Yep, that’s right. Kinda sad, but true. Only a month late, but the snows we are accustomed to have finally arrived in the Keweenaw. The amount on the ground in most cases is very close to what we would see in a “good average” year. Meaning in an average year where we are on the good side of things. It has also snowed 8 out of the last 9 days. Not a lot has fallen here in the banana belt, but up in the higher elevations, about 2 feet of fresh has fallen in those last 9 days.
Trails are in pretty decent shape with the new snow and traffic has not been crazy heavy, but steady. I suspect that in a week, the traffic will increase noticeably, as we will have more snow but…most importantly, the bars and restaurants will FINALLY be able to open for inside service. That will be a huge deal up here. It goes without saying that lots of businesses and their employees have been hit very hard by the restrictions.
With that in mind, I would like to point you all to a fundraiser that is going on to help businesses in the western UP that have been impacted financially. It is called the John Dee Stimulus Project. You can learn all about it by following the link just provided. There is also an awesome auction going on, with all the proceeds from it going to the JDSP. The project is actually no my idea, nor am I in charge. I am playing an advisory role as I have 10 years of fundraising practice with the ride-in. I also agreed to let them use my name to try and scare off as many as possible!
Seriously though. This is being done by a great group of individuals that visit the site. The idea was born from some chatting on the discussion board and snowballed into the awesome project it is right now. I ask that you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE check it out and contribute what you can. It would do my heart good to see them go past their goal of $50,000. There is only two weeks left until it ends and the funds are distributed to the businesses that have signed up. So whether you were one that agreed with the shuttering of businesses in an attempt to slow the spread of covid, or did not agree with the action taken by the State of Michigan your donation will help those in need. I sure as heck better see donations from those that were passionate, outspoken critics of the restrictions put their money where their mouths are, or else I will just consider you to be a phony, a poser.
Back to the events of the Keweenaw. I can say that I sure do miss living in the big snow area of the Keweenaw. I knew I would and it was taken very seriously when Nora and I were discussing the move. The summers are outrageously beautiful here, but still do not make up for the lower snow amounts. I suppose this winter is particularly rough, but it’s a bitter pill to swallow!
Even though we got regular periods of heavy snow when we lived up near Mohawk, I always got excited when they would occur and sad when they would end. So the periods when we get the heavier snow falling down here are a pretty big deal. I just wish they would last longer this season! Most have only lasted around 20-30 minutes. Such was the case this Thursday afternoon when a decent snow squall came through and gave us around 2-3″ in around 30 minutes. Here is a “side of house” shot taken moments later and here is a shot of our sleepy little road with the snow coming down.
Even through we have not been getting the big snow totals that the LES belts have been getting in the past week, we have enough snow down here to ride. The problem is, I got a call from an old acquaintance asking if he could borrow the sled so he could let a friend from downstate ride his. I still have not gotten the sled back, but have been reassured that the sled is fine. He even sent me a pic of him on the sled earlier in the week. That’s quite the outfit he had on, that’s all I can say! Sorry, I just had to jump in on this latest social media media craze. It has been quite enjoyable and finally made Facebook worth the visit.
This unusual winter we are having has had me checking some of my favorite big snow webcams. The most active this season have been in the Pacific NW, both in the US and Canada. The cams at the Mt Rainer National Park Visitors Center have been fun to watch. Although this area, even though it is 6,400 feet up, will see rains fall in the middle of winter. They do get snow more than rain and many times, the snow comes in feet, not inches. It amazes me that they keep the road to the center open all year long. If I have time and can remember, I will watch them clear the road and large parking lot. Did you notice the truck and trailer on the far right? It shows how deep the snow is there.
Another favorite is north of the boarder in British Columbia, Canada. Specifically Revelstoke, B.C.. They get some big snows there too. The depth on the snow stick in the center of the pic is at 9 feet. The top number on the stick is 15. I have seen it as high as 14 1/2. I sure would love to visit these two spots some day.
That pretty much covers it for this one. The forecast for the week ahead sees a respectable snow storm for Nebraska, northern Kansas, the southern 2/3rd of IA, far northern MO, extreme southern WI and the northern 1/3rd of IL. Starting in the west tonight and finishing up in areas like WI and IL later tomorrow. Some light to moderate LES looks to fall in the UP the second half of this week and then there are ideas of another fairly sizeable snow for areas of the Midwest north of I-80 by around a week from now. So winter looks to continue across the northern Midwest for another 10 days at least! Haha. It better last longer than that!
Good Night from the Keweenaw..
–JD