We Interrupt This Broadcast to Bring You a Winter Weather Bulletin

I’m interrupting Jim’s weekend getaway recap – much like all this recent snow’s been interrupting the Traverse City public school schedule – to offer a first-hand perspective of just what a real (finally!) Midwestern Winter looks like, should you be inclined to read on. 🙂

While I’m told it gets way “worse” than this, I’m still blown away by just how high the snow can stack-up here in Northwest Michigan. It’s still an absolute novelty to us southern folk, and I’ll admit I’m a wee-bit enamored – if not floored at what a wide variety of landscape effects Mother Nature can render when migrating between (and occasionally combining) the mediums of snow-wielding wind and blue-sky-bright sun.

This last week or so of glittering, pillowy precipitation started off innocently enough, then definitely escalated, and has since waxed and waned – all-the-while delivering a steady cascade of cold, talc-textured snow.

A peaceful Boardman River last Wednesday, compared to a wave-slammed Ludington lighthouse last Saturday.

A few things I’ve learned during the course of this more-official winter:

1. 20-degree days feel markedly warmer than single-digit temps, and wind makes a HUGE difference.
2. On real snow days, one should be prepared to dust down the car both heading to and coming from the grocery store.
3. Snow is downright delightful if you’re just willing to don the proper gear and get right out in it.

I realize that a couple of those lessons will leave a few of our more misanthropic readers smug, picturing us in the less-enviable position of being up here freezing our arses off on the shores of a now-seasonally-useless beach. And that’s okay.

For all you winter lovers and haters alike to peruse from the warm safety of your desk chairs and couches, here are some of my favorite winter scenes thus far this season…

Lake fog on Old Mission Peninsula

Haserot Beach shoreline

A barely-visible boat in the West Bay fog

A horse enjoys the snow

Glittering snow

Skies reflected on a Bellaire lake

Winter fog lingers on Lake MIchigan

Ice forms on Old Mission Peninsula shores

A tree-lined winter road

A feather and faint snow

Haserot Beach cloud-head

Lake Michigan’s East Bay winter blues

Sun and snow falls on Boardman Lake

Winter stare-down with a horse

Sun spills over Port Oneida

Many thanks to Heather for joining me in 25mph gusts and sub-zero wind chill in pursuit of several of these pictures. I think she *may* have even postponed publishing her portion of our collective photo gallery to allow me first honors. Thanks for always being down to freeze – and venture to lengths I wouldn’t dare (I have pics of that, too) 😉 – for the sake of still-framed bliss!