I love lake effect. (personal pics)

[aerojad]

I had the enjoyable experience of living in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, for two years (2002 – 2004). Being the lover of winter weather that I am, I was absolutely in heaven during the lake effect season. I would take walks at night and take some pictures of what I saw, knowing that when I moved back to Detroit I would never again see that much snow on the ground at one time. The deepest I ever saw was roughly 41” (my measurement) in February of 2004, after a lake effect event.

So I figure, just for the heck of it, I would share with the community some of the (weather related) pictures that I took during my stay up there. I hope you all enjoy. I'll put some highlights here.


First gallery (28 images total)


Sidewalk in front of my dorm.


Parking lot for the school's hockey arena.


Main intersection in front of campus.


Somewhere in there is a walkway to the parking lot, and a four lane road :p


Second gallery (51 images total)


Downtown Sault Ste. Marie, MI.


No matter how far below zero it got, this canal never froze. It feeds a hydro power plant, and constantly flows at 35 - 40mph.


The city, with the international bridge to Canada.


Downtown at night.


The city at night.



I really, really miss it. Too bad Detroit is one of the places in the Great Lakes that never, ever, ever sees lake effect.

[Logandear]

Nice pics, thanks for sharing! I love winter weather too. Being from Florida, I can't imagine what it's like to live in a place that ever gets that much snow!

[KWT]

where I live close to the east coast of England we can also see a smaller effect of lake snow as the cold air hits the much warmer north sea some good convective showers form and these give some nice snow, happened last year for the first time in a while, gave about 3-4 inches both times it happened.

[mcw]

The Soo sure gets its share of LES...nice pix! I love it when some of the streets become one lane in each direction with 4-5' tall snowbanks in between. First experience with it was covering the I-500 for TV 7&4 in the 90's. We had these little 4WD Toyota wagons...mine had a ton of miles and bald tires, and the transfer was burned out, so rear wheel drive only. Kinda scary when you can't climb the hill going up to the college and racetrack or see around any snowbanks!

[nystate]

Nice pics, thanks for sharing! Always good to see a fellow LES lover on the forum.

My greatest (and only) LES experiences came when I was living in NY east of Lake Ontario. I was lucky enough to be able to witness the infamous "Bald Eagle" storm (127 inches in 3 days) and last year to witness another storm which dumped around 80". Lots of fun, but not the best driving weather.

I'm thinking of visiting Marquette soon. Could any of the Michigan posters here fill me in on how well they do in a given winter?

Thanks!

[mcw]

Hiya NYState,

Marquette averages 129" annually. Listed as the snowiest city on average east of the Rockies according to Walter Lyons in my good ol' Handy Weather Guide. Syracuse gets 112" on average for comparison.

Look at highway M-28 in your road atlas. The stretch from Harvey (just S of Marquette) to Christmas/Munising is frequently closed due to heavy snowfall and drifting. Through traffic uses M-94 during those periods.

Lakes are warmer than usual this year. Should be a prime lake effect season!

Best heavy snowfall location in the U.P. is usually in the Copper Country around Houghton and the Keweenaw Peninsula. Some homes there have wooden sidewalks to go over the snowbanks and second story walkouts when the first story gets snowbound. 2003-2004 winter total for Keweenaw was 225.7 in. Average low temp is 8.2 F.

Here's a few links to Copper Country winter photos:

http://www.keweenaw.info/photos.aspx

http://www.copperrange.org/photo18.htm

http://www.keweenawphotography.com/pictorial-winter.shtml


Hope this helps!

[aerojad]

The Soo sure gets its share of LES...nice pix! I love it when some of the streets become one lane in each direction with 4-5' tall snowbanks in between. First experience with it was covering the I-500 for TV 7&4 in the 90's. We had these little 4WD Toyota wagons...mine had a ton of miles and bald tires, and the transfer was burned out, so rear wheel drive only. Kinda scary when you can't climb the hill going up to the college and racetrack or see around any snowbanks!

Man, that I-500 was brutal the two years I was up there. I think someone died each year. Considering the racetrack is solid ice, I suppose that'd be expected, though.

[aerojad]

Nice pics, thanks for sharing! Always good to see a fellow LES lover on the forum.

My greatest (and only) LES experiences came when I was living in NY east of Lake Ontario. I was lucky enough to be able to witness the infamous "Bald Eagle" storm (127 inches in 3 days) and last year to witness another storm which dumped around 80". Lots of fun, but not the best driving weather.

I'm thinking of visiting Marquette soon. Could any of the Michigan posters here fill me in on how well they do in a given winter?

Thanks!

It's tricky in the UP of Michigan. The actual best places for the heaviest of the heavy snow are Houghton, which has been mentioned, just to the east of Marquette (the city itself usually sits parallel to the heaviest bands) and then to the northwest of Sault Ste. Marie, near a place called Whitefish Point. Since that last place sticks so far into the lake, it usually gets 2 - 5x more snow than surrounding snowbelt areas. I think like 200 people live there though, heh.

Also, you wouldn't think of it as much, but Gaylord, MI, which sits in the middle of the top half of the mitten, also gets a heck a lot of snow from the lake effect. It's near the highest point where the Lake Michigan / Lake Superior bands hit, and so lots of snow gets rung out there.

[arkess7]

Wow nice pics.!!!!!! It's been 10 years or so since I last saw snow .......cant wait to see it again....

[nystate]

Hiya NYState,

Marquette averages 129" annually. Listed as the snowiest city on average east of the Rockies according to Walter Lyons in my good ol' Handy Weather Guide. Syracuse gets 112" on average for comparison.

Look at highway M-28 in your road atlas. The stretch from Harvey (just S of Marquette) to Christmas/Munising is frequently closed due to heavy snowfall and drifting. Through traffic uses M-94 during those periods.

Lakes are warmer than usual this year. Should be a prime lake effect season!

Best heavy snowfall location in the U.P. is usually in the Copper Country around Houghton and the Keweenaw Peninsula. Some homes there have wooden sidewalks to go over the snowbanks and second story walkouts when the first story gets snowbound. 2003-2004 winter total for Keweenaw was 225.7 in. Average low temp is 8.2 F.

Here's a few links to Copper Country winter photos:

http://www.keweenaw.info/photos.aspx

http://www.copperrange.org/photo18.htm

http://www.keweenawphotography.com/pictorial-winter.shtml


Hope this helps!

Great, thanks for the info! Marquette looks like a wonderful place to visit, although myself being a Syracuse native I would have to challenge you on the snowiest city stat!

What about the city itself? What is the general population, and what is it like? And do you know anything about Marquette University? I know it is a Catholic school (and I happen to be protestant), but I may be willing to look past that should SU not pan out (although I am really hoping that it does!). Marquette or SU, both are good schools in LES country so there really is no going wrong.

The links you posted are a great help as well.

Hope all goes well for you this LES season and I would love to be up north watching the wind direction again!

Thanks again.

[mcw]

Marquette University is in downtown Milwaukee, WI.

http://www.marquette.edu/

Northern Michigan University is in Marquette, MI and is a secular school.

http://www.nmu.edu/

More about Marquette, MI

http://www.marquette.org/

http://www.mqtcty.org/

NWS site:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mqt/

[mcw]

Nice pics, thanks for sharing! Always good to see a fellow LES lover on the forum.

My greatest (and only) LES experiences came when I was living in NY east of Lake Ontario. I was lucky enough to be able to witness the infamous "Bald Eagle" storm (127 inches in 3 days) and last year to witness another storm which dumped around 80". Lots of fun, but not the best driving weather.

I'm thinking of visiting Marquette soon. Could any of the Michigan posters here fill me in on how well they do in a given winter?

Thanks!

It's tricky in the UP of Michigan. The actual best places for the heaviest of the heavy snow are Houghton, which has been mentioned, just to the east of Marquette (the city itself usually sits parallel to the heaviest bands) and then to the northwest of Sault Ste. Marie, near a place called Whitefish Point. Since that last place sticks so far into the lake, it usually gets 2 - 5x more snow than surrounding snowbelt areas. I think like 200 people live there though, heh.

Also, you wouldn't think of it as much, but Gaylord, MI, which sits in the middle of the top half of the mitten, also gets a heck a lot of snow from the lake effect. It's near the highest point where the Lake Michigan / Lake Superior bands hit, and so lots of snow gets rung out there.

Yup, the forecasters here refer to the "Big 5" counties in the lower peninsula for lake effect - Charlevoix, Antrim, Otsego (where Gaylord is), Antrim and Kalkaska. Good fetch there with NW winds, and often a double fetch with both Lake Superior and Lake Michigan contributing.

[azskyman]

Yes, thanks for the pics. I spent 50 years in a place with four seasons, and now live in a place with only three. Winter is the missing ingredient.

Your photos remind me of the times I miss, but in general I prefer the warm winters here in the desert.

Still...you reminded me of some good times..fun times, in the snows of northern Illinois.

Thanks.

[aerojad]

I'm glad you like the pics

[mike815]

lake effect snow is awesome and i did live in new york for almost my whole life up intill now that stuff is great!

[mike815]

Just dont drive in it!

[beachbum_al]

the pic you have of downtown would look great for a christmas card.

[Wpwxguy]

Very nice!