0 in the DAC conference since conference games have not started.
Week 1 was not good for my fantasy teams, but a lot of that was the fact I didn't get to set my line ups before I was out of town all weekend. My Steelers did well for me though...
Hope Treasure Valley is treating you well out there dude! We miss ya here!

Chsd,
I think you should be head weather dude. Your the best weather person there. When you tell jokes and smile. It makes my day happier knowing your brighting someones day tell the weather. I trust this station the most. Keep on smiling and keep on doing a great job with the weather reports.
Have a great day. When are you comming to Plover?
Kate s. plover,wisconsin

I'm glad that I am able to help make someone's day and make them smile. Most of my jokes aren't that good... but hey, I try right? You do what you can when you're working 2 hours straight on the air without a break.
I'm glad that you trust our station, that is a huge thing for us... and that is something that is hard to earn for a tv station.
I get to Plover on occasion and probably will be down there a little more in the next few months. Have a great day.

STRANGE THINGS ARE AFOOT AT THE CIRCLE K Blogdate 0820.07

I've always been a fan of movie quotes... I'll give you 12 words to guess what movie my blog title is from ... give up? Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, from 1989! While Keanu Reeves (Ted Logan) has had a pretty good run with Hollywood since then, does anyone know what happened to Bill S. Preston, Esq? Well, Alex Winter (a.k.a. Bill S. Preston, Esq) has been very quiet with Hollywood until lately... he is now providing a voice for the Cartoon Network's Saul of the Mole Men. He did co-write, co-direct and star in the movie "Freaked" and then wrote and directed a movie "Fever".
Onto the task at hand... I've received a few emails this past week and even this morning about some changes made to our DayBreak morning show. Todd Hicks has joined our morning show as of this morning and Chastity will be getting a normal sleep schedule now and will be working mainly nights and weekends. There will be more changes coming to the DayBreak show soon.. so stay tuned!

On a side note, I think I am going through a "mid-life" crisis once again. I'm contemplating selling my motorcycle and buying a boat this fall or next spring. As was the case with my motorcycle, I had never owned or ridden a motorcycle and just decided one day I wanted one. Well, now I am wanting to own a boat... so I am looking at purchasing a used boat. I have the same dilemma with a boat, I've never owned one and I know they are more complicated than operating a motorcycle. Does anyone have any tips on what I should be looking for and be aware of when purchasing a used boat. I'm going to mainly use it for fishing and fun with hopefully enough motor to pull skiers, etc. Thanks!

Oh- and one more thing... Congratulations to my good friends Steve Zerebny and Dani Maxwell on tying the knot a few weekends ago! I miss you guys and hope you had a great honeymoon!

Chad,
You are the MAN!!!! We are all thinking about you and LOVE you in Phoenix, Arizona
Your Cuz
Damian

Great to hear from you Damian... it was good to see you last summer! I heard about the recent addition... congrats! Now, will it be another 10 years before I see you again at another Hartze reunion?

You should get a sailboat! Like my crazy parents... sailing around the Great Loop for a year. You'll have to survive without me on the Noon show for a few days while I help them set sail next month!! :)

Are you going to take me with you on your parents boat when you go to help them next month? You'd help me make that decision on what kind of a boat to get Alison!

So Chad...
Are you going to tell us what the further changes to day break are?

I don't know if I will spill the beans... most of the changes will be subtle for a few months with bigger changes possible later this year! Stay Tuned!

Where did you partner Chasity go?

She was in Minnesota this past weekend. Oh, you mean in regards to DayBreak? See above- she's now going to be anchoring the weekend shows and report during the week.

Hi Chad
since this rain started [seems like a month ago] my little cheap rain gauge shows about 4.25 inches of rain.
I know we need rain but if is going to be it could be at least a little warmer.
cliff from arpin

That's a good amount of rain Cliff. We'll continue to warm up for the rest of the week. The Seattle weather is leaving for now.

hey Chad=
thanks for having some fun during the mornings and especialy at noon. i used to think that you and julie were dating becase you got a long so well. i know realize that you are doing a great job and the girls are chaseing after you. keep up the great work! when is chasetity comeing back to mornings? i and my husband miss her.

LOL
Sorry, I had to laugh a little when you said the girls are chasing after me. If anything, it'd be vice versa!
Chastity will be doing some occasional reporting for DayBreak, but otherwise you'll find her anchoring the weekend shows.

SHE GONE Blogdate 0803.07

Today, I'm very sad to say, is Julie Huck's last day here at NewsChannel 7. She is moving on to greener pastures, basically, she is getting married and moving to be with her husband ... despite my attempts at getting her to try a long distance marriage!
Julie started working here a few years ago and worked her way up the ropes from reporting up to anchoring this past fall on the noon show with me.
I remember telling her to record her first week's worth of noon shows and then go back and look at them 6 months down the road to see how far she has come. I (and probably a lot of you) don't even have to look at those tapes to know how far she has come in her transformation into a full fledged anchor! I will most certainly miss this girl's smile, professionalism, attitude and the fact that nothing gets her down.
I will miss you very much Julie and words can not describe how much I will miss our after the noon show chats! I wish you and Nick all the best in your future lives together girl and please keep in touch!

In addiiton to Julie's departure this week, our sports reporter/photographer/Jack of all Trades John Allee had his last day with us earlier this week. John has really blossomed in his career, going to college right down the road in Point, starting out on our production staff and then making in front of the camera this past year. John's a great reporter, knows his sports and one heck of a Gus Macker player. We will miss him on the Macker team for sure next year.

On a personal note, I would like to congratulate my former co-worker (in Rockford, IL) Candy and her husband Tim on the birth of their first child this morning... it may be a while until I get to see the little one... and I wish you all the best with you and your new family member. Congrats mommy... you did it!

We are glad to see Allison on at noon with you. She does a great job reporting the news. Keep up the good work all of you.

Thanks.. I don't know if I speak for Alison.. but I'm looking forward to it... should be fun!

Hi Chad
I hear you want a Harley Davidson. Don't wait. I drive a 93 (FLHTC) dresser.Best move I ever made. You would love a dresser. Get on it an live life. I love your weather show. You make the hole show with your jocking around. Come to Tomahawk in September an blow your mind at all the bikes an people from around the world.Also take the factory tours. You will meet the nicest people in the world there. Also join H.O.G Club. Once your on a Harley , your family any place in the world. I have been riding for over 40 years. Then when you think your ready. Take the ride to Sturge S.D. in Augest. Only 753 miles. So go get your Harley. You will never see two the same.
Jim Richey
Marathon Wi.

Hey Jim,
I'm still dreaming of my Harley... I will probably hold off now until next spring now and make my decision then. Once I do get mine, I'll be a H.O.G. member for sure and will be making more and more rides.
I absolutely love Sturgis, worked it for 4 summers while going to college in Rapid City. Delivered pizzas out there for a company called "Pizza Patrol" (more on that in a moment) and had a great time and made lots of moneys!
I have a previous engagement for the fall ride this year... trip to Vegas to cheer on the Badgers football team, but I will get there next year! I haven't toured the facility up there, so I will be doing that soon!

Okay, back to Pizza Patrol.... if you lived in Minnesota, Iowa or the Dakotas in the late 80's through the early 90's... that name may be familiar to you. PP's were huge and expanded quickly during that time, but seem to fall as quick as they rose towards the end. Rapid City was one of the last Pizza Patrols, although there still may be one or two in North Dakota (Dickinson and Fargo?). Funny enough, the parent company called Orion Food Systems out of Sioux Falls, still sells basically Pizza Patrol pizzas, but sells them under the name Moose Brothers Pizza and Hot Stuff Pizza, which you can find in this area. Sorry about the history lesson there... but I really loved their pizzas and working for my boss Gerald Martin.

Hi Chad,
So where did Julie Huck go?
Where did John Allee go?
What about Lauren Burgoyne?

In this order:
Julie is getting married.. she's headed to southeast Wisconsin. Someday she'll be back in TV!
John Allee is headed to a local printing shop in town.
Lauren is in Tucson, AZ in tv and loving it.... just talked with her today!

Hi Chad --we always like to hear your weather ,it's alot of fun except you haven't gotten us any rain! your're not related to anyone from Oregon wi.by chance? Pat Kutzke

I'm trying for rain. Chastity keeps putting me on the spot for a rain dance... and the last time I did that... the Wausau P.D. had issues with it! LOL I'll keep hoping for rain!

Chad I agree with you we will all miss Julie was wonderful to see her every noon have they made a replacement yet.
JT

I miss Julie so much. Here's the good news.. I somehow "convinced" Alison Struve to take her place permanently! :) Alison is awesome and I have always loved working with her.. now I get her 5 days a week! I think y'all will love her too... she's great and an awesome journalist!

Chad, now that I am back in Wausau, I was thinking I would start up a "Fran Club" for you and I would be president, of course. Let me know what you think. Jocelyn

Glad you're back Jocelyn, need some weather info? How was vacation?
Honestly... no "Fran Club" will ever compare to my competitor's Fan Club! He has a huge following at the other station and they have newsletters!! I give him guff all the time about his club when we go trout fishing - and he always catches more than I do... who am I to go up against him? LOL

you know I get pretty frustrated with channel 7s website when it comes to severe weather. The website is usually not up to date on weather warnings ect.
Also your morning cast. How frustrating. (i hate being so negative but) like 3 times in a row you just did a brief weather and the infamous full forcast in a few minutes. I dont have all morning to catch the full forcast so i have to switch to the "other station". can you please fill me in on some of these issues

We do weather on the 7's now... about every other weather I will do the 7 day forecast. (507, 527, 537, 557, 617, 637, 657) with the time I am given for the other weathers, I don't have time to get to the 7 day forecast.
I will tell you that during severe weather.. the My Local Titan feature is hands down better than anything that you'll find anywhere. Faster updates and county by county maps, much better than anything else out there.

Well I hope that Julie has a blssful marriage and I am sorry to see her leave
channel 7 well whereever she goes to work they will lucky to have her.Because she is blessing to all who has contact with her.Chad that clock was gorgerous wow!!!!Nice clock. Julie said she was going to live in the Milwaukee area my sister Molly lives there as well.Molly Buchacek will anyway
she works at Reiman Publishings. You know the magazines like Taste of home and some others as well.Will I'm sure she is not going to have to time for anything much less to socialize well maybe a little bit.
Lynn Duberstein

Hi Lynn!
I got her that clock because I knew how much she meant to me/to us at the station. She is awesome.. you will see Julie Huck's name re-surface in Wisconsin sometime soon! Alison is awesometastic too and will do a great job on the noons! I am so lucky to have Alison next to me as a "co-anchor" in the noon Show... she is awesome!
That is awesome that your sister works at the "Taste of Home".. can I get a discount!? I don't cook as well as I used to! :)

Why do the radar doppers scan at different speeds.

They spin at different speeds because of a few things. One, transmission times can differ depending on network traffic and second, the radars spin at different tilt angles, so when one is on it's lowest setting, it takes a little longer to go around than the highest tilt level, even though the radar is spinning at a constant speed.

Chad,
I really enjoy watching the show in the morning. When you were talking about Martin Sheen's birthday and the question of his children having different names came up, you said the mothers maiden name was Estévez. Actually Martin Sheen's real name is Antonio Ramón Gerardo Estévez. One son chose Estévez and the other chose Sheen.
Just thought you might like to know.
Kay

Thanks for the correction Kay... our director Nate told me after the show... I don't know what I was thinking? Probably not thinking on a Friday morning at 5am.

TECHNOLOGY IS GREAT, EXCEPT FOR WHEN IT DOESN'T WORK... Blogdate 0719.07

The title says it, now let me explain what that means. There were some strong storms that rolled through a few counties yesterday, prompting a few Severe Thunderstorm Warnings for the afternoon. Here's where technology failed... our internet connection to push our My Local Titan Radars to our webchannel failed and was down for most of yesterday afternoon. I apologize for the unavailability of these useful tools during yesterday's storms. Our local provider restored service overnight and we're now up and running today. I am efforting steps to ensure that this problem will never happen again (cross your fingers!). Thank you for being understanding during yesterday's snafu.

On another note, I would like to thank Brian McDonald, from WSI, for coming in and spending some time helping us out the past few days. With Brian's expert training, look for more new things to be on air within our weather shows in the near future!

On one more side note, First Warn Online users, make sure you click on your 7 in the bottom right hand corner and click to upgrade to the newer version of First Warn Online. You'll be glad you did. If you are not a current First Warn Online user, you can become one today by logging on to our main webchannel page and clicking on the First Warn Online tile.

Chad, I just love watching you at noon....And you have the cutest smile....

(Blush).. thanks!

I need to First Warn you that my weather models are predicting a disturbance in north-central Illinois in the near future. Keep up the good work!
Grizzly Adams

My man, Grizzly Adams... tying the knot this next weekend... I will be there in Rockford-Town! I wouldn't miss it for anything, dude and I'm still surprised you made Dani believe that cubic zircon type thing is an actual diamond! LOL
If you're reading this Dani,, it's a "real" diamond... ;)

ARIC ANDREOLI: DANE COUNTY WI MADISON WI.

HAPPY BLOGING.

Thanks for the update Aric, great hearing from you!

Hi Chad,
What made you want to become a meteorologist? Did you always have a passion for weather when you were growing up?

I actually got into Meteorology in a roundabout way... I orginally spent the first few years of college pursuing electrical engineering and thought that that was my calling in life. However, after a few years, I didn't really think that was my calling. I was kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place ... the school I was going to basically only offered engineering degrees, Paleontology and Meteorology. I grew up in a lot of areas and was always fascinated with how quickly the weather changed in Montana while fishing up in the mountains.. so, I chose Meteorology and that is that!
A lot of my colleagues chose Meteorology because of their experience(s) while growing up... so I guess I am kind of like that.

Chadwick Von Franzenburg ---

Chastity :)

Cliff,
Chastity says she's finally updated her blog! LOL

Dear Chad,
I really don't have a response but wanted to say "thanks" for including Lac du Flambeau in your noon weather today. We have a cottage there and often wonder what the weather is there?? It was special to hear you say it! keep up your great work. I love your sense of humor, and smile!

I love going up to Lac du Flambeau and enjoying the finer things the Northwoods has to offer. Thanks for the compliments... I try to do my best!

THEY GONE Blogdate 0629.07

Once again I take this time in my ever so "busy" blog to wish a few of the NewsChannel 7 peeps well as they pursue other opportunities outside of Wausau, Wisconsin.
Many of you have noticed that our DayBreak show has been missing one person the past few weeks... Dave Sleater has taken a new job out in Idaho... closer to home and family for Dave. He is basically an "utility" player at a station out there in Boise- doing anything from Sports to News to Weather. I told him he didn't have to go all the way to Boise to do weather, I have offered him the TITAN clicker many times and he has passed up the opportunity to do weather here at the Big Saw. We have missed Dave the past few weeks and we wish him well! I have missed chatting about sports and the Pacific Northwest with Dave.. we're both from the "west"!

The next person leaving... our very own Lauren Burgoyne. Lauren is seeking warmer pastures... or in this case... warmer sands, as she heads out to Arizona tomorrow. Her last day at NewsChannel 7 is today. I will miss this girl immensely... I first started here while she was still our morning live reporter for the NewsChannel 7 morning show. She's absolutely great.... she's smart, intuitive, funny, first time cat owner, has a brother who is a meteorologist (uber cool.. weathernerds unite!) and she is absolutely beautiful... both inside and out. I will miss you very much Lauren... you have been there for me since day 1 and I will never forget that.

chad
cliff from arpin
I enjoy the daybreak crews blogs,all three, but lately you are the only one that sort of responds to the blog, bao is ok, but chas hasen't updated since
6/22. what gives?
cliff

Hi Cliff,
I know that Chastity has been working on a huge blog about her first Hodag experience this past weekend and getting the pictures posted in it and all that jazz takes a while to do. Don't worry, I'll ask her to get that done before she leaves today! LOL
I've been a bit out there too, it was almost 10 days since my last blog.

Organ donation is so important! It's great that you're getting the word out! I have put an "X" on my license due to your inspiration. Keep up the good work!

Thank you for efforting to put and check the x on your driver's license! With awareness and action, we can all make a difference in someone's life!

I heard your shout out to "Bonnie and the gang" at Meta Lake in Eagle River yesterday. Any truth to the rumor you were wearing eye make-up at the camp fire up there? Also, quit making that horseradish at Smugglers seem like a good idea, its about as comfortable as being kicked in the....well use your imagination, Bill won't post this if I write it. Time to golf?-Jacktastic

Camp fires make anyone's eyes look darker above and below the eye... especially after the world's hottest horseradish and mustard at Smugglers. I suppose we'll have to ride in a pickup underneath the tarp or something on the way to golf. Last weekend at Meta Lake makes me want to buy a boat and/or a jet ski!

Hey Chad! You are a great weatherman! Best one i know! You are like my coffee in the morning!
Keep doing what your good at-- being a weatherman and serving the great wausau area!
-Jenny

Hi Jenny,
You must not know many weatherpeople? :) Just teasing.... I'm glad I'm someone's coffee in the morning... java seems to be getting a little expensive lately, so it's a good thing watching our show is free!

Chad
Thank you for reminding people how important organ donation is. Chastity's grandma Jo is about to celebrate her kidney's 8th birthday
Mama Walberg

Thank you Mama Walberg... Chas and I were just talking about that a week ago. It's amazing what transplantation and organ donation can really do!
Hope Minnesota is treating you well!

Sorry Chad not a big fan of the new TITAN it doses not show much you have to keep going to map to map, I have beenworking off a mac. comp. and cant down load the Desktop Alert. sorry just dont like it .

I'm not sure about the First Warn program and it's compatibility. I'll have to look into it and see if it is compatible with a Mac.

MACKER WEEKEND Blogdate 0619.07

A big thank you and congratulations to all for a successful Mackerville weekend. It was great to see many of you out on the numerous courts over this past weekend and I look forward to seeing y'all again next year.

NewsChannel 7 once again brought home the 1st place trophy for the third year in a row! We know have a 3 peat... so maybe our team will become a dynasty like Da Bulls for many years to come... ?? We'll have to wait and see. There were some great teams out there in the media division this year and I'm sure it will be eve more competitive next year!

ORGAN DONATION Blogdate 0606.07

Our very own Todd Hicks did a story recently on Organ Donation and I just wanted to take the time to expand on that. My father is a recipient of a transplanted kidney back in the spring of 2004. My father suffered from a very long term renal failure (disease) throughout the past 35 years of his life... and he always told my brother and I that someday he would need a kidney to continue to survive. Since my brother and I had heard it a few times over the 18 years we lived at home, we knew it would be needed, but had no idea what renal failure is and what it does to someone's life. My father's kidneys both ceased to function adequately enough back in 2000 and he was placed on dialysis at that time. For those of you who do not know what dialysis is or what it does.. it's a machine that is designed to clean and filter the person's blood for them by "acting" like the kidney(s) it is replacing. Kidneys filter the body's waste, water and other elements from the blood stream to keep your body running smoothly. When you lose your kidney function, a dialysis machine takes over to try and do that work for your non functioning kidney(s). With renal failure, you are told to not drink more than one glass of water per day, since your body has no way of expelling the waste that that water will carry. Imagine on a hot summer day only being able to have one glass of water? ... doesn't seem right now does it? The human body's way of cleaning with kidney(s) is far more superior to any machine that is out there today, so the person on dialysis may end up going a few times a week or every day of the week depending on their condition and which form of dialysis they choose. The 2 types of dialysis are hemodialysis and peritoneal. Hemodialysis is a bed that the person needs to go to a hospital/facility to sit in while their blood is being cleaned. Typical treatments with hemodialyis are about 4 hours or so and about 3 times per week depending on the level of that person's kidney function. The other type is peritoneal dialysis, which is a way to dialyze that person at home/work without going to a kidney center/hospital, however, that patient has to change a bag out of dialysate, that is hooked to a catheter that is directly connected into the peritoneal cavity (the abdomen). This person must then change this bag out every few hours throughout the day. There is a newer system with peritoneal in which a machine will automatically make these exchanges for that kidney patient.
For those of you who have witnessed and go through this process, you know that it seems archaic in nature because of how the machines run and operate, but it is the only way to stay alive for a kidney patient until a transplant becomes available.
I don't just want to focus on kidney transplants, so, about transplants and why becoming an organ donor is so very important! Nationally, there are almost 96,000 people waiting for some kind of transplant .... and transplants are most commonly done with one or more of the following: kidneys, lungs, livers, hearts, pancreas and intestines. Of the current 96,000 people awaiting one or more organs... they break down like this. (these are rounded estimates)
75,000 people need a kidney transplant
17,000 people need a liver transplant
3,000 people need a heart transplant
3,000 people need a lung transplant
2,000 people need a pancreas transplant
and about 500 need an intestinal transplant
Of the above list, there are several thousand people waiting that need more than one organ. One person is added to the list roughly every 15 minutes while 17 people a day DIE while waiting for an organ. That is 4 people per hour, 96 people added per day and 35,000 people needing transplants every year. Last year, only 28,000 transplants were done... so at this currently rate, the "deficit" is adding 7,000 people to the list every year. (that is by taking the number of people added to the list above 35,000 and subtracting the number of transplants done 28,000). In addition, the number of transplants done doesn't mean that it was done to 28,000 people, it just means 28,000 organs were put into someone else. There are people that received multiple organs to stay alive last year.
Bottom line is, I ask that you consider becoming an organ donor -- it is a very simple process to sign up for with the DMV and one person's organs may save up to 8 people's lives! I can tell you personally for me, as I fight to hold the tears back while typing this, I still have my father in my life, something that without a transplant in 2004.. I am sure I would not be able to say today. I remember dad's transplant Thursday March 25, 2004 every year... it was 4 days after that on Monday March 29th that I was reporting live from the massive flooding in Antigo when Lee Peak from WDEZ asked me how my father was doing. After talking about the flooding and devastation of Antigo all morning, all it took was his one question to me about my father's transplant to break me down with tears ... which is what fills my eyes now as I end this blog entry.
Please become an organ donor.. to anyone who's lives have been touched by giving or receiving the "gift of life", they will tell you that you can make a difference. If any of you have a transplant story, I invite you to share those with me and others that read this blog. Thank you and God Bless.

Chad i just wanted to say you are a great weatherman they all should be as great as you are.Sandy from Marshfield

Thanks Sandy.. I am red in the face responding to this from blushing. I am not great by any means, but I try to do my best from day to day.
Hope you're enjoying summer!

Hi Chad
I wake every moring waiting to see your weather report. I enjoy your knowledge and humor. My question is why have you hired another weather person?? Please tell me your not LEAVING. Molly

There are a lot of people that would be happy I'm leaving Molly... j/k :)
We hired Jeremy for a lot of reasons.. dedicated severe weather coverage, weekend coverage in the morning and someone to champion the 24/7 weather channel. That is what Jeremy does... he's an awesome person and does an awesome job.

Chad,
I know a man that received his 2nd kidney transplant. The first one lasted 10 years and his kidney function was down to 10 percent when he was blessed with his second kidney. We were told he would die without it. I saw a movie not to long ago that was true about a little boy that died in Italy while on vacation with his parents. His parents saved I believe EIGHT lives donating his organs.I have to agree with you we should donate. I am currently not a donor but after reading the stats you wrote,, and what you wrote along with this movie etc etc I WILL BECOME A DONOR..Thank you for writing about something so important. In addition thank you for the job you do. Well done.
Patrica N
Medford WI

I am happy to hear you have decided to save someone's life(lives) at some point in the future. Organ donation is a very important thing in my life... and others. Once you are touched by someone that goes through that in life.. becoming an organ donor is just that much easier.

Thank you Patricia...from the bottom of my heart.

HI CHAD.

THIS IS ARIC YOUR WXFRIEND FROM MADISON WI. gREAT BLOG POST LAST WEEK. iT WAS VERY INTERESTING TO READ THE POST. iT IS VERY INTERESTING THAT YOU ARE A CARING PERSON IN THE COMMUNITY AND YOUR POST SHOWS IT AS WELL. HAVE A GREAT WEEK.

Keep up the great work Aric.. been a while since i saw you.

Did you wrtie all that? I did'nt know you knew that many words. Dave@9

Hey Dave,
Great to hear from you. Yes, I did write all of that, on my own... although like in high school, mom may have helped me a bit. LOL
I hope you're listed as an organ donor Dave! Hope all is well. What play is up next for you to be in?

watch u alot think u are funny. cutie pie too. crushing a little not a crazy stalker just a bored fan i guess. guess u can check my space page out and add a comment if u get bored. keep up the good work D. in weston

I'm humbled by your comments... I try to keep things light hearted and as much fun as possible. Some days are better than others.. for instance, I am tired today after playing volleyball last night, but an energy drink and some coffee is keeping my energy level up.

Iusually watch your noon forcast everyday. I just wanted to tell you that I hope "you" keep the rain away from Wood County for awhile, otherwise my garden will have to be changed into a rice patty. Most of the fields around us have water standing in them. I am one of thosed wierd people that really like the warm weather ( hate the cold & snow.

We're just about a week later from the severe weather last Thursday and things have been very dry since then. You won't have to worry about your garden becoming a rice patty... not at least until Friday night or Saturday night.. our next chance for rain.

MEMORIAL DAY Blogdate 05.28.07
On this Memorial Day, I would like to thank all families and friends of those who have served, or currently are serving our country... the best for this Monday. A little bit of the history of Memorial Day... it was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan. Initially, it was called Decoration Day way back then and was to remember those who have fallen in combat. It was first observed May 30 that same year, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
It took until 1971 for Memorial Day to finally become a National Holiday.... although many states celebrated it up until the official law passage.

Hi Chad,
I am a weather fan. This is the only channel I watch for weather. The best in Wausau. Have a great day, Kate

I am glad to hear that you're a loyal watcher of NewsChannel 7. If you have access to Digital Cable and/or HDTV, you can find us 24 hours a day on our Digital 247 channel... it's 24 hours a day of updated weather information at any time! Thanks for watching and have a great week!

Hi Chad. This is Aric your wxfriend from madison. Great blog postings. I read all of them when I can. Hope you had a great memorial day and will be looking forward to future blog postings in the near future. have a great week and enjoy the warm weaather.

Thanks for your help Aric!

4th ANNUAL MDA RIDE WITH THE WAUSAU FIRE FIGHTERS Blogdate 0521.07

A big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in this past weekend's 4th annual Wausau Fire Fighters MDA ride... it was a huge success once again. Last year's total was $26,000 and 875 motorcycles. This year's total was $50,000 and 989 motorcycles... which is awesome! This event will hopefully continue it's rapid growth from year to year and I look forward to being a part of it again next year.

CHECK OUT THE NEW WEATHER FEATURES Blogdate 0510.07

It's here... it's finally here. After a few months of working out some major technical issues with the feasibility of doing what we've done.. we have now added a feature called my Local Radar. It is a county by county (sometimes 2 counties) high resolution radar that will update to the web every 4 to 7 minutes with high resolution radar imagery. You have the option of a still radar image or a loop of approximately 60 minutes long. I will tell you that it took a lot of time to get the maps built, get the radar data on them and then getting it to the web was a whole different issue. When I first came up with this idea, I wasn't sure if it was even possible, but after working through the logistics, we decided to give it a try. For those of you that love to watch the radar, I invite you to check out the new Local Radar section of this website and I appreciate any and all feedback. The direct link is http://www.wsaw.com/weathermaps?refresh
Mega kudos to our webmaster Billy Bob Martens for helping me get my dream of getting these radars done. I will also tell you, that there will be more additions/changes in the next several weeks to come! And again... any and all feedback is appreciated. If there's something you want added to the weather page, please let us know.

In other ramblings, I am happy to report that I have passed the Rider's Edge Motorcycle Safety course that I took at Harley Davidson of Wausau the weekend of May 3rd through May 6th. I had a great time learning to ride more safely with 11 other students in the classroom and out on the range. A big thank you to Gayle, Duane and Dan for doing such a great job of teaching us to be safer riders last weekend. If you're interested in learning how to become a safer rider, or if you've never ridden a motorcycle before and would like to learn how, please call Gayle Emmes at 355-4464 and get signed up today. There a limited number of seats, but they are offering the class every weekend throughout the summer. There was a few people in my class that had never driven a motorcycle before, so this class is for anyone!

One other thing this morning... and I don't mean to go on a rant, but I guess I am... please be very careful when you get behind the wheel of a car. There are quite a few cyclists and motorcyclists out there and there will only be more when the schools are out for the summer. I was ran into yesterday on Grand Avenue here in Wausau, an all too common occurence on Grand Avenue unfortunately... I was driving my pickup thank goodness. Had I been on my motorcycle, I would not be alive to be asking y'all to be careful on the roads today. Please slow down and be aware of your surroundings while you drive. I, along with other pedestrians, drivers and cyclists, thank you!

The county by county radar images are cool.

Thanks... been a long time in the works... we'll be fine tuning it over the course of the next several months... hope you enjoy and tell your friends about them.

scary thought about a motorcycle accident. glad to hear it sounds like it wasn't a big deal.
hope you're doing well in wausau! say hey to the morning gang from me.
~your fav. EX morn. producer.

Hope all is well out in oHiO Becky- we miss you!

Hi Chad, Just want to wish a safe a wonderful ride with MDA this weekend.
Dawn

Thanks Dawn!

Hi again, Chad. My son is Steve Paul. I'm sure he will be in the ride this weekend. His girlfriend works in the clothing dept. at Harley. I enjoy you each morning, actually, right now as it's 5:53 a.m.

I'm glad I got to meet your son and 10 others in the Rider's Edge class from a few weeks ago. That's great that he's hopefully going to be in the ride this weekend... there will be lots of bikes running this weekend! I am sure he will be "all Harley'd up" for the ride this weekend with a girlfriend working at Harley Davidson of Wausau... maybe that's what I need to do to push me into buying a Harley... have a girlfriend that works there?! LOL

Good Luck Chad in your fund raising efforts. I challenge other business Owners to match my pledge of $100.00
"The Hunkster" is always glad to help out.

Thanks Hunkster for your pledge! I will be making it known on the air about your challenge! I've been working on and off with the MDA for almost 10 years now, it is a great organization and the money raised goes to them.

Hi Chad. I agree with you on the cars watching out for cycles. My son was in your Harley class and now I worry every time he's out on that big thing!

Who is your son that was in the class? I didn't get to stay for the Graduation celebration that Monday night because I was already past my 7pm bedtime. I was hopeful to get my classmate's phone numbers to have riding partners for this summer and beyond. The class was AWESOMETASTIC!

Hi Chad
cliff from arpin again.
hope you get a chuckle from this, but I think that the last month of spring and the first month or so of summer we should change the state flower to the dandelion.

Heck ya... notice how they're the only things that can survive when we're over 2.5 inches short on rainfall in the early part of 2007?!?

hey chad! my name is kasi and i just wanted to say thanks for the autograph...the "crazy man" that was in your harley course gave it to me when i got home from work! just wanted to let you know that youre my hero!!!

Hi Kasi... was more than happy to give you an autograph via the "crazy man"... Bob! Hope you're having an awesometastic spring Kasi and have a great summer!

Hi Chad,
Just wanted to comment on how great the website is looking. Kudos!
Your right, Any state is good to live in or visit. They are all unigue. By the way Hawaii is a great state to see!
Pearl Harbor has a new meaning when you see it in person.
Deb

Would love to see the Pearl Harbor Memorial and Hawaii sometime... sometime and someday when I have the time and money to do so.
The new local county radar maps were awesome to watch last night when the bigger storms rolled through the area. I love watching the county by county radars, it's just awesome for a weather nerd like me.

Chad,
do you ride a harley??

I sure wish I did. I currently own a 1985 Honda V65 Sabre. After spending last weekend at Harley Davidson of Wausau taking my Rider's Edge course... I now dream of owning a Harley. It was like 4 days of going into a candy store and telling your kids "don't touch anything"!. LOL

MISCELLANEOUS RAMBLINGS REDUX Blogdate 0425.07

I can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged... time has really flown by the past few weeks. Just a few things to touch on this week.

First- Bao, Dave, Chastity and I had a great time at the Brewers game Thursday afternoon April 19th. We had first row seats in left field (thanks Jack!) and had a Xavier Nady (Pirate) homerun go over our heads by about 5 or 6 rows. I quickly tried to push some people out of our way to get the ball, but it was quickly gobbled up by a young fan a few rows behind us. In true Brewer fan fashion, the ball was promptly thrown back into left field so Kevin Mench could then pick it up and flip it to some fans on the 3rd base line. It was Bao, Dave and Chastity's first Miller Park experience and I think they had a good time. I also took them to the memorial of the "Big Blue" crane accident and told them of what happened during the construction of Miller Park. It changed our moods a bit, but I felt it necessary for their first experience.

Next- I took my first few golf club swings yesterday afternoon at American Legion here in Wausau and realized that I am the same lousy golfer that I was last fall. LOL I am looking forward to hearing some suggestions on local courses and which ones to try... in all my years of working in Wausau, I've probably only been to 4 or 5 courses during that time.

Thirdly- Continue to remain (extra) attentive with all the additional pedestrians, pets, kids, cycles, motorcycles, scooters that are now out because of the milder weather. I have had my motorcycle running this week, although it's going to the shop today to get fixed up.

Lastly- I apologize for not blogging very recently.. but I can tell you that you may find out why I've been a bit too busy the past few weeks (lots of long hours and days)... I can't give specifics or details or timetables- but soon.. very soon, expect some significant changes to the weather section of our beloved website!

I hope you're all enjoying the spring-like weather!

IT IS BECAUSE OF YOU AND JEFF T. THAT I WATCH NEWS 7 YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST. THANKS JEFF BP COMMUNICATIONS

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

Hey Chad, I guess this comment is for your other bloggers as much as you. If you are giving Chad golf course suggestions you probably should just list them by beverage price! By the 6-pack is fine. Also you should thank the folks at Legion and Trappe for putting up with us....err I mean you. More golf this week?-Jacktastic

I agree with your train of thought...

Howdy, Chad. Were did you live in Colorado when you were there?

DM

Hi DM,
Spent 5 summers working in Denver and 1 in Fort Collins, CO. It's so beautiful out there... and so expensive! I worked each summer with Western Murray Distributing... a huge supplier for "beverages" in the Denver and Colorado area. Also worked a second part time job at a rental car place at DIA and another one at the Mile High Flea Market. Lots of interesting jobs!

hey Chad, I am 14 years old and just wanted to say thanks for keeping in mind the cyclists!!! I am a big cyclist and hate getting hit and cut off by cars! Also, you came to West High School a couple weeks ago and thanks for the sweet large group presentation(especially the story about the Hodag festival)
-James Parks

Hi James,
I just spent the end part of my newest blog talking about being careful out there this summer. I agree, whether you're on a bicycle or a motorcycle or a scooter, we're all taking on huge risks when we're out there sharing the roads with cars, trucks and everything else that is bigger than us!
I was happy to come to West to come chat to y'all about the weather and share some of my more embarassing moments while working in tv!

Hi Chad, You are just perfect don't change a thing about your self. I read your Bio and you sid that you have lived in Montana and Colorado and also Mississippi is that right spelling I hope so because I'm not looking it up.
Anyway you said that Rib mountain was good or should I say big enough. Well I've to Montana and Idaho and Washington
and California, Nevada Arizona, Colorado New Mexico all of those states Oregon, Missouri. And you said that they were beauitful your definitly right about that I thought were so gorgeous to also.
I guess the only I would like to go to is Hiawaii I have been to Florida and also Gerogia and South Carolina and North Carolina and so on and so.I hope that's the way you hiawaii I'm looking that up either.
My Sally has a Condo there and My Robert has condo in Panama Beach city,Fl
I'v never been there either.
I hear it's nice though.
Lynn D

Hi Lynn,
You've been lucky enough to live in Kaleeforneeya ?! I've been there, but never have lived there. I think all states have something beautiful about them, even my hometown of Aberdeen, SD.. although they had 8 inches of rain and major flooding this past weekend (May 5th and 6th).
Hawaii would be awesome.. hope you get to visit there soon (especially the winter months!)

What happened to the recipe page?

Good question.. I'll chat with Bill Martens, our fealess web producer, and I will get back to you.

MISCELLANEOUS RAMBLINGS Blogdate 0330.07

It's been about a week since I last blogged and I apologize for taking so long to get back to you... and as the title says, this one will be about a lot of nothing.
First, get ready for some soggy weather for the last few days of March and into the first part of April. I'm not too concerned about flooding in the area, but local rivers and lakes will see some of the water levels rise by the early part of next week. If there is ever water running across the road and you don't know the depth, don't forget... "Turn Around Don't Drown"... don't drive across roads with water running over it! In a few weeks, the Wisconsin Severe Weather Awareness week will start and we'll have more tips about the upcoming summer severe weather season.
Next up in my ramblings... Spring is here and so are the cyclists! Please be aware of cyclists as we come out of the woodwork over the next several weeks and start riding more and more. I'm more of a motorcyclist, but my good pal former morning show anchor, Bill Martens is an avid cyclist and we would like to remind you to be aware of "us/other cyclists" for the upcoming season. Bill, unfortunately, was a victim of a 'hit and run" where someone had run into him while he was riding down the road. They never saw the dude and the only damage was an irate Bill Martens for a day and a tear on his handlebar tassles! LOL Although my motorcycle is a bit under the weather at this time, so I won't be riding too much until I find a place to take a looksee at it and come up with a diagnosis. Anyone know of a place in the area that can do some good work on a Honda(1100cc) v65 Sabre?
Thirdly- thank you to the very lovely and very beautiful Vanessa Ryan (WDEZ DJ extraordinaire)for taking time out of her busy schedule to have lunch with me this week. We never seem to be able to squeeze all of our lives and stories into the one hour, but we certainly try! I think we laughed 5 minutes straight at one point.. all about a straw.
Fourth- a few leavings from the Wausau TV market within the past week or two. First, I wish Joe Emer well in his new job in a much warmer place well south of here. I worked with Joe when he was a little kid, fresh out of school when I was at the "other station" and got to watch him grow in his career and move on. He's a great guy and a superb athlete and I will miss our racquetball games. The newest announcement of someone leaving will happen tonight.. with Angela Salscheider leaving our station today. :( She is going to what I affectionately call "Wausau" East... Green Bay to work at a television station there. While I don't get to see this lovely woman a lot of days, I can tell you that I will still miss her and the work she does for this station. She's such a sweetheart and we will miss her!
Finally... I've been in contact with viewers/readers wanting more weather information on the website. I will tell you there are some awesometastic changes on the way, but I can't give you a specific time frame at this time... hopefully soon though!

Hi, I'm Lisa, Tina's friend. :) My suggestions on golfing locally are as follows; Short courses would be Rib Mountain or Crane Meadows. Long would be Trappe River or Pine Valley. And if you have friends Wausau Country Club or Greenwood Hills.
I have heard Trappe River and Greenwood Hills are both in great shape for this time of the year. Have fun.

I'm looking forward to it! I apologize for hole #13 on Trappe today! LOL Lots of divots with a new club!

Chad, you rock! Watch out for those sanding belts... or whatever they are... they can cause some damage!

But they can do such a good job!

Chad, I checked your blog (for the first time) simply to see if you spell "..ing" words correctly. Listening to you give the weather updates and forecasts has finally gotten to me, because of your habit of saying, for instance, "coming" as "comeen." And "raineen" is not an alternate pronunciation of "raining," or "snoween" for "snowing." Want to sound more professional in your TV slot? Replace that old habit with a new one and pronounce your "..ing" words properly. I'm looking forward to listening to the new you! (Pay attention to Mike Bruenling's professional speaking style.) Thanks, Chad!
An articulate (picky) listener.

I totally hear where you are cominG from! If you listen closely, when I leave off the -G on words, I usually go back and correct them during the weather cast. I thank/blame my previous boss down the road for those corrections! Thanks RW!

Seems like you are the old dog on the morning show, but I hope you really aren't to old to continue to do the great job you do. Boa and Chastity seem to think of you as a big brother -which we all do. Way to introduce them to the brew crew!
by the way, did I see you wearing shorts and doing a congah on the weekend show? That was a funny thing to watch.

I'm the old big brother. As of April 27, 2007.. I am on my 9th year of broadcasting.. what a past 9 years it has been.
I purposely wore shorts that Saturday to let people know what us broadcasters do! LOL I was more into the conga to watch Todd Hicks and Dale Ryman have their jaws drop!

Yesterday was beutastic!!! I noticed you were absent, oh dont worry Julie Huck was fanominal as usual. By the way why dosnt she have a blog page? I think you should get Bill Martins on that ASAP! ( I think thats part of his job anyway) The point im getting at is your a weatherman, so if anyone can plan a vacation day in advance.....do you see where im going with this? Just joking around, have a good newscast and doubble up on the jokes with Julie tommarrow!!!
P.S. The Noon cast RULES!!!

Julie Huck is phenomenal as always.. I'll got out on thick tree limb here with her.. she will be in a top 20 market within a year or two. Julie Huck can make anyone look good... if she can make me look good... she can make anyone look good.
Bill (et als) are working on a lot of things. Additional blogs are on the way.. so are additional and updated web pages. I know everyone will like the continued and new changes on the way very soon.
Hint- keep checking the weather page until something new shows up.. hopefully very soon!

Chad; Looking for a good place to get your Sabre fixed. I go to Pro Motor Sports in Brokaw. They have always been good to me. Or try S@K in Hatley, he likes to work on that old Japanese stuff. A v 65 Sabre,that's a rocket!
Let me guess,it doesn't start or run well. I'm guessing you have aproblem with the pilot circuit in your carbs. When I wrenched,I would take the pilot jets out and reem them out witha very small drill bit. This would remove any obstuction,and claen it out.Sink the carbs,you should be good. You don't want me to get into a valve adjustment on that old V4 Honda,it's a nightmare.
Other that that,looking for it to warm up so the Walleyes will spawn.This weather has definitly slowed them down.
I was out Monday the 9th,water was 36 degrees.So we are back to square one.We need more rain to keep the water level up though.Later Dude.........

Thanks for the advice.. I actually planned on calling one of those places this week so I could drop it off, let them do their thing.. and hopefully I'd be up and running within a few weeks. From all the researching I've done on the net and from what a mechanic has told me, those V65 are a dream... right up until they have a problem and then that dream becomes a nightmare. I'm pretty good with a wrench on my truck, but not so much on the bike. I'm afraid I'd try to do the work myself with a do it yourself carb kit I've seen online.. but since those carbs have 100's of parts.. I held off. I'll leave it to the professionals... but once it is up and running.. watch out! LOL
Yes.. fishing season is finally here... although until the ice is off the lakes up north, it may be tough get out there! Thanks for stopping by!

UPDATE: Alan from Pro Motor called today.. seems my bike acted very weird but isn't as bad off as I originally thought... monetarily it's a big hit, but it's my fault for not changing my air filter the past few years. I'm looking forward to the MDA ride May 19th! I hope the fellow riders don't mind my V65 Sabre doing the ride! Go to www.wausaufire.com to find out more and get signed up today!!

Not to change the subject, but the blogs are to small now. I don't need the weather on the left. I can look that up on the home page. Anyway great job you guys are doing. Watch EVERY noon show.

I'll mention to our web producer, Bill Martens, and we'll see what we can do. I can tell you that we're planning on some rather significant additions on the weather page.. assuming we can get the logistics worked out. If it does work.. watch out for some awesometastic stuff on the weather page.
Again.. if it works.. keep your fingers crossed.

if you ever get to tomahawk on your motor cycle look us up!! we love to ride... Annie

I'll hopefully be up there sometime this spring and summer. I have to find a place to get the bike fixed up... she's not running the way she's s'posed to!

Hey Chad, I haven't heard anything about the Rossby Waves lately. Are the done? Are they gone? Are there any other geek weather phenomenons I can impress my friends with? Thanks-Your weatherbuddy-Jacktastic

Actually, we have a colder Rossby Wave moving over us right now... a small one. That's why it's going to be so chilly this week.
If you wanna impress someone.. go with crepuscular rays.

STATION TOURS AND A NEW WEATHERPERSON? Blogdate 0320.07

A big thank you to Peace Lutheran School of Antigo for coming in to tour the station last Tuesday March 13th. In addition to learning a little big about how a tv station works, the kids got a chance to practice in front of the green screen. I'm nervous that one of them will be my replacement in years to come....

If you would like a tour of the station, please contact us. For morning and noon tours, please contact myself at cfranzen@wsaw.com
for evening tours during the week, please contact Mike Breunling at mbreunling@wsaw.com and for weekend tours, please contact Katie O'Brien at kobrien@wsaw.com

Spring starts tonight at 7:07pm local time... anyone throwing a party? Have a great last winter day!

I love watching you on the morning show! You put the f in funny and Franzen. By any chance are you single?

Some people think I put the s in stink sometimes! I like to think of it as I put the e in energetic... not that I have those as initials in my name! Thanks for watchin'!

I'd love a station tour. Does Saturday morning at 5 AM work? I know you love those early morning tours.

First request I've had for a 5am tour... and even more so for a 5am Saturday morning tour. Normally I would say I wouldn't work a 6 day work week and be in on a Saturday (morning or night) ... but of the 11 weekends so far in 2007, I have worked 7 Saturday mornings, 2 Saturday nights... and one of the mornings and nights were the same day!

BAKER'S DOZEN TODAY Blogdate 0307.07

For the 4th day in a row, the extended computer models continue to show a significant warm up throughout the weekend and into early next week. Therefore, my confidence is somewhat high that this warm up really will come true. However, there are some factors that hold me back from making this a guaranteed done deal.

First one is, the jet stream is very strong and active at this time and with those kinds of characteristics, changes can quickly occur this time of year.

Another factor, the jet stream looks like it will set up just to the north of the US/Canadian border, so all it will take is a small movement in its position and that will make or break us seeing the 50 degree mark... which is what I'm forecasting now for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Back to the title... baker's dozen... as of today I've lost pound lucky number 13 within the past 2 weeks. Lots of cardio workouts at the gym at the maximum target heart rate zone for 35+ minutes a day, in addition to shooting baskets (Gus Macker right around the corner) and lifting weights is making a good dent in my goal of 30 pounds by the beginning of summer. Another thing that has worked well for me is making sure I eat a nice and yummy hearts of romaine salad every day for lunch with various toppings to keep it interesting. A big thank you to my various workout buddies over the past few weeks.. Jack, Justin and Joe.... thanks dudes!

BIG THANK YOU TO THE CENTRAL WISCONSIN CHILDREN'S THEATER ... Blogdate 0305.07

I would like to thank all the performers, directors, choreographers, assistants, helpers, parents, and everyone involved with this past weekend's performances of Bebop with Aesop and The Granny Awards. Lauren Burgoyne, Chastity Walberg and myself were all invited to read a few small parts in each of the performances and I must say we had a great time!
The kids in the performances are very talented and did a great job throughout the 3 performances from Friday night through Saturday night. I'm guessing you will see a good majority of these talented actors and actresses in the upcoming production of 101 Dalmations later on this summer.

In addition, I would like to remind you that the upcoming performance of Urinetown is starting this week at UW-MC on March 9th and 10th at 7:30pm, March 11th at 2pm and then the following week March 14, 15, 16 at 7:30pm each night. Reserved seating tickets are available at 715-261-6230. If you know nothing about the musical, let me tell you that it's a satirical comedy poking fun at bureaucracy, local politics and just about everything else. It's well worth checking out on one of the above dates.

Again, a big thank you to Justin Evans and the Central Wisconsin Children's Theater for allowing me to take part in the performances this past weekend!

Keep the warm temps coming. I just saw my tulips peeking through the ground today. SPRING is here.

Awesome to hear...Spring starts at 7:07pm tonight (March 20th)... anyone planning a party? LOL

Happpy St. Patrick's Day to you!

To you as well!

Congratualtions on your weight loss. It definetly shows. Now you just have to keep away from all those baked goods that Chasity brings into the station.

Don't worry.. after Chastity's peanut butter cookies (see her blog).. I'm leery!

Chad on the noon show when Julie was reporting the fires and at other times there was no sound coming. So we missed out on some of your stories. Just thought I would let you know.

May have been a faulty mic or lack of natural sound. Sorry for the inconvenince!

Hi Chad,
Thanks for your kind words about the CWCT show. We were very happy to have you guys on board and glad you had a good time. The kids all enjoyed the show and having you guys there was a thrill for all of us! Thanks again for your part in the production and I hope we can do it again sometime!
Joelle Murray - CWCT managing Director

Thanks Joelle... I had a great time and would love to do it again!

Hey Chadtastic, I read below that you claim to have gone to college in dart throwing to help you in making your forecasts. Well, I have shot darts with you and I find it hard to believe your skills were "taught" by anyone. Have you ever considered just guessing the weather? You could sleep in then and stay out later!!! Jacktastic-Wausau

Yup.. thought about that... management wouldn't agree with me though... so I'll leave it how it is.

Chad,

In midst of all the snowstorms we've had the past week or so I thought I'd inform you and all of the fellow readers that I had spotted a Robin (not Batman's sidekick either) on February 20th. So in my opinion and best prediction, spring shall be here (as in warm weather, not via what the calender says) in approximately 30 days from the bird siting. Let's hope this happens sooner. I am getting quite tired of all the snow, wind, and cold as well as I'm sure all of the other viewers are. Have a great week!!! Stay warm!!! And don't forget to dust off those flip flops and Bermuda shorts. Spring is coming sooner then you think!!!
Jen

Maybe spring will hit real sooN!

WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY STORM ... Blogdate 0228.07

I am sorry it's so late in the afternoon, but I've finally broken things down a bit as to what will happen. I will go county (-ies) by county (-ies) and Tonight, Thursday and Thursday Night.

Here we go.

Vilas, Forest and Oneida counties... Snow becoming likely tonight. 2" to 3" by dawn. Snow likely at times for Thursday with an additional 4" to 6" then, and another 3" to 5" overnight into Friday. Friday an additional 1" to 2" ... Storm Totals then 9" to 15". Blowing and drifting likely on Thursday and Thursday night.

Iron, Price and Northern Taylor counties.... Snow likely tonight... around 3" by dawn. Snow likely Thursday, could be heavy at times with visibilities near zero. Significant blowing and drifting possib.e Snow totals 4" to 7" in the daytime. Snow likely Thursday night with more blowing and drifting. Another 3" to 5" possible. Friday an additional 1" to 2"... therefore, storm totals 11" to 16".

Southern Taylor, Northern Clark, Lincoln, Langlade, and Menominee counties... Snow likely tonight. 2" to 3" by dawn. Snow likely at times Thursday along with blowing and drifting of snow. Daytime totals 4" to 6". Thursday night, more snow with blowing and drifting likely... additional 2" to 5". Friday, another inch or so. Storm totals through Friday 7" to 14".

Here's where it gets interesting. Southern Clark, Marathon, Shawano counties.... Snow likely tonight. Sleet may mix in at times tonight. 2" to 3" by dawn. On Thursday, snow likely, mixing with sleet and freezing rain at times. In addition, thundersnow possible in the early afternoon which could cause very heavy amounts of precipitation. Significant slush could result on area roads. Snow and slush totals 3" to 5" for Thursday. Thursday night, snow likely, blowing and drifting likely with an additional 2" to 3". For Friday, another inch. Storm totals 6" to 9", with some ice accumulation possible early Thursday. Roads could become extremely icy in the late afternoon and early evening.

Wood, Portage, and Waupaca counties... Snow likely tonight. May mix with sleet at times. 2" to 3" by dawn. Snow, sleet, freezing rain, thunderstorms and thundersnow all possible in these areas. Liquid rain could cause standing water to occur with some minor flooding possible. Snow and slush totals 2" to 4" Thursday, with blowing and drifting likely. Thursday night, snow likely with an additional 2" to 3" possible. Another inch possible on Friday. Road conditions could become extremely hazardous Thursday night through Friday. Storm totals 4" to 7".

Juneau, Adams and Waushara counties... Snow mixed with sleet tonight. Around 2" by dawn. Sleet, freezing rain, snow and thunderstorms possible in the afternoon. Snow accumulation 1" to 2" with ice accumulations up to .25"-50" thick. If ice is thick and winds remain strong, power outages could occur in rural areas. Thursday night, sleet and snow likely with 2" to 3" of snow possible. Up to an inch on Friday. Snow totals 3" to 6".

Look at the picture below... the Storm Prediction Center has parts of our area with a general thunderstorm threat for Thursday.. super cool for March 1st coming in like a lion!

If thundersnow occurs, expect snowfall rates up to 2" per hour! In addition, in areas that may get thunderstorms, flooding may become an issue too!

Bottom line, there are so many things to be concerned about for the next 36 hours that even after typing this out for an hour Wednesday afternoon, I feel like I may already be behind for the morning show on Thursday! Be very careful over the next few days.

In addition, if you would like to report snow totals, the National Weather Service in Green Bay would love to hear from you! To make "official" measurements, please measure at consistent times in the day over the next few days and make sure you clear a spot so you can measure new snowfall and the current snow pack. More info is on their website http://www.crh.noaa.gov/grb and there is a link for it at the top of the page. They, and all of us at channel 7 would apprecialte it!
Thanks all! Now, it's bed time.. 6pm!

In addition, the National Weather Service has set a tentative date for a storm spotting course in Wausau, which is slated for Thursday May 3rd at 6:30pm at a location to be determined!

WEEKEND SNOW ON THE WAY Blogdate 0223.07

I decided to post my forecast for the weekend snowstorm on the blog page just to see how accurate I may or may not be. This graphic is from Thursday morning's forecast on NC7 DayBreak.. so we'll see how it all pans out. There are so many things that go into forecasting snow storms like this, with the main one being we're predicting something that isn't even over land yet. As of Thursday morning, this storm system was still off the coast of California (or Kaliforneeya as Governor Schwarzenegger would say!) and as of this morning was still located over the Intermountain West. This system will gain some speed and momentum as it moves across the Front Range of the Rockies and closer to our area. At this point, it looks like there will be some very heavy snowfall for parts of northeastern Iowa, southeastern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin. Some of these areas could easily see over 12" of snow by the time this system winds down by Sunday night. The biggest thing to be concerned with in our area will be travelling on the roads later tonight and throughout the upcoming weekend. Another problem with the snow will be the gusty winds causing poor visibilities at times throughout the weekend. I'll post an update with totals from the storm on Monday to see how accurate or "inaccurate" I was.... we'll see!

As of this morning (Friday), it looks like my 5" to 7" area should maybe be 7" to 10"... and my 3" to 5" around Wausau should maybe be 4" to 6". I'll stick to my guns with Wausau seeing 4".

Update Saturday morning.... well, if we were done getting snow, my forecast from Thursday morning would be right on... however, we still have more snow for tonight which will boost snow totals quite a bit. As of noon Saturday, Wausau has about 2" of new snow, Mosinee has 3", Wisconsin Rapids has 5" and Point has 4"... and in the far north, Rhinelander has only had a Trace of snow so far.
It looks like Wausau will get 3" more tonight, Mosinee 4" more, Rapids will get another 5" as will Point, and Rhinelander should end up with 2" to 3" more. Expect another 2" to 4" for Sunday.
Storm totals should end up with 6" in Wausau, about 7 or 8 in Mosinee, nearly 12 in Rapids and Point and about 4 in Rhinelander... when this is all done late Sunday. Drive carefully!

Update Monday afternoon:
as soon as I get the official totals from the NWS, I'll pass them along. With today's snowfall, Wausau is now at a 9 inch 4 day total, since Friday.

Who was the weather man back in 1996. He left the show to run for a office and lost that position and was going to do private work of some sort. He had identical twin daughters. Any idea who he was? Just curious with all the new people on you think of the old ones that left.

That would be my good friend and the first co-worker I ever had in the tv business... Sean Cronin. He's a great guy, still living in the Wausau area and I haven't heard from him lately... but I miss the guy. I probably can't name all the old weather people that have worked in this market. I am jealous of all the ones that have left--- some are in pretty big tv markets right now.

hey chad keep up the good work in the moring with the girls

I try to keep them in line... but they pick on me so much now that I don't know if I'll ever keep up with them.

man its nasty out ! the roads (stink!) i never seen so many people in schofield in the ditch ! just doing my paper route! saw a cop slide into a light pole that fell on top of his car! ran to see if he was ok ! thank god he was!!! can we have some better weather lol

It's been nasty at times the past few weeks... with the quick and wild swings now in the weather pattern, that's usually a good sign a season is about to change. However, that change doesn't necessarily mean it will be final and come quckly.

chad you should cancel school for the wausau school district for march 2 because i need a day to sleep in and that would just be the coolest.

The other chad or Shmoe

I have nothing to do with cancelling school, the superintendents make that call. Sorry...

Kudos to Mr. Marten's on the new website look!!! I really like the weather items on front page - awesome job!! :)

Billy Bob's done a good job ... and to be honest with you, we're still adding some stuff that will start popping up at times over the next few months. It's a never-ending job... just ask Billy Bob Martens!

Will you be staying at the station during the snow storm? What weather related characteristics drive you nuts about Mike and Katie O? Besides reporting exciting weather patterns what else makes you happy happy! How old are you anyway? Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Lots of questions! Yikes! If it was a severe weather event and I was the only one around, I would take a nap at the station and stay there. With most events, I go in around 1am and stay until 1pm until my relief comes in.
I'm a pretty simple, happy go lucky guy so a lot of things make me happy. Telling you my age wouldn't be one of those! LOL

By the looks of things out there will the snow stop coming down by the end of April? I have a baby granddaughter due then.

Hopefully... but Wausau still traditionally gets snow in April! We'll see!

Man...you guys have no clue as to how much snow we'll get...just guessing...

Actually... I went to college for both degrees in dart throwing and then we throw at a board behind the weatherlab for the forecast.

hi
my name is chad and i was just letting you know that your name is the coolest!!! please wright back soon! this is cool!

Chads rock! I work with another Chad and we're always answering each others phone numbers unless they ask for our last names!

Chad, thought I would tell you so you can inform Ms. Chastity. Celeryis full of vitamins and minerals including alot of Calcium, Potassium Folate Vitamin A etc. Google Celery Nutritional information. It was a learning experience. Love you in the morning, you seem happy and Bao seems happy but Chastity is a CRABBY one. I will still watch though. thanks for your time. Claire Smith

I will let the lovely Chastity Walberg know! Not sure why her and Bao don't like celery.. I love it, but not at $3.00 a stalk! Bao and Chastity are both happy people... I am sick so I looked like the crabby one today, even though I wasn't! I am just very concerned about trying to give people an idea as to how bad it will be Thursday and Friday.

Hello Chad:
I've never blogged until now, thanks for the (teh) opportunity. I really enjoy watching, listening to you and the ladies in the morning.
Phil

Anytime Phil ! The ladies are awesometastic... they keep me on my toes!

Enough snow already. My snowblower just broke down this morning and this person is not very happy at the moment. At least I have the driveway clear for now. I wonder how long that will last.

This weather pattern is going to be more active with storms rolling through every 4 or 5 days. Next one up, Wednesday night which will be mainly a snow producer. Within a few weeks, we should see some rain events mixed in more with the mainly snow events we have now.
We just gave away our 2nd snowthrower of the season Friday... maybe I can convince management to give another one away within a few weeks? IDon't hold your breath on that... but I'll still try!

Hi Chad, I just wanted to let you know i think you do a WONDERFUL job. Keep up the good work!

Thanks, I'll keep trying!

I just want to say I think you do a great job!

See above comments!

I wanted to Thank You for the tour that you gave to the Head Start children on Thursday (the 22nd.) That was all my son could talk about after he came home. How he was able to see all the lights, the TV's and how one of his friends disappeared when he stood by the weather screen. Thanks again for taking time out of your busy day to show them around the station.

You're welcome! Usually the really young children come into the station and are just wowed at how big everything really is ... as well as how ugly the studio can be for stuff that isn't on the air! LOL They had a great time with the weather wall and the funniest thing is, they were asked to count all the monitors in the control room... 30 of them. Neither myself, Nate, Nick or Marcus (all ch. 7 peeps) had ever counted them before.. that's great information to know from great kids in a great program!

Hi Chad: Noticed you mentioned S.D. in one of your messages, then you must know my dear friend Sherwin Linton of the Cotton Kings...Was in Mpls for his 50th year anniversary in country music.
Miss Jason so much, we had many of nice chats, and he kept me uptodate on you...Ha....We have a great new golf course here in Arkdale called Northern Bay Resort maybe you can golf it sometime this year. More later. Have a nice day.

Golf course,,,, new? I'm there... it usually takes a few times of my golfing before the golf courses stop putting my name down on the reservations (I'm not very good).... that's why I made Kratzy call all the time!

Chad, I need to tell you that I think you are the best meteorologist. You also are a breath of fresh air. I watch channel 7 every morning. You are funny, lighten up the mood, not too serious. It's great. I like all the crazy words you come up with. I hope you are not going anywhere soon.
Chris

Thanks Chris! I try to keep things light, as much as possible. With winter weather it's not AS serious as summer severe weather... one is an indirect killer while the other is a direct killer.

LAKE EFFECT SNOW IN WISCONSIN VS. NEW YORK Blogdate 0214.07

I've had a few emails and questions lately about why NY has had so much lake effect snow and why Wisconsin doesn't see the massive amounts pile up as quickly as they did in New York. So, let's first discuss what lake effect snow is and how it is formed.

Lake effect snows form when there is cold air that is moving over a warmer lake waters. The bigger the difference from the water temp to the air temp, the better the chance for lake effect snows to be a bit heavier. (normally we're looking at a good 15-20 degree difference between the lake and the air for a good snowfall) If the lake is frozen over, which has happened at times with Lake Superior, the lake effect is nothing because of the ice covering the water.
Another factor for lake effect snow is how much of a fetch (the length of open water) will the wind have to work with and create stronger, heavier snow bands that will move on shore. The longer the fetch with the cold wind blowing parallel across it, the better the chance for heavier snow.
Topography of where the lake effect snow bands move on land can help to enhance the snow accumulation by providing additional uplift as well. Many areas around the Great Lakes have quite a bit of relief (height in elevation) between the lakes and the surrounding land forms.

Look at the map above, I've drawn the Lake Superior lake effect snow area for Wisconsin and then the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario lake effect snow areas for New York. There are a few things to note. First, a strong lake effect snow for Wisconsin is normally a northwest wind while for New York, it is generally some component of a west wind (south or north) that was common from last week for those heavy snows. In addition, the Lake Superior fetch is only about 100 miles long while the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario fetch(es) is approximately 3 times that long.... which allows for some very heavy snow bands to continually move onshore during the winter months. It is interesting to note that Lake Erie is frozen over at this time while Lake Ontario is pretty much wide open.

Occasionally, (Tuesday {2/13} was a good example) a strong and very persistent north northeast wind can blow down the entire length of Lake Michigan which can cause some significant snowfalls for far southeastern Wisconsin and northeastern Illinois. Chicago, Racine, Kenosha and Gurnee all saw some pretty decent lake effect snows from Tuesday afternoon and evening... although Chicago and Gurnee saw some snow from a different storm system that is now over the northeastern U.S. Hope that helps to explain a bit more about the lake effect snows!

I want to tell you that you are the bomb Chad...I love to watch the morning news with you Monday - Friday...keep up the great work buddy...and btw...love the quirky little jokes too:}

I believe in smiling as much as possible, but sometimes my sarcasm and quirky humor isn't so funny... but with a lack of sleep every night and several cups of caffeine every day, I'll keep trying to make it fun!

Chad it it "One if by land two it by sea" from the Revolutionary War for Paul Revere and the midenight ride to warn colonists of the British arrival. thought you might like to know it wasn't the Civil War
Yours Tina Krummel Social Studies Teacher at Tri County Middle School

Thanks for the correction.. it was one of those moments as soon as I said it and we got into break, the camera operators and production people started laughing. They asked when Paul Revere rode, and I then answered Revolutionary War... and they laughed again. So, I asked what I said.. and they responded Civil War. Sometimes I'm just a space cadet when it comes to that stuff and trying to talk to fast!

Could u stop the snow :) im going to mn and i thought it was going to be good weather :(

Sounds like my good friend/co-anchor Bao talking.. it's going to be a sloppy mess Friday night through Sunday night leaving out of central Wisconsin.

We watch Channel 7 faithfully because it seems you're the only station that remembers Plover and Stevens Point. Until recently that, is. Plover and Point aren't shown on the weather "ticker tape" anymore. Why?

I'm not sure why, but I'll check into it tomorrow!

Chad: Aberdeen is a nice city, the Malsom's and Von Wald's are relatives.They hail from their. Your personality reflects the S.D. culture, I heard someone say UFFDA one day, I am an outnumbered norwegian..enjoy your weather and chit chat..Respectfully D & J...

Hi there D&J,
I miss the great Aberdonia land of northeastern South Dakota... I was just there last summer and good ol' Wylie Park... that place is awesome compared to when I lived there in the 80's!
I'm a good one for Uffda... you'll hear that on occasion!

FRANNY RULES!!! You make lunch fun. Keep up the good humor, and putting Julie Huck on the spot.
P.S. Have Titian make spring come soon.

Titan is working hard to make spring come soon.. we'll just have to wait and see. Noons are fun, it's my last hour of the day and Julie is such a trip to work with!

Chad, I think your hair looks good either way. It's that big smile that keeps me watching. You and your Daybreak team are great! Keep up the good work.

I plan on alternating my hairstyles all week, just to see what will happen! :)

This is totally not weather-related, but please know your fans notice you are really looking good these days! Working or or just 'dieting'? Congrats!

Thanks! 40 minutes a day on the treadmill at my targeted 150 heartbeats a minute for 30 of the 40 minutes, lifting weights, playing basketball and racquetball is having an effect... and it's only been a good dedicated 2 weeks. Once you get into it and make your committment... it's not that hard to go every day of the week!

This is thee coldest Valentine's Day I can ever remember! Dang it's Coooooold!!

In recent memory, it was 19 degrees on Valentine's Day in 2004... I don't have records before 2002 until I get back to work.. We had a high at the Wausau airport this year of 14 degrees. Other cold years include 19 degrees in 1995 and 21 in 1991.
Warmer Valentine's Day in recent memory includes a record high of 49 in 2002. And it was 42 in 1999 and 37 in 1994
Anyone sick of the Arctic Chill yet?

Happy Vallentines Day. Do you have someone special to celebrate with?

"Celebrated" the holiday with my co-workers and a treadmill at the YMCA.

What are you doing with your hair???? Change it back to the way it was, it was much better the other way.

Finally got my mop of a hair cut and am trying out a new style. The verdict is still not in as to whether I'll stay with my current style or go back to status quo. It's nice to have options though!

Happy Valentine's Day to you.

Thanks! Happy Valentine's Day to you too!

IRIDIUM FLARES AND THE NATIONAL WEATHER BUREAU IS BORN BlogDate 0209.07

First, let's discuss today as the 137th anniversary of the signing into law of the National Weather Bureau.. now known as the National Weather Service. Here's a bit more info on how it all came to fruition....

<1870: A Joint Congressional Resolution requiring the Secretary of War "to provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent and at other points in the States and Territories...and for giving notice on the northern (Great) Lakes and on the seacoast by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and force of storms" was introduced. The Resolution was passed by Congress and signed into law on February 9, 1870, by President Ulysses S. Grant. An agency had been born which would affect the daily lives of most of the citizens of the United States through its forecasts and warnings.>

Now with the Iridium Flares .. one will be visible tonight around 6:34pm in the southeast sky about 26 degrees high in the sky. Meteorologist Katie O'Brien has done a great story on it.

Iridium flares happen when the sunlight strikes off a shiny object in orbit, in this case, an iridium satellite in orbit. While those happen on more rare occasions, the International Space Station (ISS) is visible all throughout the year at different times. Check out this awesome website for more information.

Quick update on the cold too.. as of today, we're getting some minor indications that this cold weather pattern may break the week of February 17th.. so we'll have to wait and see.

I just have a question regarding school cancellations? On Monday, Feb. 5th I was watching Channel 7 for school cancellations. I assumed that we would not have school, but when it got to be 6:00 and there was no mention of my school, I decided to start getting ready. If another teacher had not called (I am a teacher) to let me know she had seen it cancelled on another channel (you can probably quess which one) I would have been like your recent commercial. My children and I would have shown up at school only to find that we were not in session. I was not the only one in this situation. After I knew that I did not have school, I watched Channel 7 to see how long it would be before my school was announced. It was a good half an hour after the other station had posted it before your station caught up. I hate to say this because I like your morning show, but when a school cancellation is in question, I will be watching another station. How are cancellations issued and how soon are they posted? Why would a station a short distance away post a school cancellation in a more timely manner?
A concerned school teacher

Hi concerned teacher,
There could be a bunch of reasons why this may have happened.... we post them as soon as we get them. Our station has a person (sometimes 2) dedicated to getting those school closings/delays online and on our station as quickly as possible. You may want to check with your principal to make sure we were called as soon as the other guys down the road.. in addition to checking to make sure they have the correct password so we will announce the school is closed/delayed. If your principal has any questions, please have (him/her) call Newschannel 7 and speak to Dennis as soon as possible.
Our morning show strives to be the quickest with closings/delays like that... they mean a lot to us and even moreso for people at home and their kids.

Happy Birthday (belated) Chad! Can I ask your age. You look great!

30 something.... feel like 28 after the past 2 weeks of hitting the gym hard.

Now don't even think of going off to Mad-Town we can't loose our favorite weatherman. The Mad-Town people have enough of our channel 7 crew. We all know they head that way after getting their experience from Wausau but enough of the changes for awhile.

I love Mad Town... but I won't be going there... for now. I jokingly call the Green Bay tv market Wausau East and the Madison tv market Wausau South. There are a plethora of peeps working in those markets from Wausau.. and I have worked with about 30 of them. I also can't promise I'll be here forever too.

Hi Chad,
I'm hoping you can help me. My children were asking me about lake effect snow and what causes it. I explained that I thought it was arctic cold Canadian air coming down over the "warm" water of Lake Superior and that brought the snow. Please tell me I had some of the information right. I can just see the kids retelling this at school along with the fact that Mom was totally wrong! Thanks for any information...Love you on DayBreak!
Dawn in Medford

You're absolutely right Dawn.. cold air coming across a warmer lake, such as Superior. I'm working on a blog write up on how it all happens.. but until then, you can catch Katie O'Brien's report on it later this week on our website.

Hey Chad where is Matt Z heading off to. Just caught part of the sports tonight. Thanks

My good friend Matt Zahn is headed to work at a television station in good ol' Mad-Town (Madison). I have known Matt for several years now and can say I'll miss the dude. He's a great athlete... he's super good in basketball and softball and while he may have hairy toes like Bilbo Baggins and may scream like a 2 year old when he "slightly" sprains his ankle... he's a great guy and we'll miss him here at NC7. Best of luck to you formerly Matt #1... and now with Matt Z gone, I'll have to call Matt Blanchette Matt #1 now, instead of Matt #2. Now Matt #1, formerly Matt #2.. will be happy to hear that!

What a coincidence, having weather person's day and your birthday all in one week!

Happens like that every year. Isn't it great!?? Bao and Chastity didn't bake me a cake or throw me a party for National Weatherperson's Day though. Maybe next year?

Chad, thanks for the update on the Rossby Wave trough that seems responsible for our persistent cold weather. My questions are as follows:
1. You said that temperatures will likely be below normal for the next 2-3 weeks, and that it might turn significantly colder after next weekend. You also said that our very dry weather will likely continue. Might we be on pace for one of the coldest or one of the driest Februarys in history (at least ranked in the top 20 or so)?
2. Lately, it seems that Marathon and Wood counties have been a few to several degrees colder than the rest of the WSAW-TV area. I find this odd. It seems to me that extreme northern Wisconsin should be colder than the Wausau area. Do you know why this is the case? Topography?
Keep up the great work - belated happy birthday wishes!
Alan S., Wausau

HI Alan. If February keeps up like this, well below normal, the last I saw, we're on track then for a top 20 coldest February finish. I'll get an update in a week or so from the National Weather Service. It certainly has been a cold month so far. Whatever happened to Global Warming and/or El Nino?
Second question... you're very perceptive. The reason it's been a bit cooler through Marathon and Wood counties has a lot to do with topography... elevations in the northern part of our area are about 300 to 500 feet higher than here in central Wisconsin. Cold air is usually a very SHALLOW layer of air... so being higher up right now will help. In addition, the more densely covered areas up north that are covered with trees, provides a cover so that the sun's rays don't get bounced back into space like it does here in the flat areas of central Wisconsin. (the whole effect is called Albedo). Think of it in the summer time... what is usually warmer, getting into a dark colored car or getting into a white car?
As of 2/10/07..we're still getting a few signs that the Arctic weather pattern may be breaking down a little bit, we may see more and more 20's the week of the 18th.

THE COLD HAS ARRIVED (and Groundhogs) BlogDate 0202.07

Let me first start off with a list of the more well known Groundhogs and their status from this morning.
Punxsutawney Phil (PA) did NOT see his shadow
General Beauregard Lee (GA) did NOT see his shadow
Staten Island Chuck (NY) did NOT see his shadow
and locally:
Jimmy in Sun Prairie did SEE his shadow... so of the 4, he is the only one expecting 6 more weeks of winter.

I think it's interesting that all of these prognosticator's handlers claim their respective Groundhogs to be 90% to 98% accurate, yet all admit they don't keep records. LOL Also of note, the only one listed that is west of the Appalachains is Jimmy... so maybe we will have 6 more weeks of winter?

Here's an update on the cold trough in the Rossby Wave that currently extends from the Arctic circle into northern Illinois. We're going to be firmly entrenched in cooler than normal weather for the next 2 to 3 weeks with a small reprieve coming up by the last week of February.. approx. Feb. 25th or so. I expect some moderation in temps to near 20 by Thursday Feb 8th... but another shot of some very cold air will roll in to the area again by then end of the following week.. around Friday the 16th or so.

Snowfall during this time (minus the Lake Effect) will be very minor for the most part and as I see it now, maybe another few inches in a few weeks. We'll continue to get that "low moisture" snow like we've had all this week where it can snow all day and we'll have an inch of accumulation. Therefore, snowmobile trails really won't get much help from Mother Nature... at least that's the way it looks right now on 2/2/07.

Stay warm and bring those pets indoors!

Happy Birthday Ya'll from a good buddy in WV.

Thanks Mr. Kratzwald.. hope you're loving the beautiful hills of W.Va.

Happy Belated Birthday Chad! I know someone I think you should meet!
A Merrill weather watcher

Thanks for the birthday wishes.. ended up sleeping most of the day/night. Good news is, my friends still went out without me as I was in bed before 5pm. That's good friends, let me sleep and go do dinner anyway! LOL

Happy Birthday Chad. What a good month to be born in. In 2 days I have mine. Chasity sure made a BIG CAKE for you this morning. Hope you shared with the rest of the crew.

Happy birthday to you! I'll sing it to you over email if you want. That cake was huge... and Chastity and Bao had most of it down before the rest of the crew.... just kidding. We all had a slice and there was plenty left over for the rest of the newsroom.

Didn't get to see you today to tell you in person, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY again!
Try to have a good one...
I 'unhate' you!!

Great to hear from you darling! I totally "unhate" you too girl! Hope your having a good week at work!

Happy Birthday Chad Franzen.
We really enjoy watching the early morning show, and the noon when you are on. You are the greatest of the great. Your staff that you work with morning and noon are also great and bubbly. How lucky can you be to work with such a nice staff.By the way Happy 21st Birthday? Your favorite viewer from Rhinelander; watch you every day.
Jolyne and Stan Jankowski

I am very lucky that when I returned to Wausau, that I was going to work with such a great staff, just like I did a few years ago. The people here are awesometastic and I can honestly say, I drive into work every morning with a smile. (a tired looking smile at 3am)

Hey Chad, the bloggers really come out on your birthday! Everyone wants to get in line to give you your spankings!!! Don't worry I ordered those (3 inch) lift shoes you were looking for off of ebay. Hooray for you, you will 5'9" by Monday. Jacktastic-Wausau

3" lifts will put me to almost 6 foot tall Mr. Jacktastic. When I'm at the gym working out, I'll make sure to speed your treadmill up so you can keep up with me and my 3" inch lifts! LOL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CHAD, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

A Rhinelander fan:)

Thanks for the song and compliment! Stay warm too! Few more weeks of the very cold.. at least a few more..

CHAD!
Happy, happy, happy birthday!
Watch out for those mouth beads!
You Know Who.......

Thanks.. I do know who. :)

Happy Birthday. Have a Chad-tastic day! -Bao

Thanks co-worker!

Happy Birthday Chad - Haven't forgotten you, this is you favorite weather watcher from Channel 9 - Arkdale. Hope you and Justin can come up and fish with us this spring/summer at our bait shop - Dan's Dam Bait Shop on the Wisconsin River/Castle Rock Dam.
Flip over to catch you every morning before going back to my "home" station - sorry. Miss the old anchors on Channel 7 - sorry girls...
Pat Dan and Scrappy Girl
PS Don't chase the butterfly and it will land when you least expect it...Word of wisdom for your birthday.
PPS When do you erase the old messages?

Great to hear from you Pat and Dan. Since Jason K left 9, I've been out of touch with how ya kids are doing down there. J Lo and I would love to come down visit the shop and try some good ol' fashioned fishin. Great hearing from you!

Franzen, I want to say thank you for your effortless work for National Weatherpersons Day.
Your co-anchor, Bao

Thanks Bao... for that and for the birthday card and cake you, Chastity and the DayBreak team had for me this morning! Makes me almost happy it's my birthday.... almost. :)

Hey Chad, I think it is time you tell the truth about Rosby waves. They have nothing to do with bringing in warmer or cooler temps. It is actually a product you use to give yourself the appearence of "fuller" hair. Rosby waves for full-wavy hair. Jacktastic-Wausau

Hey now, let's not be giving out my secret here... that will make the Rossby Waves hair product even harder to find! Be nice now, it's National Weatherperson's Day! (Feb 5th, every year)

Groundhog's Day is so useless! I just don't understand how that "weather" forecasting has hung around into this day and age.
Lindy from Wausau (I enjoy you all in the AM...keeping it real!)

Well, traditions are hard to break and at the same time keep. Phil has been forecasting over 121 years.. so I guess that's part of the reason. Honestly, the Groundhog prediction is a lot like a Farmer's Almanac prediction... just not much to it.

Chad i was just wondering why you all dont go to the nearest public schools and do weather I know that you all do at some but cant you all take turns I mean I thought that that you could take turns and go or pick a new school each month to go to and talk to the students about the weather just thought I would ask what the scoop was please let me know an answer thanks buddy by the way you look a little smaller or is the camera lens dirty??? haha Bobbie JO in wausau!!

I would love to go into each and every school to do the weather every morning to help kids learn about the weather. Two issues working against that at this time.. the biggest, getting permission to do that in the school. Number 2... getting parental release forms signed beforehand. I would do it in a heartbeat otherwise.

Chad, I was just wondering what it takes to become a storm spotter. I am very interested in weather, and have live radar on all the time on the computer. If you could let me know would be much appreciated. By the way, great job on the noon show.

Attend one of the local storm spotting courses by checking out the below blog. That's the easiest and first step to becoming a spotter.

hay Chad
Tell your friend Bill Martins hes doing a great job with the web site and the updates on Zarms trial.
is it me, but it looks like bao and chastitty do not really get along with you in the morning? It seams like they dont pay attention to you and just kind of glass right over you? they must not know you are from here and know something about whats going on.
jk- wittenberg

Bill is Awesometastic. He's da man and look for more coolio things soon.
As far as Bao and Chastity and I... read my blogs... as far as I'm concerned, they are good friends until I see/hear otherwise.

hey chad
enough cold , give me a day -hour and minute when it will stop.
cliff

define cold? Below normal temps or 30 degree weather? I expect this cold weather to end at 3:03 pm on Feb 26th, 2007. :)

Chad: We enjoy your down to earth attitude and heard you mention So.Dak. a few times, that is where we are from the northeast corner, its been 30 yrs. but my hubby still enjoys hunting etc.there, curious if that is your old stomping grounds...Dean & Joan

So Dakotans unite! LOL I'm from real close to where you and your hubby are from.. native Aberdonian here... lots of Franzens and Hartzes in that area.

Why is your voices cutting out at times during your program? It only happens on Day Break. Have a good day.

Lots of things could be causing that. Mics, batteries, audio board problems... I'll look into it. We're trying to make our show look great.. so I'll do what it takes. Thanks for the insight/help.

STORM SPOTTER TRAINING SCHEDULE RELEASED BlogDate 0130.07

The National Weather Service Offices of Green Bay and La Crosse have announced their upcoming tentative storm spotting schedules for our area.

March 13th- 6:30pm in Adams at the Adams County Community Center.
March 26th- 6:30pm in Manawa at the Manawa Fire Department.
March 27th- 6:30pm in Merrill at the Lincoln Center Hall.
March 28th- 6:30pm in Wisconsin Rapids at the County Courthouse Auditorium.

April 3rd- 6:30pm in Waupaca at the Waupaca County Courthouse.
April 11th- 6:30pm in Loyal at the American Legion.
April 11th- 10:30am in Rhinelander at the Law Enforcement Center.
April 11th- 6:00pm in Three Lakes at the High School Auditorium.

May 2nd- 6:00pm in Shawano at the Shawano County Courthouse.

Please notice that these are the tentative dates and these are the listings open to the public. Please check out the NWS websites for the latest information.
Green Bay:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/grb/spotter_sched.php
La Crosse:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/arx/?n=skywarn

In addition, please note that there is NO Wausau class scheduled at this time. I would expect that to change by the end of February, so keep checking on the National Weather Service websites listed above.
See you at the classes!

COLD WEATHER UPDATE BlogDate 0126.07

We're still on track with those nasty/pesky Rossby Waves to keep things a bit cool for the rest of the month with even colder conditions expected for the first weekend of February and into that first full week of February. In fact, temps will be even colder the first weekend of February with high temperatures barely above zero and lows at night well below zero. It's a bad time for that kind of an Arctic cold snap, since the Badger State Games will be in full swing by then.
Normally, these huge, slow and cold weather patterns need something "big" to move them out .. and we may just see something try to do that. The following middle of the week in February (around 2/7), we may see some warmer weather with a good chance for a big snowfall somewhere in the upper midwest.
I don't foresee the Arctic weather pattern breaking down until the following week, maybe just in time for Valentines Day. (I don't celebrate that holiday! LOL)
By the way, former Wausau meteorologist and good friend of mine (and yours) Jason Kratzwald is doing well in his new job out east... he says "hello" to all of us in Wisconsin and to keep the cold weather here!!

Hey Chad just saw you on a promo regarding school closing during bad weather that is really nice. You 3 are just popping up all over the place. Keep up the good work you 3 do. We love watching your program even the evening crew.

If there's one thing I've learned in all my years of broadcasting (9 this year), school delays and closings are probably the most IMPORTANT part of our show during the school year. Sure, poor winter weather road conditions are a concern, but school delays and closings affect a majority of our audience, the parents and kids, scheduling of jobs and work shifts .. it's very important to us on DayBreak to get that information to you as quick and as easy as possible.

Chad next time you talk to Jason K. tell him thanks but no thanks he can keep these cold temps in the East. Now who are we to blame you or Katie for the next two weeks of cold?

Blame Katie...although I originally blogged on it about 2 weeks ago... so I guess, it's right to blame me.
I'll tell that Jason K to keep the cold out there, that's for sure!

Chad why do you work so much?? Everytime I turn on the tv you are there...

I'm like my mother... I'm a workaholic!

chad, just thought i'd earn some brownie points (hehe) and say your my mostest favoritest weather person to watch in the morning lol... keep up the great work chad... you've got some awesome co-workers with you there on the morning show... keep on smiling :D

jen

You're right, I have some very awesome co-workers here.... they are Awesometastic! I sure to have some fun in the mornings, sometimes too much fun I guess. It's nice to love your job and go into work every day witha big smile on my face.

ROSSBY WAVES BlogDate 0110.07

I've decided to write my new blog on waves that roll across the Earth at any given time that are called "Rossby Waves" (a.k.a. Planetary Waves). Why I write about these waves will become very clear as you learn more about them in the next few paragraphs.

These waves are massive in size and "live" around 35,000 feet in the atmosphere and move very slowly. The Rossby waves generally drape over the north pole with several dips (troughs) and ridges defining their placement across the northern hemisphere. These troughs and ridges are generally responsible for pools of warmer and colder weather. The troughs are the dips in the waves where colder air can pool and the ridges are the rises where the wamer air can reside. The troughs and ridges are deeper and more influential in the winter time in Wisconsin, which is why I bring these up now. So, knowing a little bit about these waves, let's talk more about how they influence the weather.

In any given winter time, there are normally 3 to 5 of these massive waves covering the northern hemisphere. The size of the waves and their movements help determine what our long term weather pattern will be at any given time. Normally, when a location is located in a trough or a ridge, the weather pattern may last anywhere from one to two weeks. Therefore, when predicting the extended forecasts in the winter time, paying attention to these Rossby waves gives us a chance to predict a general long term trend that may set up in Wisconsin.

Okay, so we know a bit more about the what Rossby waves are and how they influence the weather, so let's examine the current situation. Right now, a massive trough in a Rossby wave is about to move from Canada right into the northeastern half of the country which will bring the cold air southward across our area and into the middle of the country. This wave is broad and very deep and therefore that is why I believe that once this cold starts this weekend, it may be a week or two before we break out of the cold weather pattern. Highs during the next or two may only stay in the teens with overnight lows in the single digits. That doesn't mean that every single day for the next two to three weeks will all be in the teens for highs, but it does generally mean that temps will be below normal until the end of the month.

So, that takes care of temps... what about snowfall? Well, as most of you know, the Arctic cold has very little moisture in it, so snowfall will come few and far between. I think we could see some light snow on Sunday and maybe again next Tuesday, but as mentioned... snowfall amounts may only reach an inch or two for each little system.

I hope this helps your understanding of long term weather patterns and what we look for in trends in the wonderful world of meteorology.

Chad- you rock on the morning show!! Keep up the excellent work.

Thanks for the compliment! We're certainly trying to make a difference on the morning show with the news peeps and I.

Chad who puts the colors on the map that we see in purple shades, etc? Like the picture of you, Chasity and Bao that we see promoting the station.

The map colors are a conglomeration of stuff that our weather vendor provided and also stuff that I have made and changed. I hope you like the color schemes, but I can tell you that I continue to tweak things slowly the more and more Katie, Mike and I all work with this awesometastic weather system. Look for more cool things coming up!

Funny about the picture comment about Bao, Chastity and I.... my parents are amazed at how well I can look with two lovely ladies in the same picture with me. :)

Hi Chad When Katie or the weekend crew are not infront of the camera what do they do? Have a good day.

We're in a unique situation at our station in which our weekend peeps work in their same jobs during the week. For example, Lauren and Alison both anchor a day out of the weekend and the both report on the news 4 other days during the week.
Katie is in a little more unique situation... she was moved into the Weather Lab full time within the past month or so to work on various weather related things. Whether it is now reporting on weather events or working on our new digital 247/7.2 channel, she is now working in the Weather Lab full time.

Hey Big Guy
Waht happened to Katie O'Brien.
Kevin

Katie is right here working diligently in the Weather Lab this morning.... she's a lot of fun to work with and has a great laugh when you get her going.

Just want to add to your comments about the cold weather I think back in 1982 or 1983 we had 30 days in a row that the temperature never rose above zero. You may want to check with Mike on that.

I'm checking with Mike and the National Weather Service to confirm the dates. As of Tuesday, I have not been able to get ahold of the information, but I'll keep trying to see what I can come up with.
Update Wednesday Jan 25. I received information from Lyle Anderson at the Wisconsin State Climatology Office in Madison yesterday afternoon. In January of 1982, there were 5 days in the month (not consecutive) in which the high temperature never rose above zero. In January of 1983, there were 6 days where the high temp never rose above zero and 3 of those were consecutive days.
In addition, in Jan 1994 (jan 14-19) there were 6 days in a row where the high temperature never rose above zero.
And we had another cold stretch of weather in Jan/Feb of 1996 when the high temp was below zero on 6 different occasions.

Hey Chad, I see Bao thinks you are "deserving of a lovely woman", at least according to her blog. So whats the deal, haven't you actually spoken to her yet? Bao seems like a lovely woman, maybe it was a hint--lets start the rumor mill up. You guys could be Wisconsins #1 morning show family!!! Just an idea-jacktastic, wausau

Let's not be starting any rumor mills my friend!

Hey Chad nice to see the sun out there even though it is cold.

Few more weeks... then we'll see a more stable weather pattern. Until then... every few days expect a cool down.

Afternooon Chad,
I saw you on the noon news (01/15) and yep tonight is going to be cold. However, is that really cold for us? I think you may have been here, when (a few years ago - I think med '90's) when the "High" for the day was sopmething like 13 below for about three weeks running. Now - thats cold!
Kevin

Hey Kevin,
You're right, it's not really that cold, but I say that because it has been so warm here over the past few months that a few days with highs in the teens will really be a shock to the system.
Here's some of the colder weather you're referring to... Jan. 1999 there was a string from Jan. 1st through Jan 15 where of the 15 days, lows were well below zero for 14 of those 15 days.
There's also February 1996, where the high on Groundhog's Day that year was -20 degrees with a low of -33.
And, there's Jan 1994 where in the middle of the month the highs were in the -10's... -14 on January 15, 1994. I believe that is one you are looking for.... Great memory Kevin!

Chad you wrote Julie is engaged does she have a wedding date set? We think the two of you are a great team at noon. Keep up the good work.

I know she has a wedding date set, just can't remember when it is. She sure is a lot of fun to work with.. as is all my co-workers! Thanks, we'll keep working hard!

Chad, getting back to the "spark" thing. You're too hard on yourself. Any girl would be happy to have you. Just keep your eyes open!!!! Hope you have a good weekend. Glad that you are feeling better. Those other people writing in are right----you're looking good! Keep up the good work.

I am hard on myself at times... but I do that to keep me motivated with working out and trying to get back into shape. My goal this year is to get back to my college football playing shape... that includes losing weight, getting my bench press over 300 again and doing more sprints and rehab exercises.
Thanks for the well wishes and compliment! Have a good weekend!

Hi Chad, I saw the show today at noon which I normally don't get to see all that much with my crazy schedule. But I'm just trying to picture you with a "goat" as I have read in your blog that "others" are commenting on. It's always nice to try new things.

The "goat" was fun to do... as you can see below, most of the people that commented on it did not like it... so it was gone. LOL Some of our management has been out of town too, so a surprise like that waiting for them probably wasn't wise to do. Then again, I'm a little bit of a prankster/jokester at work, so they maybe would have laughed along with me.

Hey Chad I was wondering if Boa and Chasitity were going to have a blog and there it was when I checked in a few minutes ago. It wasn't there eailier this morning. Was that one of the new things happening to Channel 7 that you mentioned before?

I am so happy that Bill Martens has the blogs functional and up and running for them. That is just one of the changes I've been hinting at for a month now. Yes, and there will be some more...

We just saw you on the noon show and you look better. Looks as if you lost weight to.

I was sad to see the goatee go this morning.. just cuz it was a bit painful to shave off. LOL Have lost some weight the past few weeks... being ill through Christmas and watching the diet and getting exercise has been instrumental in the weight loss. Hoping to do more of it in 2007.... thanks for noticing!

Chad just for curiosity sake you should take a poll on how many like the fuzzy face. We like the clean look. Glad to see it is going.

I liked the idea of the poll... but the "goat" is gone. Liked having it.. hated shaving the goatee this morning... it hurt! OUCH! LOL Good way to "wake up" in the morning!

I like the goat! You should keep it for awhile. -Stacey-

Thanks ! I like(-d) it too.. but it's gone tomorrow morning!

I'm glad to see you back. I don't get up early enough to see you on the morning show, but I watch you at noon. Do I see sparks flying between you & Julie??? Just thought I would ask! Have a good week.

Glad to back! Julie and I? I'm flattered that anyone could ever think that such a beautiful woman, inside and out, would have "sparks" with me!! She's a lovely girl and is very charming and super fun to work with. However, she's engaged and we just get along super well at the noon. Probably because she's so awesome .... or maybe it's just becauses it's almost the end of my day at that time?!

C.F.Is there a way that the Titian radar can show these Rassby Waves when your on doing the weather on the air and if your need of a new razor may I suggest the Gillette Fusion its the first 5 + 1 blade disposible razor that would help you solve what facial hair you couldnt shave before ?01/10/07

TITAN kind of could show a Rossby Wave in a way... very strong and agressive Rossby Waves can trigger showers and storms at times in the summer time, so in a way, TITAN Radar could show some storms along one of these waves.

As mentioned below, the "goat" is gone and I'll be going back to my straight blade razor and my electric for the next few months.. if not years.

We thought the same thing when we watched you at noon. Keep the clean shaven look

The "goat" is gone as of today when I get home. I experimented and realize it's just not good for tv.

Hey Chad
Am I seeing a fuzy wazy on your upper lip and chin or is my T.V. messed up/ :)
Kevin

Not sure what a fuzy wazy is... but if you're referring to what I think you're referring.. you get the same "excuse" as what the bosses got .... ready? "my razors are all broken and/or were confiscated going through security on my recent trip to Seattle, so I can not shave".
Just trying something new for 2007... new attitude on working out so far this year... new attitude on diet and exercise... figured new attitude/look for the new year.
In all reality... I will probably lose it this weekend... and I think it looks good! LOL

HE GONE ... first BLOGDATE 102.07
I'm on my first vacation in what seems like many years... but in any case, I'll be back shortly.

Best wishes all in 2007.... I really hope the best for you and your family. If you are suffering turmoil and craziness this holiday... you are not alone, I guarantee it.

Any resolutions? Myself... lose weight (which being sick has been easy to do) and to find happiness in my social life. I have a feeling those are maybe in the top 2 of anyone's resolutions. I wish you best successes this holiday season and success for the new year!

See you on the flipside....

I'm glad that at least one of your crew
actually take care of your blogs.
it seems all others are just fluff.
cliff , arpin

I try to keep up with my blog as much as possible, especially if I have something cool or worthwhile to write about. A lot of times, I'm just waiting for questions from the viewer and ready to respond to them from there!
Let the questions continue!

How was your vacation? Looking forward to your being back on the morning show.

Good Vacation.. I see my 'rents once or twice a year at best. I loved being there to help them out with their place.
I'm ready to be back.. look for more fun/changes to happen on the morning show soon!

El NINO/ La NINA YEARS .... BLOGDATE 1220.06

With the recent publication of the new 30/60/90 day and Seasonal Outlooks by the Climate Prediction Center, I thought I would spend a bit o' time talking about their prediction for early next year in addition to showing some of the historical past years where an El Nino event has happened. Let me first kind of explain what these outlooks are, and what they are not. These outlooks are not comprehensive in the fact that they predict above or below normal conditions for the whole time frame. Case in point, the 90 day outlook for January through March shows temperatures will be much above normal for most of the upper Midwest. That does NOT mean that it will be too warm for snow or that all 90 days will be warmer than average. The outlook is a forecast for what happens overall, throughout that 90 day time frame. Therefore, you can have a string of really warm weather and a really large cold snap with plenty of snow... it's just that it should average out at the end above normal. Kind of confusing,,, yes... but once you see it, it makes some sense. What these outlooks are.. they are put together by looking at current ocean temperatures, current trends in temps and current and forecast positions of snowcover, ice sheets and jet stream positions.
Within the past 15 years, there have been 2 La Nina events (1998/1999 and 2000/2001) and 5 El Nino events (1991/1992, 1992/1993, 1994/1995, 1997/1998, 2002/2003) with strong El Nino's in 1991/1992 and again in 1997/1998. Please notice that the year listed first is the end of that year with the next year listed being the beginning of that one (ex. 1998/1999 is the very end of 1998 through March of 1999, etc.)

Here's the statistics for Wausau after the above listed dates of each event. Please note, the avg. snowfall for this time frame is 29.6" and the average HIGH temp during that 3 month span is 30.3 degrees.

La Nina Year of 1998/1999- Snowfall was 36.6" for that time ( +7.0" normal) average high temp was 33.1 (+2.8 degrees)

La Nina Year of 2000/2001- Snowfall was 24" for that time ( -5.6" normal) average high temp was 29.3 (-1.0 degrees)

Notice that in both La Nina years the temps were close to normal but the snowfall was the exact opposite from one event to another.

Strong El Nino Year of 1991/1992- Snowfall was 30". (+0.4" normal) average high temp was 32.1 (+1.8 degrees)

El Nino Year of 1992/1993- Snowfall was 15.5". (-14.1" normal) average high temp was 30.1 (-0.2 degrees)

El Nino Year of 1994/1995- Snowfall was 26.6". (-3.0" normal) average high was 30.6 (+0.3 degrees)

Strong El Nino Year of 1997/1998- Snowfall was 47.4" (+17.8" normal) average high was 35.3 (+5.0 degrees)

El Nino Year of 2002/2003- Snowfall was 29.3" (-0.3" normal) average high was 27.3 (-2.3 degrees)

So, lots of gobbly gook there to look at ... what is my point? Well, look at the snowfall from El Nino Year 1992/1993 and 1997/1998.. about exact opposites. One was way below normal snowfall, the other one about that same number, only above normal snowfall. My point is, just because a warmer than normal winter is expected in this upcoming El Nino event, doesn't mean that there won't be any snow. Hopefully that gives some perspective on the early part of next year. Happy holidays everyone and I wish you all the best wishes for your holiday season!

why no bill m

Our good friend Billy Bob Martens continues to excel in his web producer position here at the station. He's full of great ideas and does an awesometastic job. Just spent our last Steelers game of the season with him at a local establishment... had a good time.
You'll be reading about this dude in a magazine someday soon about how successful he is.

Hey Chad, me and my kids were outside making a snowman after that big snow on Friday night. I think it looks like it could be a cousin of yours!?! The only thing missing is a really long Shaq tie like that one in the picture down below. Do you have any extra SUPER long ties??? If not I guess I could make the snowman shorter and use a regular tie. Thanks Alot!! Jackalacka-Wausau PS-I always loved your act in the circus!!

Glad to see you found my long lost cousin, Frosty. Long ties are really easy if you unbutton the snowman's collar and pull the tie loose. If you really want a long tie, try the tall man's store. LOL You could probably use a scarf too, since he's outside and all. He'll be shrinking a bit over the next few days though from snowmelt and some rain on Saturday.

Instead of making snowmen, you should take the kids tubing! And invite me along too!

C.F. Last week Friday I would like to know what caused all that rain preciptation in the atmosphere in Wisconsin to all of the sudden change to snow precipitation in the atmosphere in the next 4 to 5 hours that it lasted with in the hour that this changeover occured!?!?!? 12/26/2006

I'll try to make the best sense I can out of the events on Friday and hope that it won't be too abstract. Without graphics made for the explanation and the fact I have since recycled all of my printed model data for that day, I'm limited with what I can do and how to go about doing it.

So, let's look back on Friday morning. A strong upper level low pressure system was located in western Iowa which provided a very strong southerly flow of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up into southeastern Wisconsin. Low pressure systems spiral counterclockwise and force the wind direction to do them same. Milwaukee reported several hours of heavy rainfall that morning with over an inch or rain that morning. Southeastern Wisconsin had some flooding of rivers down there. This storm system started to roll over, which means, started to pull that moisture around it and back over into central and northern Wisconsin. So, that's where our heavy moisture content came from.

Next step, we need to figure out why the air cooled quickly enough to go from rainfall to snowfall within an hour or so of time. This next part is where it gets a bit complicated to explain. Think of a tall glass on the table, with the top being the top of the atmosphere and the bottom of the glass representing the ground. In weather, you have to think three dimensionally above the ground, so that is what we're doing here. That very tall glass represents what is called a "column" in the atmosphere. What we're figuring out here is if the column of air was saturated, meaning... was there moisture from the top to the bottom and would it fall all as rain from the ground to the bottom of the cloud deck and... was it warm enough to support all rain (above 32 degrees), all snow or a combination of the two, a.k.a. sleet.

And another thing that we need to examine, is what was happening at the Earth, with temperatures and the wind direction. There are several other factors than this, but these are the few I want to focus on.

So, rain started falling in the late morning and continued right up until 3pm in the afternoon. It was then a quick changeover over to big, heavy, wet flakes of snow right after that. Why?

Here's a little bit on what happened... the initial column of air above Wausau was saturated below the clouds and was mostly above 32 degrees until the early afternoon. As this storm system pushed closer to our area, the thermodynamic profile of the atmosphere changed just a little bit, but that little change is all that it needed to cool everything off into snow. Here's a list of reasons why it happened
1) A wedge of slightly drier air that was off to our west moved into the area in the afternoon. As rain falls, it evaporates and as that happens, the air cools. (called evaporative cooling) Well, that slightly drier air (dew points of 31 opposed to the 33 already in place) allowed the air temperature to cool from 34 to 32 degrees during that short period of time. So, through evaporative cooling, the air temperature cooled 2 degrees within a few hours which was critical in making it go from a heavy rain event to a heavy snow event.
2) The surface wind direction also shifted during this time, shifting from the east in the morning, to the north in the early afternoon to the west northwest by 3pm. That west northwest wind brought in drier air from the western half of the state. Evidence of the drier air from that day is around today... there's no snow cover from Superior to Eau Claire to La Crosse.
3) Think of the time frame of the time of day that this all happened... 3pm in the afternoon. Our high temps in December commonly occur from 2pm to 3pm in the day with the sun's angle dropping quickly thereafter. So, losing out on the daytime heating for the day is another factor.
4) And one last thing that moved through making it heavy snow... a strong Jet Streak (up where the jet stream roams) rolled through for the afternoon causing the ridiculously high snowfall rates of 1 to 1.5 inches of snowfall per hour for a few hours into the evening.

I hope this helps explain a bit of why it all happened the way it did. Again, it's kind of confusing because of the fact you're only reading text, but I hope it's made some sense.
Our weekend's storm system will even be more complicated because of temps, duration of event and storm track. As you can see, forecasting can be a lot of "fun". It took me almost an hour to type this part out!

MORE GONE.... BLOGDATE 1130.06

It is with a heavy and sad heart that I write this blog this morning. It was a time that I knew was coming, I just wasn't sure how I would deal with it... and I'm still trying to find a way to do just that. I am losing my 2 co-anchors Friday December 1st and a fellow comrade in this small tv market. Wendy Neuberger is leaving to Green Bay, Bill Martens is thankfully staying on, but no longer will be doing the noon show and my good friend "at the other station" Jason Kratzwald is going to West Virginia for a new job.

I'll start with Wendy and move my way slowly through the list. Where can/do I begin about this lovely woman? There's enough information that I could fill up the entire tv station's website and then some about her. Here's a few highlights... she's awesometastic! Beautiful, caring, compassionate and just a lovely down to earth woman. I've only had the pleasure of knowing her about 7 months now, but I will miss her beautiful smile every morning. She is as awesome behind the camera as she is in front of it. This is one that will be making it on to bigger and better things as she continues in her career.

Now, onto Bill "Billy Bob" Martens. What can I say about this guy? Then again, what can I not say? I knew Bill before I left a few years ago and was very happy that in my return I would get to work with the great Bill Martens. This guy is such a seasoned veteran, you'd be amazed at what he can do while the show is on air. He can rearrange scripts in his head, work on the fly and is very knowledgeable about the weather, so he always kept me on my toes. I think most of all, I will miss working with my fellow Steelers fan! In all honesty, I will miss working with this dude (on camera) as we laugh at some of the weirdest things that have come along over the past 7 months.

Finally, the person that replaced me at my former station is moving on as well. This tv business is so small, even though it encompasses 211 tv markets and approximately 600 local tv stations. I went to school with a good friend of his and actually got to meet this kid before he took over for me in 2004. Jason is a great person and an excellent meteorologist... especially since we both went to the same graduate school a few years apart, but didn't know each other then(go MSU Bulldogs!). When he leaves this area this weekend, I am not only losing a colleague, but a good friend. I wish you best successes my good friend and have fun in W.Va. Mr. Jason Kratzwald.
I'll be looking to do some mountain golfing this next summer, got a place for me to stay?

Hey Chad!! You are great in the mornings! Now it's even better to watch your show in the morning with Chastity there.. I used to watch KIMT-TV in the mornings and now I really feel at home here in White Lake!!!
Thanks guys for giving me such a great start for my day!!!

Let me just tell you, working with Chastity and Bao has been an awesome experience so far for an old buck like me. They're both very charming, smart and of course, beautiful. Makes it ez to come into work at 3am every morning and hopefully we'll continue to keep you and others entertained in the morning.

Hi Chad
Glad to see you back!
An Old battelen buddy from Phillips,
Kevin

Kevin... it is good to be back. I haven't been back to Phillips in a while yet, but I'm just now slowly starting to get back to some of the ol' stomping grounds.

Dear Chad\, You are so right. It is very hard to believe that Wendy and Bill are both gone from the morning show. The three of you made getting up in the mornings alot easier to handle. I ended joyed the kinding around\, joking and teasing that the three of you did. You all seemed to get alone well.
For a fact\, the 3 for you were the best morning show sense Jeff\, Bobby B. & Justin. Mornings just aren't the same any more. Why don't we see Bill???? Miss Ya. J.A.

Dear J.A.-
I'll tell ya, we were 3 peas in a pod for the longest time. It was actually a good balance with Bill's humor, Wendy's smile and charm and my, well, my weather, it all clicked well together. I remember the Jeff, Bobby, JLo days... as I was working mornings down the road.. only there was only 2 of us on that morning show then. LOL Give Bao and Chastity time, I think you'll love what they bring to the table.
I'm trying to convince Bill to become the main fill-in dude if anyone is ever gone... he's just not a typical tv person... he hates be on camera.... a rarity in the tv biz!

Chad\, sending some 60s your way.. loving wv so far\, thanks for the kind words. by the way\, answer your phone!

Thanks Kratzy... hope you're liking it out there. Got your weird 304 phone number now... will be in touch. By the way, do I have to help someone move from here in the next few weeks?

Hey Chad!
Nice to see you finally have your own Blog! I miss Bill and Wendy terribly. You three cracked me up each and every work day before I drove off to my oh so wonderfully\, stressful job! It just won't be the same. I have finally found the heart to turn on to the two new morning anchors\, and they seem to be doing a fine job\, but.........I STILL LIKE BILL\, WENDY AND CHAD! BOO-HOO.....
R - Wausau

Dear R,
I miss Wendy too... Bill, well, that's a different story! LOL All kidding aside, I get chill with him every morning when he comes into work to work on www.wsaw.com. He's our new web producer and has been doing a fantastic job. Look for more changes to wsaw.com very soon!
Stressful job too? There are a lot of people in our shoes when it comes to a very stressful job too. While it is different working with Bao and Chastity, it has been fun to get to learn more and more about them every morning. In a few years, people will be oooooing and ahhwwwing about these two lovely ladies and people will slowly forget about the people that moved on. I'm not being mean by saying that, it's just how it happens in this biz.
With all my years of working in television (at 3 tv stations), I have watched 7 morning co-anchors leave the chair, (1 of which was a girlfriend that I fell in love with while working next to her every morning) and have watched 5 night time anchors leave the chairs next to me as well. I honestly tell you, each one that leaves the chair next to me, hurts a LOT! -and makes me wonder why I do this business where you become so close to co-workers and they break your heart when they leave every year or two. It's one of the things I hate about the tv business!

Why is it ch 7 has so many new faces? It seem people only stay for a year or so and they move on. Is ch 7 a teaching station or something ?? Confused

Dear Confused,
As one of our bloggers mentioned below, the Wausau/Rhinelander market is considered a beginner's market in television standards. There are 211 television markets in this country with New York being #1 and Glendive, MT ranking #211. Wausau ranks #133 according to the AC Nielson company, which is on the smaller side of things.
Generally, the bigger the tv market the more you will get paid. You'd be surprised at what some beginners get paid on their first tv job in the smaller markets.
In addition to the above, most television people in front of the camera sign contracts to work x amount of years at that station. Normal contract for someone new in the business, one to two years and then they're free to look for new employment in a different market. Sometimes the main night-time anchors may sign longer term contracts... this is especially true in the larger television markets.

Wheere to go to register for the snowblower.
Enjoy the early morning news cast

To register for the snowblower, you can download the first warn online weather program which will automatically register you to win the machine. If you're already a first warn online user, you're automatically entered in to winning the snowblower.
To download, go to the wsaw main page and halfway down in the middle of the page you'll see the first warn online logo and click that.
You can also enter by sending a post card to: SnowBlower Giveaway, 1114 Grand Ave, Wausau, WI 54403.

C.F. Ok Chad are you ready for some more weather trivia because I've been sending most of my weather Q's to Mike Bruenling so here it goes for you;How does the Jet Stream influence where precipitation is gonna fall that affects the low and high pressure's in the atmosphere?12/5/2006

That's a great question... the jet stream totally has a lot to do with how much precipitation is going to fall in each type of storm system. Not only does the strength of the jet stream make a difference, but so does the position of the strength of the jet stream as it rolls through.
In the jet stream, there are usually areas of maximums (quick speed ups in the speed of the jet stream) called jet streaks that move in the jet stream. These jet streaks, have areas of even more favorable uplift to produce clouds and precipitation. In general, the left front quadrant of these jetsreaks and the right rear quadrants provide additional uplift while the opposite corners provide a little less uplift.
The jet stream is especially important to watch and predict with major winter storms and most cold fronts in the summer time, since upper level support is critical/key for predicting severe weather.

Hi Chad.I was wondering about another channel 7 member who left.Did Carrie go to another station or just go another direction? I'll miss them all. Wendy\, Bill\, and Carrie. Let's hope that's all for now.Allen

Carrie Hutton left us just over a week ago to take a job with the local newspaper in town. As I mentioned in a few postings below, this media/broadcasting business is small. Carrie Hutton's first tv job was with a good friend/former co-worker of mine in Rockford, IL. I was able to hear about her and her husband from my former co-worker before I moved back up here.

Hi Chad\,
Hope that you had a good weekend. Just want to wish you luck Mon morning with your 2 new co-anchors. When Wendy left she mentioned Jan Janssen. Is he in Wausau? Have a good week. Hope we don't get much snow!!

The 2 new co-anchors have worked out well this week! It has been fun learning more about Bao and Chastity this week and we've only been working together on air for 4 days now!
Jan is a Marshfield native, a die hard Notre Dame fan and is still working with us here at the station. He has a new edition of Reel Talk coming out on Friday, so tune in then or check out the Reel Talk icon on the main wsaw webpage.
There won't be much snow for Wausau anytime soon, maybe the middle of next week, but at this point it doesn't look like much here.

Chad, thanks much for not only your top-quality weather forecasts (and for making them FUN to watch!), but also for letting us know about Wendy, Bill, and Jason.

I will always try to keep people informed. The broadcasting world is fairly small, so you have a tendency to watch people you know and chart their progress. I'm proud and happy to say I know some former co-workers who are working in the top 20 biggest tv markets in the country. While I'm envious I'm not there in the bigger markets, I'm still happy to keep in touch with all of my former co-workers.

One thing is certain about living in an area with a rathe small TV market is that there's a lot of turnover in TV newspeople. Many young newscasters get started in smaller markets like ours. Once they get a couple to few years of experience under their belts, they tend to get promoted to bigger TV markets with better-paying jobs. Such is the case with Wendy and Jason.

You've hit the nail on the head... the smaller markets are feeder markets into the bigger markets, such as a Milwaukee, Green Bay, Madison or Minneapolis. A majority of the time, the larger markets pay better, but that isn't always the case. Green Bay's tv market is double the size of Wausau's, but generally the pay is not that much more. However, working in market #69 instead of #133 (Wausau) looks very attractive to most News Directors down the line in your career.

In my opinion, the Wausau TV market is losing a top-flight young news anchor in Wendy Neuberger, and a top-flight young meteorologist in Jason Kratzwald. The TV markets in Green Bay and West Virginia will be better for receiving Wendy and Jason. I want to thank Wendy and Jason for their GREAT work here in Wausau, and wish them nothing short of the VERY BEST SUCCESS for the future! Carry on!

I chatted briefly with Jason before he left and even took him out to lunch one day to discuss him leaving the area. He's such a genuine guy and I'm happy that I was able to return to Wausau in time for him and I to golf a few times this summer.

I was "lucky enough" to help Wendy move on Friday afternoon and send her on her way down highway 29 to Green Bay. She starts this week already and I'm sure she'll do just fine while working in Green Bay.

Hi Chad!
Glad that you are back to Wausau! You do a great job with the weather! Sorry to see Bill and now Wendy leave as the three of you all had great a.m. chemistry! But I am sure your new "team" will be just as great!
Is there anyway you can give any more info about the Harlem Globetrotter event coming on Dec. 29 (where to get tickets, ect.) Just caught the tail end before leaving for work this a.m.
Take care and continued best wishes!
julz

Thanks for the compliments... it's good to be back, that's for sure! I do miss Bill and Wendy, but I can tell you Bao, Chastity and I will have some fun. I got to sit with Bao and Chastity this morning and I will tell you they will do just fine!
I'm looking into the Globetrotters stuff, I'll let you know when I find out more.

Hey Chadeeriffic,
I noticed you keep getting new attracive co-workers\, how's that working for you? Have you tried to lay any groundwork with these ladies yet?
Jacktastic-Wausau

It seems the longer I work in this business, the more attractive the new people get! LOL Bao, Chastity and I are all looking forward to getting to work, starting with next week!

UNUSUAL CLOUD FORMATIONS EXPLAINED blogdate 1120.06

The clouds formed late in the afternoon on Wednesday November 15 across central Wisconsin are known/called "hole punch clouds". These unusual cloud formations form when ice crystals fall and absorb water and grow quickly.
The National Weather Service in Green Bay has more information about them and has some really cool satellite images on their website. Thanks to the NWS in Green Bay and Jeff Last for preparing this story.
NWS Link
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/grb/?n=holepunch

FAUX PAS blogdate 1118.06

Normally, I would not do anything like this, but since I know this person very well and worked with her for several years and even attended her wedding, I decide that I would write a little bit about her. One of our competitors down the road worked her last show on Friday night at 10pm and will now move into a non tv job. I was already working there when this young wide-eyed girl, fresh out of college, started working with me (and others) and I couldn't believe how good natured, fun-loving and wonderful this girl is! I was lucky enough to watch her in her first few years of broadcasting and now was lucky enough to watch her come full circle in the broadcasting business. It's not often someone gets to witness this... and I almost feel like a teacher or something because I watched a youngster turn into a great broadcaster within a few years. I am very lucky that I got to work with this wonderful woman and am very proud of how good she became within a very short period of time. I wish you success in your new job Ellie ... and if you and Peter need a babysitter for the kids and dog... well, don't call me unless the hot tub is running! :)

Next on my blog to do list... talk a little about the great performance I saw Friday night at the Grand Theater. Leahy music group peformed an excellent concert and I must say that I was shocked at how much I really liked their music and style. They are a group from Canada that puts on a great show using instruments ranging from drums to a piano and keyboard, to fiddles and bass and everything in between. They also are so musically talented, they can all pretty much play each other's instruments and at one point, even played a fiddle held upside down!
The music they play easily keeps you entertained and into the concert during the whole show. They certainly enjoy the job they do and keep your attention throughout the whole show. If the music playing isn't enough, they also sing and even do some tap at times throughout the show. You can find out more about this awesome family group by visiting leahymusic.com
Thanks for the great show!

Y2K ALL OVER AGAIN? blogdate 1113.06

I'm not sure how many of you are keeping up with NASA's Space Shuttle Program, but it seems that the computers on board the aging shuttles are not designed to go from December 31st to January 1st of a new year. This next shuttle flight has been accelerated to get it back to space ealier in December so that it can return home a few days before the beginning of the new year. Apparently, NASA is unsure what would happen if the shuttle would be in space during the transition into the new year, so they are now planning on launching as early as December 6th with a launch window still possible until December 17th. This 12 day mission is to add an $11 million addition to the International Space Station (ISS) and to re-wire part of the space station.
This next launch will be the third launch of the shuttle this year with plenty more planned over the next 3 years. The space shuttles are to be retired by 2010, so NASA is trying to get as many launches by then to finish the ISS by then. NASA estimates that they need to have 15 launches to finish the ISS by 2010, so they are also now willing to do launches at night, something they have been reluctant to do in the past.
I'm always torn on my view of NASA and its project/goals. While I think exploring space is certainly worthwhile (huge Star Trek/Star Wars fan here!), I'm just not sure of the over $16.8 Billion dollar budget it gets every year.
(source:http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/feb/HQ_06056_Budget_Statement.html)

Respond to Chad's blog here:

I'm sad to see Wendy leaving the morning show but Chastity seems like a great person! I hope you have a fun time with your new team - you'll be the veteran now! :) Thanks for always doing such a great job at the weather! You're the best!

Do you mean veteran as the oldest? :( LOL Yup, I will be, that's for sure. I didn't come out of college until I was already old... stupid masters degree and two extra years! I can guarantee Bao, Chastity and I will do just fine... I've been emailing them since they interviewed many moons ago. They are both beautiful and smart and as the old dude, a.k.a. veteran on the morning show ... I can tell you we will have fun!

Thank you for the pictures Chad.
As usual... Always the best news people around!
Everyone have a great Thanksgiving Holiday.

Thanks... happy holidays to you too!

Who is the new lady on the morning show? We missed hearing where she was from. Thanks

Bao is from St. Paul. She has been with us for about a month now and will now be anchoring NewsChannel 7 This Morning. Look for more changes coming up soon!

We want to wish you a very
HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY.

Happy Holidays to you and your family!

Hi Chad\,
You all do great of reporting the news everyday!Great show!
My Question!
Can you send me a copy of the picture of the "Crop Circles in the sky"?That the man sent from Steven's Point.
I am just curious about the pictures and find them interesting.

There are 4 pictures above to look at for those pictures. In addition, check out the NWS in Green Bay link above to see a few more pictures.

Chad, you are a Fran-tastic Meteorologist. Kratz

Thanks Kratz! You do a good job as well!

thats unusual that NASA's shuttles can't 'compute' the year change... hmmmm... makes you kind of wonder just how safe and secure out shuttle missions are... and as far as their budget\, wow... did not know it was that high... i knew it had to of been pretty large but my goodness gracious... i could think of several other things that multi-billion dollars could be going to... like AIDS research of finding a cure for cancer... i understand the need to explore space (yes\, star trek and star wars fan as well) but there needs to be some kind of limit... more is known about outter space then our own planet... how about taking some of that "billion dollars" and finding a way to bring gas and oil prices down so that the "common man" dont have to work all week just to afford to put gas into his car? its kind of funny how when the government gets their hands into things how budgets seem to sweel and expand and explode... ok i'll step off my soap box now lol...
jenni

I believe this year's budget was a few billion more than last... I remember seeing it as I was looking up the request for money for NASA. It is a lot of money, that's for sure. I'm sure your views are a lot like others... spend that money to find new ways to power our homes and cars and keep the pollution down.
I don't know what $16.8 Billion can buy, but it does buy NASA's budget for one year.

Glad to see you on the morning show. This way you won't break in on any of the hockey games.

LOL Boy, some people sure do have good memories. Hmm, I believe it was the Blackhawks game in 2002? I miss chatting with you at the local watering hole too. I'm assuming this is Rob?

BADGER FIRSTS... updated blogdate 1103.06

Tonight will be my first venture to the Kohl Center to watch the Badger basketball team play UW-Stout. I am hopeful to see them play the starters into the second half, but since it's exhibition, you never know. In addition to my Badger first tonight, our own Wendy Neuberger has her first Badger football game to goto tomorrow! I know she'll have some fun there too!

I hope y'all had fun with Halloween earlier this week and now it's time to gear up for Thanksgiving and the busiest shopping day of the year the day after!

Granite Peak started making snow this week, anyone else champing at the bit to go skiing or snowmobiling yet?

Hey chad... love seeing you every morning on the news.. good to see your happy cheery face... sad to see billy leave though... but at least we still have u and wendi :D i do have to say you are great person wonderful personality and quite the character... have met u once or twice at that "establishment" keep on smiling... and good luck if and when u choose the teaching career... you'd be an awesome teacher... see you in the morning... :D

I'm very sad that my good friend "billy bob" left Wendy and I in the morning! LOL I knew Bill from the last time I lived here and after working with him for 6 months I really do miss the dude in the morning. However, now I'm working solo with Wendy which makes things totally different. She's so awesome to work with... and while I miss the "testosterone" on the morning show behind the scenes... Wendy makes me smile and laugh for the day just as much, if not more, than before! I am still lucky enough to have Bill on the Noon show. Funny thing is, Bill is so good at what he does and totally non tv personality type, he doesn't like being in front of the camera. I was just talking to Neal (from Trig's) today about Bill not totally being gone... he's stuck with me for another few weeks on the Noon show. He has taken our web producer job at WSAW.com and has done so well with it in a short period of time. We all know the future of tv/newspaper/radio is on the net and I will "guarantee" you that wsaw.com will always be first from here on out!
I am a "character"... as I always insist with anyone that meets/knows me... what you see is what you get. I am the eternal optimist and am always hopeful for the future.

Hope it's not going to snow tomorrow like we have heard on the weather reports today. I still have a robbin in my yard and want to keep him a little longer. What about you any there?

I have been lucky enough to see a few blue jays and cardinals the past several mornings this week from the weather deck out back by the Wisconsin River. I don't think I will be seeing them much anymore!

It will definitely snow today... checkout the weather page to find out more about how much is expected in your area. I'm going more of a 3" to 6" range, with around 4" or so in Wausau. Some areas may even see up to 7" or 9" in a few areas!
Biggest thing about this snow... doesn't matter how much is out there once it's accumulated... the roads will still be in poor shape later today and especially later tonight.
Be careful travelling the next day or so!

Chad\, I understand now why you want to teach. I know you would be a great teacher. You really need to have a social life\, cause you're such a fun person and you can meet a nice young lady. Sure would miss you though. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Teaching would be a lot of fun... better hours to begin with! I agree, a social life would be nice at some point... but in all honesty... it takes a lot to get me down. I'm just a naturally happy person, which is something anyone in this business has to be to survive as long as I have! :)
It's funny, my mom was asking me the same question on her way to see my brother and his family this week... when are you going to meet someone. For the first time in a long while, I was speechless as to what to say!

Hi there, I am a bit late with saying any thing on this topic, but what happen to Jay, we called him Uncle Fester, we love you and am very happy to turn channel 7 on with smiling faces. i am a morning person and it is nice to see people in the morning who can smile as well. You have brought alot to the morning show, and that is put in a nice way..... don't take off teaching to soon, you would be missed.

I won't be teaching anytime soon, that's for sure. I will say that keeping a smile on your face on tired days like this is certainly a chore!

How was your FIRST trip the the Kohls Center this weekend? What about Wendy did she enjoy the Badgers football game?

Any robbins by you yet? We have 3 by our house yet.

Wendy absolutely loved her first Badger football game at Camp Randall and hasn't stopped talking about it yet this morning! I had a great time at the basketball game and hopefully will get a chance to see one again.

Granite Peak may not be able to make much snow this week with overnight lows only in the 30's and 40's throughout most of this week. It will cool off quite a bit by the end of the week though.

I'll be working Thanksgiving and the Friday afterwards, but we only have a 10pm show on Thanksgiving so it won't be a typical 10 hour day like normal. By the way, a few websites are devoted to releasing Black Friday ads a few weeks before the actual day. I found a few of these last year and then called my mother to see how accurate they were. (Mom's a store manager at KMart in the state of Washington) She said that the information was actually pretty accurate... we'll see if that is the same case this year too.

HE GONE... updated blogdate... Friday 1027.06
This morning is a day of change for those of us at NewsChannel 7, for we are losing someone off the morning show to work on other endeavors here at the station. Today is Bill Martens last morning on NewsChannel 7 as he moves into a new position within the building. Bill has spent about 3 years on this morning show and will be moving into a more normal shift, which of course we're all jealous of! He will still be anchoring the noon show and will be occasionally filling in on various newscasts for the foreseeable future. He is now the "Jack of all trades" at the station, including the voice of the farm market reports during the noon show!
I met Bill just over 3 years ago at one of the local establishments here in town and knew that I hated this guy from the get go! LOL I'm just kidding! I think I speak for most, if not all of us that work the morning shift, when I say, we will miss him. His professionalism, his ability to work when in a crunch and have it all come off without a hitch are Bill Martens trademarks. I think Wendy will miss his knuckle cracking a bit too!
I think that sometimes (most of the time!) Wendy and I are able to portray him as a "doom and gloom" type person, but I have to tell you all, that is just an act. He is fun to work with, usually pretty positive about things and knows how to make our show flow and work well. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you... drop him an email: bmartens@wsaw.com Tell him I sent y'all!

Expect a few other changes within the next month... all I will say about them is that these changes will add more to what NewsChannel 7 already offers. Enough said before the bosses find out I typed this!

In addition, don't forget to send a postcard in to win the "official SnowScraper 7" ice scrapers! It's easy to do, just send your postcards to:
SnowScraper 7
1114 Grand Ave
Wausau, WI 54403
We'll probably start drawing these within the next few weeks. They are sturdy and clear a nice path through the frost with one stroke!
Good Luck!

Where is the SUN?? We just had a few light flurries around 8:40 this morning.

Very limited sunshine today unfortunately... but we'll eventually get some sun by tomorrow as it starts to warm up a bit for the second half of the weekend.

Happy Halloween Chad watch out for the GHOSTS and Gobblins tonight.

Thanks... now I'm really spooked out when I go to my car at 3am in the morning! LOL Happy Halloween!

Chad you asked if anyone has seen any robbins lately. Well I have 2 RIGHT NOW in the front yard. Hope this means fall is still with us and the snow holds off for ALONG TIME.

I hope the super cold stuff does not show up this year... but it's only the beginning of November now.... YIKES! We have a long ways to go 'til Spring and it doesn't look like we'll get snow for a few more weeks. I'm looking forward to doing some ice fishing this winter!

Chad, I'm so glad that you're back in Wausau. When you left I felt really sad. Now I read that you hope to teach someday. Sure hope that it won't be soon, although those hours you have are pretty bad. But---please stay awhile!!!! You are the best!

I am happy to be back and thank you for the comments, they are making me blush as I type this! The hours are sometimes really bad and other times not so bad. Coming into work when the town is sleeping is a tough thing to do most mornings. During the week, your body gets into a routine of living on 4 or 5 hours of sleep, so it does get a bit better throughout the week! I only hope to teach someday because meteorologists working in tv usually have very short careers, especially if you work these kind of hours! In addition, having these kinds of hours makes it tough to have a personal life outside of work... but being single does lessen that blow.
Teaching is a lot of fun and basically I do a little bit of it now when I'm out giving school/civic group talks. My ideal situation would be to stay here and try to teach a class or two at one of the local area colleges within the next few years. I want to justify going through the extra pain and money of getting my Masters Degree several years ago!
Stay Warm!

Was so relieved to hear that Bill is staying with Ch. 7 -- "Mr. Grumpy" as he would like everyone to believe. I will miss him in the AM trio -- but wish him and the entire crew only the best. Thanks for the "snowscraper" promo -- now if I can only find a postcard!

I can't tell you how lucky we are that he is staying onboard at the station. I did mornings for 3 years before... it takes a toll on the body waking up at 1am and going home by 1pm with a bedtime of 5 or 6pm. We'll miss him, that's for sure!

Hey Chad\, where did you find that SpongeBob water bottle for Bill? That made me laugh this morning and now I want one! :) -Stacy-

I found it fitting after our story about the little boy in Antigo who crawled into a crane game trying to get SpongBob out! Bill wanted his own SpongeBob and since he has a coffee mug but no water bottle, I thought I would "hit two birds with one stone" and get him a SpongeBob water bottle. The thing is pretty awesome... sturdy, lightweight and with a rope so he can put it around his neck while riding his bike with the awesometastic bike horn I got him this morning! LOL By the way, look for them at your local "mart" store.

Blog Date 1023.06

Ahhh, yes… Mondays! You’re at that point where you’re waking up in the morning, the alarm goes off and you wonder, where did the weekend go and what did I get accomplished? That was me at 1am this morning when the alarm went off as I pitched my first alarm clock across the room. I have multiple alarm clocks, so should one get broken in the throw, I have a few backups.
I was very happy to watch the Packers win yesterday as the played the Dolphins down in Miami. I also kept taking note that it was sunny and 90 down there, which almost seems unfathomable to me since we’ve been so darn cold the past few weeks. Unfortunately, the very chilly weather will continue for the rest of this week.
We are getting some indications now that next week we may break out of this below average, cool weather funk and may see temperatures again near 50. By the way, the average high for this time of year is 53 and we’ll end up below that until Sunday or next Monday.

Anyone else still seeing a few robins flying around town in the past week? The geese are almost all gone, but I’m still seeing a few robins, usually they’re long gone by this point. Maybe El Nino will take over in the Pacific and warm our winter up a bit? Only time will tell.

No robins in my area. The only thing flying these days are the last few leaves on the trees. I think all this cold weather we are having has scared them away until next spring.

You never know... maybe it will suddenly get warm?

Thank you for coming to Thomas Jefferson school.Megan

Anytime Megan and thank you for the letters! Now, talk your teacher into setting up a tour and coming to see the studio sometime in the Spring for even more learning fun!

Hi Chad\, Do you think we are going to have an indian summer? I'd likek to see a couple days in the 60's.

If you would have asked me a few days ago, I would have said yes. However, the past few days have really trended towards some cooler weather returning by the middle of next week. I won't say that it won't or can't happen, it just doesn't look that likely in the next few weeks. Over the past 10 years, there have been only 16 days of 60 degree temps or warmer... that dates back to 1996. That doesn't mean that we won't see a day or two, but it just doesn't look like we'll see a string of 60 degree days in a row.
If you're curious to know which years had how many, here's the list.
1996, 1997, 2002,2004 and 2005 had no 60 degree days.
There were 3 60 degree days in 1998, 4 in 1999, 3 in 2000, 5 in 2001 and 1 in 2003.

Dear Mr.Franzen\,
Thank you for putting us on your Channel 7 website. We enjoyed seeing our classroom on the computer. Thanks again!
Mrs. Eder's 2nd grade class

I had a lot of fun talking to your class. Now we have to get you and your students to come to my "classroom" ... aka the NewsChannel 7 Studio.

Updated Blog 10/17/2006 now 10/22/06

What a great time to start one as the weather has already turned nasty for the day. Oh well, it’s that time of year as the leaves continue to fall and so does the temperatures. Looks like a nice stretch of sit and home and stay under the covers, near the fire type weather to me.
I don’t have a set agenda for this blog, but will be updating it several times a week with whatever seems to come naturally and fit into this “Blog Home”. It may be weather, it may be sports, entertainment, current events, etc…. a lot of this will be driven by you, the viewer. I have my 3rd school talk of the year at Thomas Jefferson Elementary here in Wausau and with such a change in weather the past few days, I'm sure we'll have plenty to talk about. Here's me entertaining and teaching the kids!

I have another school talk coming up in a few weeks at Prairie River Middle School in Merrill. I'm looking forward to it. By the way, if you're looking for one of the StormTeam 7 Meteorologists to come and talk at your school or event, give us a call or drop us an email. It's (715)-845-0077 or use our email addresses: cfranzen@wsaw.com for me, kobrien@wsaw.com for Katie or mbreunling@wsaw.com for Mike. Please give us as much advanced notice as possible and we'll do our best to get it all set up!

I think you've always been the BEST meteorologist in town! So glad to see back in Wausau! I missed you while you were gone! Stacy

I am humbled by that comment and I'm happy to be back.

Great to have you on the morning shift -- I'm one of those crazy 5 a.m. folks who has the alarm come on then\, only to reach for the remote to see what's really going on in the world. Do appreciate your good humor and up to the minute weather info. Hope you enjoy being back!

I have more than enjoyed being back and I must say that working at the Big SAW as we call it is a lot of fun! It's nice to hear when people are watching us, we're always interested in knowing when people have us on and for how long. We have found that most people have us on in the background as they're getting ready for work and maybe getting the kids ready for school.

Why do you have a blog but nobody else on the morning show does? Seems to me you haven't been at the station as long as Bill and Wendy. What gives?

That is being worked on right now. I wasn't sure why I had a blog first, but I can tell you I won't be the last. Look for some other changes coming up in the next month or so.

why is the weather on the inter net for channel 7 so old--Sept?? why is this not current?

If you could be more specific, I could try to offer an answer to your question. Myself and Bill Martens could not find something from September on our website. Is it maybe a preference on your web browser not being set to look for a new version on every visit to the webpage?

Thats a really nice picture of you giving a school talk to the Thomas Jefferson students. I was just wondering\, how long is that tie? It looks like you borrowed it from Shaq. Or are you really short?
Thanks- Jacktastic\, Wausau

Hey now, no height jokes! The tie is just fine, if you notice up at the top my collar is unbuttoned and my tie is loosened away from my neck, hence it hangs lower than a tie should- which by the way, I am told the tip of the tie should touch the beltline, which mine when tightened, usually and hopefully do.
Don't I usually see you playing racquetball at the gym?

Welcome to the morning shift. I enjoy watching you in the morning and rely on the first weather segments to dress the kids properly before they head off to school. Also enjoy the chatting between you\, Wendy and Bill. What's with him and the gloomy weather? Maybe you can get him to do a guest blog or something. I'm sure I'm not the only one that would like to hear from Bill. Keep up the great work\, Chad!
Dawn from Medford

It’s good to be back on the morning shift up in Wisconsin. I worked 3 years on the morning show at a different station in town and I must say, I really did miss it. I do NOT miss the waking up at 12:30am though!
I must say, working with Bill and Wendy is a lot of fun and that Bill isn’t as bad with the gloomy weather as Wendy and I make him out to be. I’ll ask Bill to guest a part of my blog and will post it when he gets it done.

Dear Chad\,
SO glad you are back in Wausau\, and back on t.v. I missed you while you were gone!! You do a great job!
Mindy

Thanks Mindy! I am very happy to be back, that's for sure. It was weird to be gone for only 2 years and come back and see how much this area has changed. (not only just road construction!)

Sometimes I see you at the Y playing raquetball. Why do you run around in such an awkward way\, and you seem to sweat so much? Are you a really old guy????
Jacktastic-Wausau

I am not fleet of foot like I used to be in my younger and crazier days, but I certainly try. I still can move a bit, but not in a way that looks good and that hard work does make me sweat. If you're around the courts and are hearing grunts on a few hits or someone yelling... that may be me! See ya at the gym!

C.F.Chad I would like to know where have you been before you came to Channel 7 have you been with Channel 9 before!?!? Tuesday October 10th\,2006.

I "broke" into the broadcasting business back in 1998, at the station down the road (ch. 9). I was working in Wausau until 2004 and then spent 2 years at a station in Rockford, IL. Before 1998, I was going to graduate school in Mississippi and was teaching meteorology and physics classes, something I hope to do again.