Latest news, weather, high school sports for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

It reached 88 degrees on June 12, 1992.  It was not a record at the National Weather Service (NWS) near Negaunee, but it was the hottest day of 1992.  The high temperature occurred in the midst of a three-day warm spell from June 11-13 that saw temperatures over 80 degrees.  It would be the last 80-degree reading until July 25 as Upper Michigan suffered through its "Year without a Summer."  The pattern that brought the warm spell is familiar.  An upper-level ridge built over the Plains and its influence spread eastward into Upper Michigan (Image 1 above).   

After this mid-June warm spell it reached 70 or above only four times the rest of the month.  A week later, a deep trough centered itself over the Upper Great Lakes (Image 2) and basically stayed in that position the rest of the summer.  June and August came in over three degrees below average, while July was a record-breaker—over six degrees below the long term average. Every summer month (June, July and August) had a hard freeze somewhere in the U.P. twenty years ago.

While a hard freeze is not expected, there is yet another frost threat in this otherwise warm period we are in.  The coldest interior locations across most of the U.P. will fall near freezing tonight.  However, another gradual warm up will begin on Wednesday and last through at least the weekend.