Canoe & Dock at Sunrise, photo by bioprof52
Enjoy your weekend and the month of July!
View the photo background bigtacular and see more in bioprof52’s Bear Lake slideshow!
More summer wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.
Take a bow & reflect
Boat Bow Reflection, photo by Sharon
View Sharon’s photo background bigilicious and see more in her CARS, TRUCKS, TRAINS, BOATS, and MOTORCYCLES slideshow.
More summer wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.
Home Before the Squall
Home Before the Squall, photo by Julie Mansour
Thinking there’s been a lot of rain lately? You’re not wrong! Michigan has experienced a lot of rain over the last few weeks, and mLive meteorologist Mark Torregrossa shares that there are three weather conditions all combining over the Great Lakes that keep the rain machine running:
Over the next 10 days there should be three weather systems moving through the Great Lakes region. Each of these storms should have one to two inches of rain in the heaviest swath of precipitation.
The cause of the wet weather starts with numerous storm systems being born over the northern Pacific Ocean. These storms are hitting the Pacific Northwest coast every three to five days. The storm systems then cross the hotter than average Rockies and drop south into the base of a “U”-shaped bend in the jetstream. This U-shaped area is where storms spin faster and intensify. It’s the area along the jetstream where large-scale weather systems are at their strongest.
The final part to this wet weather scenario is what we call a “wide-open Gulf of Mexico.” Southern winds from the Gulf of Mexico into the Midwest and Ohio Valley bring high amounts of water vapor northward. The strong storm systems use that water vapor to produce heavy rain.
…The total rainfall forecast over the next week, through July 4, 2017 shows NOAA forecasters expect a swath of five to six inch total rain. We will just have to watch where this heaviest rain sets up. Right now it is expected to fall south of the flooded areas in Michigan. It could easily shift north or south a few hundred miles.
Julie caught the Neptune beating the rain in Holland last weekend. View her photo background bigtacular and see more in her slideshow.
#TBT with the Oldest Ship on the Great Lakes
Lake Michigan … barge pushing, photo by Ken Scott Photography
Here’s a shot of a familiar vessel, the St. Marys Challenger. As this article on the conversion of the Challenger says, eventually, age catches up with you:
St. Marys Challenger lived up to its name by defying that assertion longer than its counterparts. But after 107 years, the laker was taken out of service in November 2013 to be converted to a barge. Built in 1906, Challenger was the oldest operating freighter on the Great Lakes.
The decision to convert the 551-foot cement carrier followed a series of upgrades spanning several decades, including extensive hull rebuilding, installation of a self-unloading cargo system and a myriad of other structural upgrades. In the end, the owner was left with a Skinner Marine Uniflow four-cylinder reciprocating steam engine burning heavy fuel oil, outdated DC electric and an aged mechanical propulsion system that made operating the boat an ever-increasing expense.
…Port City Marine, based in Muskegon, Mich., considered its alternatives, including retrofitting Challenger with a diesel engine. Not only would that have cost about $20 million — nearly double the barge conversion project — but it would have saddled the company with ongoing expenses. And while a crew of 25 was needed to operate Challenger, the articulated tug-barge (ATB) can operate with 11.
Read on for lots more!
View Ken’s photo bigger on Facebook, follow Ken Scott Photography on Facebook and visit kenscottphotography.com to view & purchase photos!
Sailing into the Weekend
Sunset Sail, photo by Julie Mansour
View the photo background bigilicious and see more in Julie’s slideshow.
Lake Dreams
Lake Dreams, photo by Francios
I hope your lake dreams come true this weekend!
About the photo Francois writes: A capture taken very early in the morning with fog and mist stretched across the lakes at Leelanau. Processed for a suitable dreamy hazy feel as the light was almost a blue & golden hue. The boat was anchored and just drifting in the fog with wonderful reflections on the water.
View the photo bigger and see more in his Michigan Journeys slideshow.
Shipping Season: The Saginaw at Mission Point
Saginaw at Mission Point, photo by Krystal Kauffman
Capistrano has their swallows, but a sure sign of Spring in Michigan is when the freighters return to the Great Lakes. One of the best places for shipwatching is right where Krystal took this photo: Mission Point at the mouth of the North Channel near the Soo Locks.
View the photo bigger and follow My Michigan by Krystal on Facebook for more.
The USS Michigan
USS Michigan, photo by US Navy/Steven F LeBlanc
We move from a Coast Guard photo yesterday to a Navy photo today. While this photo showing a starboard bow view of the nuclear-powered strategic missile submarine USS Michigan (SSBN-727) was taken sometime before June of 1982 in the north Pacific, I’m going to allow it. mLive reports that the USS Michigan nuclear submarine is now operating in Korean waters:
The USS Michigan is more than 560 feet long and weighs more than 18,000 tons when submerged and is regularly deployed throughout the Western Pacific from its home port of Bremerton, Wash.
It was first launched in 1980 and commissioned two years later. It was built to carry the Navy’s third generation submarine-launched ballistic missile, the Trident C-4. The Michigan carried out its primary mission of deterrence for nearly two decades in over 60 missions.
At the end of the Cold War, it was spared from decommission and converted with two other ships to the Ohio-class sea frame. In 2007, it followed the USS Ohio, Florida and Georgia as a guided missile submarine.
The vessel is capable of hitting speeds of over 20 knots while submerged and can drop over 800 feet below sea level. It also contains 22 tubes that carry seven Tomahawks each.
…The Michigan is the third ship to bear the name in the U.S. Navy’s history. The original Michigan was the first iron warship in the U.S. Navy and likely the first iron or steel warship of its size in the world, according to a biography on the Navy’s website.
Read on more more at mLive and also see the Navy’s page on the USS Michigan.
View the photo bigger and see more pictures at the USS Michigan photo archive from the Navy.
#TBT: Shining in Cheyboygan with the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw
Shining in Cheyboygan, photo by Bill Johnson
Here’s a neat “Throwback Thursday” (TBT), a photo of the United States Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw on May 25, 1993 when she was still in service. Bill writes:
This is the original Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, WAGB 83, wearing its silvery whitish colors, in its home port of Cheboygan, MI. This beauty was built in 1944 to aid the war effort by keeping the Great Lakes open during the winter. The cutter was intentionally built too wide to get through the Saint Lawrence Seaway in order to keep her in the Great Lakes. She was moved to Mackinaw in June of 2006, decommissioned, and turned into a museum at the Chief Wawatam docks. Today, she wears the red hull that she was retired in.
You can see the current look of the Icebreaker Mackinaw and get information about visiting on the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum website.
View Bill’s photo background big and see more in his Boats, Ships, and Stuff That Floats slideshow.
More Throwback Thursdays on Michigan in Pictures.
Freighterwatching & Moonchasing
Freighterwatching & Moonchasing, photo by Stephanie
MoonGiant’s page on the February full moon says:
The Full Moon for Feb. 2017 will occur in the afternoon of February 10th for the United States and just after midnight on February 11th for Europe.February’s Full Moon is commonly known as the Full Snow Moon or Hunger Moon by the American Indians. The Apache Indians refered to it as the “frost sparkling in the sun” Moon while the Omaha Indians refefred to it as the “moon when geese come home”.
See Stephanie’s photo of a freighter on the St. Clair River taken in November of 2016 bigger, view more in her slideshow, and also check out Flickr’s Supermoon 2016 Gallery that features Stephanie’s photo along with pics from all over the world.
Michigan in Pictures 