Above Lake Michigan by Bill Dolak
With full honor & respect to the absolutely brutal temps across Michigan this morning, here are some sweet photos from a series that Bill took on February 1st at Fennville’s Pier Cove Park. There’s even a shot of a sundog in one of the photos!
See more in his Droneography – Autel EVO Lite+ gallery on Flickr!
Hasselblad 501CM w: 180CF-Lake Superior Shoreline (Little Girl’s Point) by Kirt E Carter
One of my favorite things about Michigan in Pictures is seeing some of the incredible cameras people are using.
One man who has some sweet gear is Kirt E. Carter and he has been bringing some incredible Hasselblad pics to the Absolute Michigan group on Flickr for the better part of a decade. I figured today was a good day to bring attention to his amazing work. The large one below of icicles on the Eagle Harbor shoreline – see more in the Hasselblad search in the Absolute Michigan group & for sure head over to his website to view & purchase his work!
Valentine on Ice by GR2 Photography
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone & I hope you have a lovely & love-filled Valentine’s Day & weekend!
I’ve featured this awesome shot from Lake Michigan in Empire before & I will feature it again! See more on GR2 Photography’s Facebook.
Holstein Cattle in Michigan by Lee Rentz
mLive’s Mark Torregrossa shares that there is a winter weather advisory for 4-6″ of snow covering most of the southern two-thirds of the Lower Peninsula. He notes that the far southeast corner, including Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Monroe are expected to get some freezing rain as well that will reduce snowfall to 2-4″ in that area. He also shared a little bit about how a storm watch evolves over time:
A winter storm watch is usually issued when a storm system is one to two days from starting. This long lead time is used to help you get ready if you have to make travel or work changes. Eventually as the storm gets closer, the winter storm watch either turns to a winter storm warning or a winter weather advisory.
The map above shows how the large winter storm watch area earlier today has been fine-tuned to mostly winter weather advisories. A winter storm watch still exists for the Thumb and northeast shoreline until the next round of data shows which way to go on the watch. There should be some lake enhancement of the snow totals in the Thumb and northeast shoreline, possibly putting those areas over the six inch winter storm warning criteria.
Lee shared this photo of Holstein cattle on an Amish farm riding out a winter snowstorm in Mecosta County to the Absolute Michigan group on Flickr last January. When I did a quick Google search because I had forgotten if Lee was a he or a she, I realized that he had a lot more photos in excellent essay entitled FALLING SNOW: A Landscape Transformed on his blog:
When I see snow falling, dissolving the landscape into a place entirely different, I am enthralled by the veiled look of the land. Every surface is softened and sounds are muffled and most people have retreated indoors. The familiar is transformed.
The pictures in this photographic essay were taken near my Michigan home, where I love to venture into the heaviest snow squalls, finding barns and forests transformed by the falling snow. I am fortunate to live near an Amish community, where their barns and buggies and homes are often featured in my winter photography. Enjoy the photographs, and find a new appreciation for winter.
Head over to the Lee Rentz Photography Journal for lots more!
mLive’s Mark Torregrossa shares that the winter storm bearing down on Michigan overnight is expected to bring a solid band of freezing rain from Jackson to Ann Arbor to Detroit and south to Michigan’s southern border that could have up to one-tenth of an inch of ice accumulation. Based on radar, the iciness will be worst from 4am – 9am Thursday
Mike captured this great shot of a mail truck delivering in Port Huron on a winter day with a Nikon Zfc & TTArtisan 50mm Tilt shift lens 1.4. I hadn’t heard of this lens befor which the manufacturer says transforms ordinary scenes into captivating ‘Lilliput’ landscapes with selective focus and beautiful bokeh.
See more in Mike’s Winter 2025 gallery & for sure follow him on Flickr.
Woody the Woodchuck by Howell Nature Center
The Howell Nature Center shares: Groundhog Day 2025 is a wrap! Woody has predicted EARLY SPRING! 🌷🪻☀️ Thank you to everyone who came out to help us celebrate with Michigan’s official woodchuck. This was Woody’s 27th prediction, and her accuracy rate is about 65%!
So keep your Punxsutawney Phil forecast of 6 more weeks of winter, I’m going with Michigan’s official groundhog! Last year the Howell Nature Center shared why the event is so meaningful to them, education:
Groundhogs are often villified because of their digging habits, and it is easy to forget about their neat adaptations and their role in the ecosystem. We love sharing information about them to increase understanding, and this event gives Woody the opportunity to serve as an ambassador for her species to help people live in harmony with woodchucks.
DID YOU KNOW…
🐾 Woodchucks dig burrows that can be 50 ft long and include several different chambers for different purposes like raising young, hibernating, and toileting? Other species will even move into abandoned chambers!
🐾 With all that digging, woodchucks help aerate soil and recycle nutrients to increase soil health.
🐾 Woodchucks help disperse seeds, which promotes plant growth and diversity.
🐾 Woodchucks sometimes eat insects, which helps eliminate garden pests like grubs.
🐾 Woodchucks are an important part of the ecosytem and provide food for predators.
🐾 Woodchucks, also known as “whistle pigs”. are one of our only true hibernators in MI.
🐾 Their body temperatures can drop to 40 F and their heart rates to 4 beats per minute during hibernation.
Our wildlife helpline is available to help solve conflict with groundhogs that are living in undesirable places. We have lots of tips and tricks to humanely evict them and encourage them to move to a different location. Trapping and relocating is never a good idea, since it often results in death of groundhogs that are not able to find resources in a new location or of babies that have been orphaned by the removal of their mother.
I hope that you are able to make a donation on their website. Here are some of the injured and orphaned chucks they have cared for in their rehabilitation clinic.
January Shore by Andrew McFarlane
Most of the photos on Michigan in Pictures are by other people, but sometimes on Fridays I like to share my own. These are from the Lake Michigan shore in Leland from late January 2017. Follow me here for more pics and for sure feel welcome to support me & Michigan in Pictures through Patreon donations!
Winter Roads – December 2023 by Thomas Mann
This gorgeous shot by Thomas from near East Jordan a couple Decembers ago is our latest Facebook page cover. See in his Michigan Winter Scenes gallery on Flickr!
Lake Michigan Ice Mounds by Mark Swanson
The Lansing State Journal reports the National Weather Service says that a triple threat of subzero temperatures, high winds and ice-free Great Lakes really piled up the lake effect snow last week:
“This snowy week is nearly at an end, including a visit from real Arctic air, and many towns near Lake Michigan and Lake Superior got a foot or two of fresh snow as a result,” the NWS said. “Clearly, the vast majority of snow was a result of lake effect, as plenty of other parts of Michigan only saw an inch or two at best.”
Air temperatures in Michigan fell below zero Jan. 18-22. In some cases, the thermometer didn’t read above zero for two days. The coldest reading in the state came Monday night when Stambaugh, in the western UP, registered minus 30 — before wind chill. The town also saw minus 28 on Tuesday night while Ironwood’s NWS observer recorded minus 27.
You can see that the conditions have also piled up shoreline ice in these pictures that Mark took over the weekend at Lincoln Township Beach just north of Grand Mere State Park. Here are some more recent ones and a shot from summer of 2016 below. More in Mark’s 2025 gallery on Flickr!
Whiteout on US-2 by Gustafsons Smoked Fish
Gustafson’s Smoked Fish shared this photo yesterday from their Facebook as they closed due to generally horrible conditions. They are open again today & located about a half hour west of the Mackinac Bridge on US-2 along the northern shore of Lake Michigan. The family has been making and selling smoked fish, jerky & cheese curds for nearly 50 years, and they have always been one of my favorite post-Bridge stops!
Now here’s a shot of their delicious salmon. If anyone is driving past do you mind picking up a couple pounds for me?
Fish in the smoker by Gustafson’s Smoked Fish
Michigan in Pictures 