The “blood moon” eclipse takes place during March’s full moon, which will occur in the early morning of Tuesday, March 3. The full moon’s peak and eclipse’s totality to coincide at 6:38 a.m., according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Clear skies permitting, the Worm Moon could be visible for part of the eclipse in Michigan, with the moon to set for local viewers during totality.
Our friends over at EarthSky explain that total eclipses can turn the moon a deep shade of red, and have lots more detail about viewing. They explain why this eclipse called a Blood Moon eclipse and that the shade of red on the moon will depend mostly on what’s happening in Earth’s atmosphere at the moment of the eclipse.
Randy took this photo of the October 2014 total lunar eclipse over the Grand Haven South Pierhead Lighthouse and says that keeping the camera still enough in the howling wind was a chore in itself!! View & purchase his work including some killer fishing photos on his website.
These photos of the St. Joseph North Pier Outer Lighthouse on Lake Michigan taken just four days apart provide a dramatic example of how fast cold weather & high winds can build ice! For sure follow Michigan Native Photography on Facebook for their latest & more great Michigan photos.
The only places not under an Extreme Cold Warning are the Southeast corner of the state – from Saginaw and The Thumb down to Flint, Ann Arbor and Detroit, as well as the Lansing and Jackson area along the southern rim of Michigan. Those southern and eastern spots are under a Cold Weather Advisory, as the cold is not expected to be quite as severe there.
The Extreme Cold Warning now covers the Upper Peninsula – where wind chills could plummet to -45 degrees over the next couple of days – and all of Northern Michigan and West Michigan. This extreme warning covers Grand Rapids, Holland, Muskegon, Traverse City, Gaylord and the Tip of the Mitt, too.
That’s a big yikes from me! Brian took this when we were deep in the polar vortex of January of 2019 from the South Pier in Grand Haven. See his latest on Flickr and STAY WARM!
PS: If you want to tune into the current scene in Grand Haven, check out the Grand Haven South Pier Cam!
It’s very rare that we have aurora alerts at the G4 storm level and rarer still that they disappoint so northern lights aficionados were pretty excited about the kP8/G4 Aurora Alert was issued for last night. While hopes were high & some good shots were taken, the actual output was surprisingly muted & short-lived. Our friends at EarthSky explain that this was due to the arrangement of the CME’s magnetic field limiting how much energy actually reached Earth’s atmosphere & shaping which regions saw auroras and which did not.
During the CME’s initial impact phase, the Bz briefly dipped strongly southward. So that allowed solar wind energy to flow efficiently into Earth’s magnetic field. This short-lived interaction quickly caused G4 (severe) geomagnetic storm levels, with Kp (another measure of Earth’s magnetic disturbance) exceeding 8.
Soon after the initial impact, the character of the severe geomagnetic storm changed dramatically. As Earth moved deeper into the core of the CME, the Bz – again, the orientation of the sun’s magnetic field – turned strongly northward. This sustained northward orientation sharply limited the transfer of transfer into Earth’s magnetosphere. And that was what restricted the auroras, despite the overall strength of the storm.
Jeff took this photo from Elberta Pier back in November of 2025 on a night the lights definitely did not disappoint! Follow Watermark Photography on Facebook and see more great shots in the A Little Night Music gallery on his website.
Point Betsie Lighthouse on Lake Michigan just north of Frankfort is one of the most photographed lighthouses in Michigan, but it’s definitely an “ice cleats mandatory” location this time of year! If this view looks good to you, consider supporting the renovation of this iconic lighthouse on with a stay in the Keepers Quarters.
Jeff shares that Wednesday evening was his first time in a while seeing clear skies and sunset, and the ice sculptures made by the wind and breaking waves did not disappoint! There’s a couple more pics below. See (and purchase) this photo & others in the Winter Wonderland gallery on his website, and for sure follow Watermark Photography on Facebook for his latest.
I would be completely remiss in my features of 2026 Michigan photo calendars if I left out one of Michigan in Pictures’ most enduring supporters, John McCormick of Michigan Nut Photography! His 2026 Michigan Wall Calendar is made right here in Michigan and features some dynamite photos from all over the Great Lakes State. He’s got all kinds of other photo-based gifts so head over to michigannutphotography.com today & make the Michigan lover on your list happy!
I am thinking that a good way to help support the photographers who make Michigan in Pictures so cool is to feature their calendars & photos as potential holiday gifts. In a way, you are also supporting the protection of the beautiful places featured in these calendars by sharing that beauty with the people you love!
Neil has been a favorite photographer for a long time now for his excellent work as well as for his photography workshops like the upcoming Munising Winter Workshop that make great gifts as well! He says that you can get his 2026 Michigan Calendar while they last & is also offering 25% off all prints orders through this week with the code: HOLIDAY25 at NeilWeaverPhoto.com.
White River Light in Whitehall was built in 1875. It is now home of a maritime museum, but as this 2012 article from Michigan History Magazine that I shared years ago relates, the light station seems to have a keeper who never retired:
When Karen McDonnell is alone she sometimes hears footsteps on the stairway of the former White River Light. But she isn’t afraid. She says, “I like the comfort it gives me. It’s like a watchman, just making sure everything is okay before it’s too late at night.”
McDonnell is the curator of an old lighthouse that has been turned into a museum. She takes care of the light and gives tours to visitors. Sometimes early in the morning or late at night she hears what sounds like somebody climbing the stairs and walking around on the upper level. She wonders if it might be the spirit of the light’s first keeper.
When the White River Light opened in the mid-1870s, William Robinson and his wife Sarah moved in. Over the years, the English couple raised their family at Whitehall. Sarah died at a young age, but William remained the lightkeeper for 47 years. When the government forced the 87-year-old keeper to retire in 1915, William’s grandson became the next lightkeeper at White River. William helped his grandson run the light, but the rules said that only the lightkeeper and his “immediate” family could live at the lighthouse. William would have to leave. But he refused, telling his grandson, “I am not going to leave this building.” He was right. The day before he had to move out, he died. His grandson buried him in a small nearby cemetery.
Besides Karen, others have heard the unexplained sounds when visiting White River. Karen once asked friends to care for the light while she was gone. She did not mention the unexplained visits. When she returned, her friends asked, “Do you have some kind of ghost walking around upstairs?” They described the same sounds Karen often heard. Although Karen has “never felt fear” when she hears the footsteps, she has never gone up stairs when she hears it. As she explains, “I feel it is a ritual and that I shouldn’t disturb it.”
One of the reasons why most locations on Earth do not enjoy exactly 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of nighttime on the equinoxes is how sunrise and sunset are defined. If sunrise and sunset were defined as the moment the geometric center of the Sun passes the horizon, then the day and night would be exactly 12 hours long. But that is not the case. Sunrise and Sunset are defined as the exact moment the upper edge of the Sun’s disk touches the eastern and the western horizon, respectively. The time it takes for the Sun to fully set, which can be several minutes, makes the day just a bit longer than the night on the equinoxes.
The day with the same sunrise & sunset time is September 25th. The sun still does rise directly in the east & set directly in the west, so don’t forget to pack your sunglasses – a lot of our roads are laid out east/west making the sunrise and sunset around the equinox sun a positively blinding proposition!
Scott took this photo of the St Joseph Lighthouse on September 21, 2020. See more in his awesome Lighthouses gallery on Flickr & enjoy a selfie he took of the last summer sunset of 2014 below!
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