Winter’s underway big time in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. My friend and meteorological colleague John Dee, who lives on Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula—the “finger” of land on the U.P. into Lake Superior and often receives phenomenal amounts of winter snow, e-mailed the following report I thought you might find interesting:
“Since last Thursday (Nov 27th), I have picked up 39 1/2" of snow at my house and have 24" on the ground. The kick off to all of this happened last Tuesday in white out conditions caused by 4" of snow in 1 hour combined with 71 mph winds! I have never seen it snow and blow so hard at the same time. I know seasonal forecasting is like throwing a dart at a wall, but looking back, there is some historical connection between mild autumns up here and an abrupt change to winter late in November leading to a cold and snowy winter for these parts. I have also noticed that the Keweenaw can many times be the "canary in the coal mine" for the rest of the Midwest. Meaning if we start out our winter cold and snowy it can foretell the same for not just us, but much of the northern 1/2 of the Midwest for the rest of the winter.”
Interesting observations and a great photo of the snow up your way over the weekend, John! Many thanks!
-Tom Skilling
Photo courtesy: John Dee
