Airflow over those Great Lakes can cause an unexpected amount of snow to fall in Newberry. Meteorologist Karl Bohnak said Lake Superior is only about 35% frozen over as of this week, and Lake Michigan isn’t frozen over, either. Though the snowfall this winter doesn’t exceed the norm, it has been difficult to predict. “That frequently happens in the Newberry area, and across the whole U.P., especially the north half.” “If you’re under one of those narrow bands of snow, it can be like a wall of snow or a curtain of snow,” Salzwedel said. Jim Salzwedel, NOAA observation program leader in Marquette, said the lakes create bands of snow that function like roads to direct snow right onto Newberry at times. The snow that’s landing on us is coming from Lake Superior and sometimes Lake Michigan, Michels said. It’s also not matching up with the pre-season Farmer’s Almanac prediction, which called for a warmer, wetter winter. “It might seem like it’s been a more harsh winter than it has been.” “I think what’s striking a lot of people is the fact that last year was pretty low for snowfall totals, and quieter than normal,” he said. That’s what has made this year look excessively snowy, he said. “The last couple winters we’ve had have been very different. “This is actually kind of a normal winter,” said Greg Michels, meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Marquette. Though it seems like this is more snow than we’ve had for decades, it’s not. Easing through intersections requires a slow roll and a careful peek. Stop signs appear to be held up solely by snow. Business signs, like at the Secretary of State office, are buried. I think that will happen and it will happen sooner than it did last year.Last week’s shock-and-awe snowfall came during an already very snowy winter in the Tahquamenon area. So, don’t be surprised if it gets cold and snowy here. February was also 6 degrees colder than average. Seventy-one percent of our snowfall last winter fell in those four weeks. Then, from January 31-February 27, we had 32.7″ of snow. What did La Nina produce last winter? We had a record low snowfall total in Grand Rapids through Jan. You can see the La Nina – the relatively cold water along the Equator west of S. Air coming off the Gulf of Mexico pushes north and brings quite warm and humid air into the Central U.S., feeding the storm systems that spawned tornadoes and severe thunderstorms as far north as SE Minnesota. The water in the Gulf of Mexico and water off the East Coast are warmer than average. Blue is areas where the water temperature is cooler than average and yellow, orange and red indicate where the water temperature is warmer than average. The map above shows the sea surface water temperature difference from average. We may touch 40 on Monday, but no 50s or 60s, so they should be able to open up soon. Lower Michigan (Bittersweet, Cannonsburg, Swiss Valley, Timber Ridge, etc.) should be able to make snow this week. Lots of snow here and a little blue sky to brighten up the day. ![]() They should be able to make snow most or even all nights this week and should be in good shape for the Christmas to New Year’s period. They got the power back on and have been making snow. This is Caberfae, just west of Cadillac – a lot of people there skiing and boarding. Lower Michigan and Upper Michigan were in full swing on Saturday. Marie has picked up 44.2″ and that’s 9.3″ above average. Alpena has had 22.6″ of snow so far this winter and that’s 6.0″ above average. There were a couple times when we had snow inland and either rain or a mix at the lake because the lake added enough warmth to the air to give those areas more rain and less snow. ![]() You can see there has been less snow at Lake Michigan with Holland and Muskegon getting only 6.5″ so far this winter. Also, it’s been warmer than average – December is running 4.0° warmer than average, so our precipitation has been more rain than snow. We have had 0.90″ less precipitation since November 1. Grand Rapids added 0.9″ of snow on Saturday, bringing the season snowfall to 14.0″.
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