On December 31st, I will begin my 20th year of doing Michigan-focused photo blog Michigan in Pictures!! I’m going to try some new things this year to keep things fresh & fun for Michigan in Pictures regulars including yours truly like featuring more of my photos from the present day & my surprisingly extensive archives. As with today’s entry, a lot of them will be from Detroit where I live.
My first “Farlane Friday” is the brand new building at the new Hudson’s building in downtown Detroit which I am honestly a big fan of. I wasn’t alone, because this photo blew up when I shared it in the Detroit Photography group on Facebook. Hudson’s was Detroit’s signature department store and the place where I – like many Detroiters – unquestionably got my first picture taken with Santa. I also spent more than one Saturday reading dinosaur books at the lunch counter while my Grandma shopped with her friends. You can head over to Hudson’s Detroit for lots more about this new addition to Detroit’s skyline & for sure check out this post about the history of Hudson’s on Michigan in Pictures.
One of the stories you read more & more every year is how online shopping is killing downtowns. Discover Holland shares that in the 80s when suburban malls were wreaking similar havoc, downtown Holland business owners & the city created a plan for Snow Free Holland, now the largest municipal snowmelt system in North America:
Joining the conversation was Holland native and Prince Corporation founder, Edgar D. Prince. Prince brought to the table an idea that he discovered while in Europe, a system of underground piping that circulates warm water to keep the snow and ice at bay during the winter months. Using this idea, Prince expanded on the possibilities of snow and ice free access in downtown, and thus began the downtown Holland snowmelt project.
Currently, snowmelt is maintained by the Holland Board of Public Works in collaboration with the Holland Energy Park. Snowmelt was first implemented in 1988 and is the largest municipally-run snowmelt system in North America. By using waste heat from power generation, water is heated and circulated through 120 miles of plastic tubing underneath the streets and sidewalks. The tubes are 3/4″ in circumference; Holland has 600,000 square feet of tubing totaling 4.9 miles and 10.5 acres of heated streets and sidewalks. With the water heating up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, the system can melt 1″ of snow per hour – even at 20 degrees F with 10 MPH winds!
Active dunes gradually advance over time. In some places trees and telephone poles have been buried in drifting sand over a period of several years. A common question is “How fast are the dunes moving?” Rates of sand movement vary from one place to another and from one year to the next. At the Dune Climb the average rate of advance has been about 4 feet (1.2 meters) per year over the past few years.
Direction of sand movement also varies from one place to the next. The shapes of dunes reveal the direction of the winds. Dry, loose sand can take on a maximum slope of 34 degrees, known as the angle of repose. As sand piles up on an unvegetated dune, the leeward (downwind) slope approximates the angle of repose, while the windward slope is more gradual. Ripples in the sand show a similar asymmetrical shape.
Dune sand moves primarily by a process called “saltation”, literally “jumping”. Wind forces grains of sand to roll, collide with other grains of sand, and in subsequent collisions some grains bounce into the air, are driven downwind as they fall, and upon landing strike other grains to produce a chain reaction. On a windy day you can see a hazy zone of sand moving just a foot or two above the ground.
Neil took the photo above last year in late December & shared “One of the many things that I love about hiking around the sand dunes is finding miniature landscapes created by the strong winds. The textures and lines compose a true natural work of art!”
I’ve been seeing photos from all across Michigan of communities lighting up for the holidays, and for my money Kalamazoo’s Bronson Park nailed it this year!
EarthSky shares that since the radiant – the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to radiate – for the Geminid Meteor Shower rises in mid-evening, you can watch for these meteors all night long in the days before & after the evenings of December 13-14 as we pass through the Geminid swarm. They say that the radiant is highest at 2am. Although you won’t see the 20 meteors per hour with the nearly full Cold Moon hanging in the sky, they are particularly bright & you will see some if you give it 15 minutes or so!
Speaking of the meteors & the moon, EarthSky & other outlets have shared video of meteor impacts on the lunar surface from Japanese astronomer Daichi Fujii, the curator of the Hiratsuka City Museum! Check it out below along with tips on how to get the best view of this annual meteor shower!
Ken took this back in April of 2015 when he was hoping to catch a lunar eclipse but sadly…
this morning was to be a Total eclipse of the moon … it started out fantastic and then clouds rolled in . . .
Follow Ken Scott Photography on Flickr & Facebook for his latest! Also if you are wondering about the ice balls, Leelanau.com has the info on that too with another pic from Ken & video by Paul May!
In Lower Michigan the winter storm watch stretches from the Kalamazoo area northward through the Grand Rapids area and up the western shoreline through Muskegon, Grand Traverse area and Charlevoix. Cadillac is also in the winter storm watch. The western Lake Superior shoreline counties in the Upper Peninsula are also in the winter storm watch.
You can find this shot from Michigan’s largest waterfall & many others in the Winter in Michigan gallery on the Michigan Nut Photography website. John also shares much more on his Facebook!
The 1868 peak in sail-powered ships on Lake Michigan also marked the year the 123-foot Rouse Simmons was launched from Milwaukee’s shipyards. The ship was built by the firm of Allan, McClelland, and Company, one of Milwaukee’s preeminent shipbuilding firms …In the early 1870s, the Rouse Simmons joined the sizeable shipping fleet of wealthy lumber magnate and philanthropist Charles H. Hackley of Muskegon, hauling loads of lumber for Hackley’s fleet from company mills to the various markets around the lake for roughly 20 years.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the popular German tradition of decorating an evergreen tree in the home was widely practiced, and it was not uncommon for a handful of lake schooners to make late-season runs from northern Michigan and Wisconsin loaded with thousands of Christmas trees for busy Chicago waterfront markets. Estimates of the number of Christmas schooners vary, but perhaps up to two dozen vessels in any season delivered evergreens to markets in Great Lakes states.
In Chicago, most vessels, including the Rouse Simmons, sold the trees directly from their berths along the Chicago River’s Clark Street docks. Electric lights were strung from the schooner’s bow to stern, and customers were invited to board the ship to choose their trees. In addition to selling Christmas trees, many boat operators, including Schuenemann, made and sold wreaths, garlands, and other holiday decorations. Barbara Schuenemann and her three daughters (Elsie is pictured above) helped make and sell these items as part of the family’s holiday trade.
You can read on for much more about Herman Schuenemann’s long career as “Captain Santa” which tragically came to an end on Friday, November 22, 1912 when the Rouse Simmons, heavily laden with 3,000–5,000 Christmas trees filling its hold & deck, left the dock at Thompson, Michigan looking “like a floating forest.” Sadly, the Rouse Simmons sailed into a powerful winter storm on the lake that sent her and several other ships including the South Shore, Three Sisters, and Two Brothers to the bottom of Lake Michigan.
On November 23, 1912, Back in 2007 Rich Evenhouse shared this video of a dive to the wreck of the Rouse Simmons. The shipwreck lies upright in 165 ft. at the bottom of Lake Michigan & I’ve heard that every year divers place a Christmas tree on the bow.
Leelanau.com shares that the film Anangong Miigaading, the original Star Wars- A New Hope from 1977 that is dubbed entirely in the Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) language premiers TONIGHT at the State theatre in Traverse City. I encourage you to check it out if you’re close enough, but even more I am encouraging you (yes you, Michigan loving reader) to contact your local theater and urge them to bring a showing one of the most powerful films of all time in the language of the land you live in.
Snow squalls are in the forecast across Michigan as a cold front rushes in, beginning today and lasting into Thursday. Drivers should be aware, as these can be a serious hazard if you’re out on the road when a squall whips up. Snow squalls cause white-out conditions and can leave roads icy. They are forecast to develop in West Michigan this afternoon, then over a several-hour period tonight in Southeast Michigan as a strong cold front arrives, National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists in the Grand Rapids and Detroit offices said. The front is expected to spark some rapidly-changing weather conditions.
Paula got this shot of snow squalls buffeting the Mighty Mackinac Bridge back in January of 2018. See more in her Winter 2017 gallery including this reminder than for all its problems, snow can be SUPER FUN!!!
Michigan in Pictures 