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Wednesday, December 20, 2006
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Let it snow, PLEASE Possible snow Thursday may not be enough to prevent brown Christmas Staff Writer For those few dreaming of a brown Christmas, your wish will more than likely come true.
Long gone are the 2 inches of snow that graced the area a few weeks ago. It melted away within days in a streak of unseasonably warm December temperatures.
When will it snow next? Probably Thursday. But the real question is: When will the next significant snow come, with amounts that last long enough to enjoy?
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Workers removed one of the snowmaking guns from the course Tuesday where Brainerd International Raceway personnel have worked on making snow for 150 hours, creating a depth of six feet over 10 acres. The snow will be groomed for the second annual BIR World Power Sports Association Snocross on Jan. 6-7.
Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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Though there's a 40 percent chance of snow Thursday, Mike Stewart, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Duluth, said Brainerd area denizens shouldn't get too excited.
"We could cross our fingers and hope we do get enough snow there, but right now, there's just not the snowstorms we'd like out there, what we're used to and what we'd like to deal with," Stewart said. "This winter has not been fun at all."
At the most, we could see 2-3 inches of snow Thursday, Stewart said. It probably would be a heavy, wet snow, he added, and wouldn't stick around long as sunny skies and high temperatures of 30-35 degrees forecasted for Sunday would melt it away - just in time for Christmas.
This winter has not been fun at all.
Mike Stewart,
Meteorologist
Holiday forecast
- Wednesday night: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow after midnight. Lows 18-23 degrees.
- Thursday: Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of light snow. Highs 30-35. Lows 20-25.
- Friday: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 28-33. Lows 15-20.
- Saturday: Partly sunny with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs 25-30. Lows 10-15.
- Christmas Eve: Partly cloudy. Lows 10-15.
- Christmas Day: Partly cloudy. Highs 25-30.
Source: The National Weather Service.
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Forecasts, however, are subject to change from one day to the next, Stewart said, and what will actually be on the ground come Christmas morning - dormant grass or fluffy snow - cannot for certain be told. It's just too far away to tell, he said.
At Ski Gull, workers aren't waiting around for Mother Nature to provide. They're creating their own white Christmas.
For the past month, machines have been pumping out snow whenever temperatures drop below 30 degrees. By Friday, they hope to have every ski run open, chalet manager Kim Reynolds said.
"We just always pray for cold weather and snow, of course," Reynolds said. "If we can't get snow, we always hope for cold weather."
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A snowmobile sat on a trailer Tuesday in front of Auto World on Highway 371 in Baxter. The absence of snow has created a grim picture for snowmobiling in the immediate future.
Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
» Purchase reprints of this photo.
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If all goes well and sunshine and warm temperatures don't destroy the work already completed, Reynolds said Ski Gull will work on covering the snow tubing hill after Christmas.
"If it's cooler after Christmas, we'll have the (snow-making) guns going 24/7," Reynolds said. "But, again, that all depends on the weather."
MATT ERICKSON can be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.
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