Northern Michigan Recreation Weather

Well, I had some computer problems when trying to move some equipment, so I’m writing this a little late.

Saturday won’t be too bad as the temperatures get around 70. However, rain is expected to move in late in the day near Traverse City and then spread over the region overnight. The good thing is that by Sunday the rain will be gone ( in NW Lower) or at least going (like in NE Lower). Monday looks dry so the Memorial Day Parades will be able to take place. Sunday and Monday the temperatures are expected to be in the middle 60s so the weather over this weekend, other than the rain on Saturday night, looks to be a nice outdoors type of weekend for Northern Michigan.

A look ahead at next weekend shows a similar pattern for now. Stay tuned…

Things were a little busy the past couple of weeks and now I see that I not only missed last weekend, but this one as well.

As a review of this weekend, it got a little on the warm side Saturday, only for a cold front to come powering through and cool things off. High pressure has built back into northern Michigan on Sunday, but it did it a little too slowly as now the sunshine has only gotten us into the 50s.

So what are we looking at for next weekend?

After a warm mid week, another cold front will power through the region on Thursday and cool things off for the weekend. However, it won’t be as cold as today. Temperatures are expected to be in the 60s for the Memorial Day Weekend, with Partly cloudy skies. So right now, if you don’t mind a bit of a chill, there should be good weather for camping, and a campfire to keep you warm.

For those who love to be outside and work on their yards and houses, this will be a good weekend to get things done. For those who love to hike and see the budding of the trees, this will be a great weekend. For those who love to bike, this will be a great weekend. Okay, enough with the litany, you get the idea. Now for the details:

High pressure is rooted over Hudson Bay. What does that have to do with northern Michigan? everything. The Hudson Bay High as I think I have said in the past, provides a dry easterly flow over the state. During this time of year as the trees begin to green up, this can be a dangerous pattern if it persists long enough to dry out the tree litter on the ground in the woods. Especially, as the high moves to the east and begins to really pump in warm air and if there is an area of low pressure hot on it’s heels then the winds can get cranking.

So as we look at the map for Saturday we see this:

So the weather will be nice, but with the dry air over the area, and some wind be careful and look to see if you can burn any of that litter that you cleaned up in the yard. Last year at this time was the Hughes Lake Fire in Oscoda County, which burned just a little less than 6000 acres. This fire was started by 2 people who were not paying attention to the weather and whether they were allowed to burn.

The only thing lacking in the fire weather department is warm temperatures. Temperatures will be pretty mild, even around normal as they will be in the lower to mid 60s through Sunday. So the weather is quite ready for the water sports yet, but they are ready for most everything else.

Looking farther out, the Climate Prediction Center has us in the Above normal category for Temperatures and precipitation through the following week as well. We’ll see how that goes.