U.P. Snow totals Feb 5th/6th

Blizzard arrived and I was camping

Above: looking at Lake of the clouds and the escarpment from West Vista

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Well the Upper Peninsula survived the blizzard, it arrived pretty much on schedule from the forecast with winds gusts up to 58mph recorded at the Houghton county airport.

I was camping in Porcupine Mountains State park Wednesday night and woke up Thursday to high winds and snow blowing violently through the forest, tree tops flopping around and tree branches snapping.

Above: my snow shelter camping in the Porkies 2.5 and 2.6

Driving on the roads was pretty hazardous, the Michigan State Police reported a lot of vehicles in the ditch along US41 from Hancock to Calumet and suggested taking an alternate route. Reports on social media accounts from friends and in groups verified how terrified they were driving that stretch through the afternoon on Thursday and into the evening hours.

Above: winds were whipping by late morning Thursday

After packing up camping gear late morning and snowshoeing with pulk sled I went over to the East Vista from the West Vista where I was winter camping. From that viewpoint you could see the wall of snow moving across Silver City and Ontonagon, snow bands were intense to say the least.

Above: the beginning of my drive from the Porkies back to Houghton 2.6

I knew my drive back to Houghton was going to be interesting, but I’ve driven many dozens of winter whiteouts. I just knew I better get moving before it gets dark, my goal was to get back to the Porcupine ski hill parking lot where my Explorer was around 430pm, that would give me enough time to get back to Houghton around dark.

The next couple days we should see some light snow across most of the Upper Peninsula and the cold temps stick around for awhile.

UP Snow Totals for Feb 5th and 6th below.