UP Snow Totals Dec 30th/31st

-93% less snow compared to last year

Happy New Year!

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Above: me sitting on Madison overlook admiring the beauty of the Keweenaw, 12.29.23

The year 2023 seemed to fly by and now we are onto 2024. Do you have any resolutions, or are those a thing of the past? I really don’t make any but I do plan on trying to accomplish eating better, doing more videos, being in the outdoors more, writing articles more, notice I didn’t put any numbers in, that’s about the extent of my resolutions. I just try to improve as much as I can everyday, and if you do more or better than you did the previous year it was a good year. There will always be trials and tribulations that get in the way of your resolutions, your numbers, goals. If you just tell yourself you just want to improve a little, do a little more, those little improvements will gain momentum without the weight of the number imprinted in your brain.

Above: historic of the Dec 24th 1913 Italian Hall disaster, where the law “can’t yell fire in a crowded theatre” came from, picture is on Dec 25th, 2023

Well the beginning of the 2023/24 winter season here in the UP has gotten off to a slow start as all of you know by know. We are really falling far behind on season snow totals now, a bit surprising to many. To have no snow on the ground on Christmas Day across the entire UP is almost unheard of, even less than 5-10 inches on the ground at Christmas is pretty unusual, at least in the snow belts, not so much in the southern and far south eastern areas of the UP.

So can snow totals really be down 93%, yes, Arnold is -93.1%, and Norway is -92.9% and many other stations are - 70 to -85%. The station that is closest to last years season total from last year is the Soo east snow station, that isn’t a surprise as that area of the UP has been where the higher season totals have been so far this year, but that isn’t usually the case.

Above: downtown Calumet 12.25.23

I found an outlier of the group that was in the positive percentile, I thought that was odd so I looked into it. Wetmore is sitting with +17.6% more snow, but it really isn’t, and I’ll tell you why. The station had no recorded snow from 12.19.22 to 1.10.23. Another station in the area recorded 54.4 inches of snow during that same period. So I came to the conclusion it is likely the snow observer went on vacation during that time, therefore no snow record. And even if they did have snow on the snowboard when they returned which they probably did, it would be impossible to know how much snow really fell there. So really we can throw that number out. It is fun to look at data. If you aren’t looking at it it doesn’t give you a chance to find things like that.

It has been nice not having to dealing with snow removal, but I am actually starting to miss the snow now. We still have plenty of time to see the snow pile up, our last snowflakes are often times around Mothers Day, and this year just might be one of those years. Late snow is a big possibility on years when the first half of winter is more mild.

Above: me at Thimbleberry falls 12.23.23

The trend is about to change now, we are about to see some cold artic air move in around the middle of the month into the 3rd week of January and by then we should have added another 10-20 inches across most snow stations. Temps may not drop as much as they did during the Polar Vortex breakdown of 2019 but we could see a good 3-4 weeks of 5-10 degree temps which will set off the lake effect snow machine with any N/NW winds. Snow can pile up quickly and you really can’t predict snow totals with any consistency with lake effect dumps. Most if not all the forecasters have no idea how much Lake Superior affects our weather in the winter and often in the summer. It would be really odd if our usual snowy areas of the Keweenaw and near Munising don’t see 150-200 inches this season. If we don’t see some decent storms by the 3rd week of January and not until early Feb then the chances of any station hitting 150 is highly unlikely considering the highest season total as of today is 39.1 inches out of the Soo.

Above: our hiking group out on a little hike on Christmas eve, like our Christmas tree?

I could go on more about snow data but it is getting late now as I write this and I want to head to bed, one thing I am trying to do a bit earlier now and rising a bit earlier in 2024.

Thanks for being a subscriber and I hope your 2024 is better than 2023, I am cheering for you accomplishing what you want to and reaching your goals this year.

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UP Snow Totals Below for Dec 30th and 31st.

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T = trace, NR = No report, NA = Not Applicable

If daily slot is 0" the station hasn't updated or recorded no snowfall.

Sometimes a station won't update that day and does the next day or even days later.

Tahquamenon Falls State Park only updates at the end of each month.

Keweenaw county only updates during the weekdays.

Sanderson Field Airport (Soo) updates next day.

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Most Snowfall Dec 30th: Marquette Cnty at crossroads with 1.1 inches

Most Snowfall Dec 31st: Herman with 2 inches

Most Snowfall, season to date: Soo airport with 39.1 inches

Biggest 24hr snowfall this season: Bergland with 12.3 inches (10.29.23)

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Let it snow! See ya on the next report or live video.

—YooperSteve