Northern Michigan Recreation Weather

Check out the this headline on the NWS Gaylord, MI webpage. This should be updated, regularly, so you will want to check back as much as possible. If you are north this weekend, your trip south could be a little on the hazardous side as Freezing rain is expected in portions of northern lower Michigan, before everything switches back to snow Sunday night.

Here is a look at the current snow depths across northern Michigan

Things are a little more calm today for me to get to blogging, however, very exciting if you like to get out in the snow!

First, Take a look at this out my back door:

We have about 3-4 inches here in Boyne Falls. The temperatures in northern Michigan have been cold enough to make snow. So, as I let the dog out at night before turning in, I can hear the snow guns on Boyne Mountain going. So if you downhill ski, be excited, be very excited. I think that the ski resorts will be opening for the season if they haven’t already.

So now for the rest of the forecast.

Friday - It looks like the snow will continue during the day and then trail off overnight night as drier air moves in and starts to put the breaks on the lake effect snow machine.

Saturday and Sunday – there is this: a storm will move through Michigan and first bring some snow, then rain, freezing rain, and snow, then change all over to snow again by Sunday night. Here is where my disclaimer at the top of the page is important. Weather we get rain or snow or a mix will be dependent on where you are in relation to the storm. The weather forecasters are using highly complex computer models that suggest the path of the storm, however, every 12 hours, when the new computer model is run, there is usually a new track. So this far out, about three days, you could go from joy to depression and then back again as the new models give the forecasters fits about what to forecast. So somebody in northern lower, and probably eastern upper Michigan, will get a good amount of snow over the weekend, while others get rain and freezing rain.

I’ll try to keep up with the forecast as time allows. If you need a faster update, then check out the links to the forecast offices to the right.

I didn’t realize it until earlier this afternoon, that I forgot to get a forecast out for one of the biggest travel days of the year. Sorry.

So for the rest of the weekend, actually, the weather looks pretty quiet. While temperatures bottom out tonight, the rest of the weekend will be spent closer to normal (Upper 30s for highs and middle 20s for lows).

The snow for the most part, that fell on Wednesday night and today, pretty much fell in a band that stretched from Alpena to Manistee.

So the outlook for the winter sports looks like this:

Snowmobiling – If you like to beat up your machine then you can try to sled the snow out there, but we are probably a couple more snow storms away from good snowmobiling.

Downhill Skiing/snow boarding – This is looking good in the short term. I know that Boyne Mountain looked like they were testing their equipment the other night, and that today after the snow stopped, they began making snow. I have it from good authority that they are trying to open a couple of runs for Saturday and Sunday. With the temperatures tonight, Friday, and Friday night, snow making will be good, and so I would expect that most of the snow guns around the region will be going to get a few runs open.

Cross-Country Skiing – Unless you go to one of the resorts and they have snow making on their trails, then you will be facing conditions like the snowmobiling community.

The Sunday drive home looks good, with temperatures in the upper 30s and no precipitation expected.

Looking a little further out the Climate Prediction Center on the 8-14 day outlooks has us pegged in the below normal temperatures and the above normal precipitation for the first week of December. Our normal high around the region range from the lower 30s near Sault Ste. Marie to the upper 30s in Traverse City. So bringing those down a couple of degrees coupled with the above normal precipitation would probably mean snow. So if you like to play in the white stuff…it is looking good for you.

The weather looks good for some tracking snow on tonight into Friday. While the NWS at Gaylord has light amounts there was this interesting information in the morning Area Forecast Discussion:

WHILE GENERALLY THE SNOW WILL BE LIGHT AM GETTING THEFEELING THIS MAY BE ONE OF THOSE EARLY SEASON LES EVENTS THATCATCHES US OFF GUARD. SO WILL GO WITH SOME MODEST AMOUNTS OF 1-3OR 2-4 INCHES.

Well the forecast is for less than that, but I would agree with that assertion. With the data that I have seen, we could pick up a good tracking snow in some areas for the next couple of days. The best areas for accumulations are outlined here:

I love it when they do most of the work for me.

So it will be cool and damp with snow and if you live in the interior highlands of Northern Lower or in Eastern Upper, you could get a good tracking snow for the first couple of days. Temperatures over the rest of the weekend will be in the upper 30s at the most, so expect that any snow that does fall won’t melt much with the temperatures just above freezing.

The rest of the week looks like this:

After the low goes through the region on Saturday, high pressure takes over through Tuesday morning. When the next front is poised to move through Michigan on Tuesday night into Wednesday. With the front moving through next Wednesday (if the models are right, heh), then we may see some accumulating Lake Effect snow again.

The following week and weekend found here at the CPC site looks cooler than normal, but drier. However, have no fear snow lovers, Lake Effect Snow is a drier snow(not as much moister content vs the size of the snow crystals), so we could get L E Snow next week as well.

Good luck hunting.

Being that this is the first year of this blog, I almost forgot to add this into the mix. I have been thinking more along the snow, that I missed the opportunity to help out the hunters with their yearly quest (and I told a friend of mine good luck earlier today as well. What was I not thinking about?).

What reminded me was this post on the News section of the NWS Gaylord, MI Website. It is the outlook for this season. I’ll update the weather through the week as we get close. So far, the outlook looks good, so I won’t add anything at this point.

Here’s what they say about opening day:

Thursday November 15th, the opening day of firearm deer season, a secondary cold front will move across the state with some colder air expected to settle into the region. Temperatures at dawn Thursday are expected to be around 35 degrees with scattered light rain or snow showers, as Northern Michigan remains influenced by the storm system moving into Hudson bay. Daytime high temperatures Thursday, are forecast to be in the lower 40s with a mix of rain and snow showers. Scattered rain and snow showers are expected to diminish in areal coverage after midnight Thursday.

I’ll try to get back and update this by Wednesday.

To all of the hunters…Good Luck.

Now that the leaves are off the trees, the thoughts now turn to snow and the sports that are dependent on the white stuff. Of course it has been a couple of weeks since the last post due to the leaves getting past peak and most of the weather being rain. That changed though, on Monday, as the snow mixed with rain or was all rain. Some of the higher terrain in the center of northern lower Michigan actually some a few inches of snow on the ground. The snow has been melting from underneath as the soil temperatures are around 40 degrees.

However, the snow will return at least for Thursday. An Alberta Clipper is moving into the western Great Lakes and will bring a couple more inches of snow to a few places. The accumulating snow is only a temporary thing. With the rest of the week expected to be a mix of rain and snow as the high temperatures get to the lower to middle 40s.

With all of that said, Saturday and Sunday look to be partly sunny though, so if you are looking for a weekend with no precipitation and semi dry after our brief flirtation with snow, this weekend looks nice.

Looking at the next weekend, the 8-14 day forecast put together by our friends at the Climate Prediction Center, the western portion of the Great Lakes is caught between the above and below normals colors, not only on temperature, but on precipitation. Which means almost anything could happen. In this case, my gut says that the weather we have had this week will continue to next weekend.

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I want this to be an easy read so that people can find the information they need for the weather up north.