I’m in the metro so lakes north of town freeze up earlier, but usually there are people on the ice by the beginning of December. ATVs by Christmas. We don’t get the snow Michigan gets, but we sure get the cold.

Good morning all! Its cooolllllldd this morning, brrr. 3 degrees right now and feels like -4.

The other quirk most people don't know about Minnesota's north shore of superior is that it is mostly a SE/SSE facing ridgeline. Some years with a few sunny days in high 20s for the most of the region in late feb can meltdown all the snow along the shoreline due to increasing sun strength and the marine like influence of the open lake. My dad tells the story often of the first time he and his group went on a snowmobile trip staying "up the hill" from Grand Marais. This was in the late 80's so there was no internet, they had to take the resorts word that they had snow. The resort owner said they had lots of snow, meanwhile nearly all of Minnesota had nothing that year. They drove through Duluth with not a snow pile to be seen, up HWY 61 running along the shoreline to Silver Bay there is nothing. By the time they get into Grand Marais, a few slushy piles of snow. They turn up the road to Devil's Track Lake and in within a few miles up the Gunflint Trail there is massive snowbanks along the roadside and 3' of snow in the woods. The poor deer who didn't yard up by the lake, were up to their necks if they jumped off the trails. I have never seen it this dramatic myself, but have seen it go from bare ground to a foot plus of snow from lake shore to up the hill.

Love this area. Snow gets deep and sticks around until May most years. Done lots of camping/backpacking off highway 1. Before Covid it seemed like an undiscovered gem, now it’s overrun with Instagramers. on topic: Low of 9 this morning. Balmy.

Some weather history for southern Lower Michigan for January 7. 1942: Record cold high temperatures occur as arctic high pressure prevails. The high temperature is only 4 degrees at Grand Rapids and 6 at Muskegon. At Lansing, the thermometer struggles to reach the zero mark during the day, with a frigid northwest wind making it feel even colder 1988: An arctic blast brings several days of sub zero cold to Lower Michigan, including record lows this morning of 15 below zero at Grand Rapids and 11 below at Muskegon. 2014, Southeast Michigan was amidst a 3-day period of record to near record cold temperatures. Record lows were recorded at Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw. Detroit and Flint each fell to -14 degrees while Saginaw fell to -11 degrees. The coldest spot in Southeast Michigan was the city of Saline in Washtenaw County which fell to -23 degrees! The high temperature in Detroit on this day reached only -1 making it one of the coldest days on record for the city. Widespread wind chills in the -30s and -40s were recorded. 2008, record highs were set across Southeast Michigan. Detroit reached 64, Flint 61, and Saginaw 59. These temperatures were only 3 to 4 degrees off of the all-time January high temperatures. Later during the evening, thunderstorms moved across the region. Some of these storms were severe in Midland, Washtenaw and Monroe Counties! Since 1986 only two other January have had severe weather, 1990 and 1996.