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

A little snow fell over the snow belts of the Upper Peninsula last night into early this morning.  It was certainly not enough to get recreation activities that rely on snow going.  Back at this time in 17 years ago, the snow season was already in full swing and much more was on the way. 

After one of the coldest Novembers on record, December 1995 started mild.  The temperature at the National Weather Service (NWS) near Negaunee rose to freezing or above on four of the first five days of the month..  On the 5th, the high reached 34 degrees ahead of a sharp cold front that plowed through during the day.  Snow accompanied the system, with 5.2 inches falling at the NWS.  In the Copper Country, system snow was augmented by lake-effect leading to a calendar-day record of 11.7 inches at the Houghton County Airport near Calumet.  Cold west-northwest winds continued blowing over Lake Superior the next day bringing another daily record snowfall of 11.5 inches. 

This lake event was merely a warm up for the main event that would bring historic snows to parts of the U.P. a few days later. 

The little snow we had will probably disappear again as mild Pacific air flows in on strong southerly winds tonight into Thursday.  As mentioned yesterday, a pattern change is on the way that will lead to a colder, more active pattern in the days ahead.