OSNW3 | OSHKOSH-NORTH

The words below were originally written for The Greater Oshkosh Editions of the Scene Newspaper ---- Shortly after I moved to Oshkosh in 1996 I realized how arousing it would become living here, on the water. Each day I admire our water landscape feeling truly fortunate to call Oshkosh home. The great amount of water resources that border or flow through our city demand respect and continual maintenance and care. Each time rain falls from the sky or a snowpack melt, the water that runs off our roofs, driveways, and yards flow into storm water sewers and creeks that eventually flow directly into the Fox River and Lake Winnebago. There are an outstanding amount of factors that contribute to a storm water management system. However, ultimately it is the amount of rain that falls on a particular area that brings the land use and soil types to a cohesive head preventing storm water runoff from entering our waterways. The city of Oshkosh uses precipitation data to effectively analyze ...

The morning of Sep-19, after 13 consecutive days, we finally recorded measurable precipitation. Most will think that 13 days without measurable precipitation is just the tip of the iceberg, but here in the western portion of the Great Lakes basin we seldom deal with such longevity. Since the genesis of OSNW3, back on Nov 1, 2006, we've recorded just 8 streaks of 13 or more days without measurable precipitation, just 7% of the time. For more information see graph and list below. (day of the streak end is listed) 4 streaks of 13 days Sep-18, 2011 Apr-2, 2010 Nov-18, 2009 Sep-29, 2008 2 streaks of 17 days Oct-20, 2010 Apr-18, 2009 1 streak of 19 days Feb-23, 2007 1 streak of 21 days Sep-20, 2009 These types of streaks do not always lead to drought situations, but with the recent lack of precipitation in the past two months some of Wisconsin is now in a slight drought situation. The recent rain may have helped as most around the state recorded up to a half an inch or...