City of Gold IX by Andrew McFarlane
OK here’s one of my pics of the frozen Lake Michigan shore of Leelanau County from back in January of 2009. I chose one with sun because I would like to see the sun! See more in my Frozen Shore gallery on Flickr and STAY WARM!!
Broken ice on Lake Michigan shoreline by Tom Clark
mLive shared yesterday that the coldest air of the season is blanketing Michigan right now, bringing icy temps & dangerously cold wind chills, according to the National Weather Service:
“The coldest air of the winter so far is surging into our area this evening,” according to the NWS meteorologists in the Grand Rapids office. “This is (going to) be the big story for the next 36 hours, how cold it will be. Wind chills will mostly be in the 0-degree to -10 degree range into Tuesday morning. Lows Sunday night will be (between) zero and 10 degrees, and tomorrow we have a secondary surge of even colder air coming in during the afternoon. That will limit our high temperature to the mid-teens.”
…Wind chills are expected to be especially brutal in the U.P. They could drop to 30 degrees below zero near the Wisconsin border tonight and into Monday, the NWS said.
This morning’s Michigan temperature map agrees with a toasty 18 degrees in Detroit dropping to 10 in Mt. Pleasant, 8 by the Mackinac Bridge, -9 in Marquette & all the way down to -15 in Ironwood at the western edge of the Upper Peninsula. Bundle up kids!!
Tom took this back in February of 2018 near Mackinac City. See more in his Michigan Winter gallery on Flickr and view & purchase his work on his website.
Before the Plows Come By by Ann Fisher
Ann captured a nice winter mood in this photo from a late December evening in Marquette. See more in her 2021 UP gallery on Flickr & thanks to all the hardworking plow drivers around the state!
WWJ 950 Detroit shares that last winter Nick Schirripa of the Michigan Department of Transportation, “put some feelers out” on Twitter, asking for help naming Michigan’s snow plows. A year later, all 330 of Michigan’s snow plows have new names.
You can check the plows out in realtime on the M-DOT map. The only one I found out & about this morning was Blizzard T Snowplow, listed as “applying material” way up on the Keweenaw Peninsula. Other names include Alice Scooper & Gordie Plowe, movie references like Darth Blader & Han Snowlo, and even “Control, Salt, Delete” for computer nerds.
Bill got this shot along M-72 along the border of Leelanau & Grand Traverse Counties in northwest lower Michigan back in 2018. See more in his Pics from the Car gallery on Flickr.
shoutout to @hksbks on Twitter for the heads up!
While this year doesn’t seem to be opening with as much hopefulness as 2021, here’s hoping that 2022 has all of us feeling like we’re walking on clouds!
John took this photo yesterday at Saugatuck Dunes State Park. See more in his Michigan 2021 gallery on Flickr.
Icy Sunset on Torch Lake by T P Mann
“Even the most terrible days eventually have their sunsets.”
-Andrew McFarlane
Since a Google search finds exactly ZERO results for “Even the most terrible days eventually have their sunsets” I am low key happy to close the year with an original quotation that I think is perfect for the end of 2021. Here’s hoping that the unfolding of 2022 will be miles better & that you are all happy, healthy, and with the ones you love in the coming year!
TP took this back in March of 2021. See more in his Torch Lake gallery on Flickr.
Flowing all night long by Mark Smith
While this dam isn’t an actual waterfall, I’m going to overlook it due to seasonal appropriateness. In their excellent overview of the history of Fishtown in Leland, the Glen Arbor Sun shares:
Fishtown is located where there once was a natural fish ladder on these traditional Native American fishing grounds. It is one of only few commercial fishing villages still operating today in Michigan. The Native Americans called this spot Mishi-me-go-bing, or alternatively Che-ma-go-bing or Chi-mak-a-ping, meaning “the place where canoes run up into the river to land, because they have no harbor.”
French Canadian millwright, Antoine Manseau, along with his family, are thought to be among some of the first whites to settle here. They came from North Manitou Island in 1853. The following year Manseau and his family, along with John Miller, built the dam at Fishtown. It raised the water level in the river and in Lake Leelanau by as much as an astonishing 12 feet. Since the dam prevented boat traffic from going back and forth in their daily business, launches were, and still are provided on both sides of the dam.
Lots more in the Sun. You can learn more about the history of the dam from Fishtown Preservation.
Mark took this photo a week ago. See more in his Leland gallery & view and purchase his work at Leelanau Landscapes.
An Ode to the Winter Solstice by Cherie
“Winter is not a season, it’s an occupation.” — Sinclair Lewis
Sorry Winter, that’s all I got for you today!! Here’s hoping everyone enjoys the shortest day of the year today. Cherie took this photo way back in 2008 but I still love it! More on her Flickr.
While the last weekend’s record winds were (and remain) a major headache for many Michiganders, there’s at least one group that’s all in favor of the current run of wild weather: surfers. Julie took this photo on Sunday & shares:
Yesterday woke up again to gale force winds. We clock 59 MPH here in town and the waves were churning again. I rode out north and there were 11 surfers. Never seen so many here. Temps rose to 59* and have never seen the likes. But the guys and girls out surfing were having a blast. I was talking to some and some drove over 50 miles to get here because of the way the waves were coming in. We still have so many that don’t have electric out and today it’s 26*. Lots of facilities open for them to come too.
I guess this is yet another reminder that every cloud may very well be someone’s silver lining. Head over to Julie’s Flickr for the latest & have a great week.
Head over to Great Lakes Surfing on Michigan in Pictures for lots more!
Snowplowing Fontinalis road by Laurent Fady
Much of northern Michigan received its first winter storm yesterday. While it was only 4-8″, the heavy & wet snow coupled with winds picking up to 40+ should make it a busy day for our friends in the orange trucks!
Laurent took this back in February of 2018. See more in his Snow & Ice gallery on Flickr & also view & purchase prints on his website.
Please take care on the roads today everyone!
Michigan in Pictures 