For southern Michigan, we have three spring-like days and four almost-wintry days. For northern Michigan, we have a slight taste of spring temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday, with the rest of the days more like winter. It looks much warmer in the first week of April.
Julie took this shot of the Mighty Mac back in April of 2021. Here’s a photo of the ice at Tahquamenon Falls breaking free that she shared 10 years ago plus a shot of a classic spring skiing slush pond from the other day. Follow her on Flickr for the latest!
“In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.” -Mark Twain
Tomorrow morning our seasonal window moves from winter to spring regardless of what the weather decides to do.
I am a firm vote for “Spring stuff” aka flowers, baby animals, duckies, etc, but to prepare you for whatever lies ahead, here are some flowers just minding their own business from Bill. See more in his massive Flowers gallery on Flickr & follow Bill’s Pictures on Facebook for his latest!
Although Michigan is still digging out of last weekend’s storm, it’s clear that it was one for the record books with Marquette & Negaunee already setting 2-day snow total records. mLive shares some of the eye-popping snow totals from around the state. Here are a few:
Round Lake – 52 inches (Alger County near Munising)
Cusino Lake – 48 1/2 inches (Schoolcraft County in the UP)
Wolverine & Petoskey – 28 & 28.7 were tops in the Lower Peninsula
Houghton & Hancock normally snow magnets had just 4 inches!
Kevin says that although the storm squashed any hope of seeing the Northern Lights in southwest Michigan, it can be defeated with high quality snow blowers 😉 See more in his Street Photography gallery and for sure follow him on Flickr for his latest … which usually includes eagles!
Marquette’s two-day snowfall total of 36.3 inches breaks the all-time two-day snowfall record of 31.9 inches, which was set on March 13-14 in 1997. Weather records for the NWS Marquette area go back to 1959. Also, a one-day snowfall record was set in Marquette on Monday, with 21.7 inches of snow falling. This breaks Marquette’s old record of 7.7 inches that was set in 2013. Intense snowfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour helped set the record.
As the snow numbers are being totaled, the Upper Peninsula and parts of the northern Lower Peninsula continue to dig out from the storm. Many roads remain closed and local law enforcement and public works officials are asking people to stay home as they try to plow the main routes. In some areas, the back roads likely won’t be plowed for days.
For sure stay safe & check on your neighbors if you can! As always, Michigan Storm Chasers are a great resource, and let me also suggest Lake Superior Photo as a great Marquette resource!
The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore shared this photo with news that Sand Point Rd and all park facilities including the Munising Falls Visitor Center will remain closed through today due to blizzard conditions. Here are a couple more photos they shared recently to prophetically remind folks that winter isn’t over yet!
Last Friday, my Absolute Michigan photo group on Flickr crossed a major milestone when Mark Smith added the 300,000th photo to the group! I created the group 20 years ago to support my Absolute Michigan supersite which was regrettably demolished by the Pure Michigan campaign. Regrets aside, the group remains an incredible place for seeing images from every corner of the Great Lakes State taken by nearly 4000 members (3,930 to be exact). From Alanson to Midland to Zeeland you can find photos of parks, parties, & people enjoying everything Michigan has to offer.
This rare winter phenomenon was captured in the Fruit Ridge area of Kent County, Michigan when freezing rain coated apples still hanging on the trees. The fruit eventually fell away, leaving behind these wild, hollow ice apples ❄️ Moments like this are uncommon, these photos were taken several years ago during just the right conditions 🧊🍎
I confess that even though I grew up surrounded by orchards that I have not, and it is extremely cool! Here are a couple more shots from Robinette’s Facebook post!
…Typically visible near sunset or sunrise, pillars can reach heights of 5 to 10 degrees, and occasionally even higher. While they may appear as vertical rays, they are actually the collective glints of millions of ice crystals. When it comes to colors, pillars are truly a sight to behold. They take on hues that reflect the sun and surrounding clouds, ranging from brilliant white to various shades of yellow, red, or purple. Depending on the locations of the cloud crystals, pillars can even manifest as several vertically strung patches of light. As the light interacts with the ice crystals in the atmosphere, it creates a stunning display that captivates observers.
Yesterday morning, I came across this photo by Stephen right before I saw him making a positive comment on a photo that Sean – the photographer I featured yesterday – had taken. This was soon after I had seen photos Neil Weaver had taken at an ice cave photography workshop along with fellow Michpics photographer Aubrieta Hope. It made me realize that a huge and underrated part of Michigan in Pictures is the community of real live human beings that are as passionate about their fellow photographers as they are about introducing people to their favorite parts of Michigan. That’s a long way of saying that I am going to be working on ways to showcase the people out there clicking the shutter. One way will be to revive the Michigan Photographer Profiles with a focus on the photographers on my Michigan Photographers page. Stay tuned!!
Thanks to Stephen for allowing me to share both of these awesome sun pillar shots. He’s facing a problem that many photographers face: figuring out which of these two photos is the best to submit for a photography contest? Have a vote? Share it in the comments below or on his Facebook post and for sure view & purchase his work on his website!
Sheen captured the crystal blue of the ice with a bit of pastel sky thrown in on the Straits of Mackinac over the weekend. Head over to her Facebook page for the latest including a tasty shot of the mighty Mackinac Bridge with the same sky & for sure check out her website for more work!
A reader commented that they had seen lightning & heard the rumble of thunder yesterday, an observation shared by numerous folks around the state. Although a lot of the online articles are hyping up thunder snow as a dangerous or abnormal phenomenon, it’s not.
The NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory’s Severe Weather 101 explains that although thunderstorms are less common in the winter, sometimes lightning does occur within a snowstorms and is called thundersnow. Thundersnow can be found where there is relatively strong instability and abundant moisture above the surface, such as above a warm front. Thundersnow is sometimes observed downstream of the Great Salt Lake and the Great Lakes during lake-effect snowstorms too.
Christian took this back in February if 2017. See more in his barns – graneros gallery on Flickr.
Somewhere around Saginaw, Bay City, Clare and Traverse City, we could have a big shock going from temperatures in the 50s to temperatures near freezing.
Imagine going from Ann Arbor to Bay City to visit family Wednesday afternoon. You open the door in Ann Arbor to see what it’s like outside. It’s a common ritual at this time of year. It’s very nice. It’s 61 degrees, which right now feels like a spring dream. So you put on a light jacket and start driving north. You get out of your car in Bay City, and you freeze.
Definitely a day to keep an eye on the updated forecast!!
Tom captured this ice covered beauty in Utica way back in 2015. See more in his Winter gallery on Flickr!
Michigan in Pictures 