Snowfall in Northern Michigan – MDW394 - podcast episode cover

Snowfall in Northern Michigan – MDW394

Nov 08, 202311 min
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Episode description

Dealing with heavy snowfall during the winter months is a way of life for the residents of Northern Michigan. With an average snowfall that can exceed 100 inches in some areas, the communities have adapted in unique and effective ways. Preparation for the snow season begins early. Residents ensure their homes are well-insulated, with sufficient heating systems to withstand the biting cold. Snow tires and chains become standard for vehicles as locals aim to maintain mobility in slippery conditions. Additionally, there's a significant investment in snowblowers and plows for personal use. The local governments also play a crucial role. Budgets for winter are carefully planned to ensure that snowplows are in good condition and ready to clear the streets. There's a remarkable efficiency in the deployment of these services, often working throughout the night during heavy snowfall to minimize disruption to daily life. Community spirit shines through during the winter months. Neighbors often help each other, especially in assisting those who are elderly or disabled with snow removal. This camaraderie extends to sharing resources like food and water during particularly severe storms that may lead to temporary isolation. Education on dealing with winter conditions is also a key factor. Schools teach children about frostbite and hypothermia prevention, while local organizations provide winter survival tips. There are also community-led initiatives to ensure everyone has adequate clothing, such as coat drives. Despite the challenges, the residents of Northern Michigan embrace the winter season with a sense of pride and enjoyment. Winter sports like skiing, snowboarding, and ice fishing are not just recreational activities but also a part of the cultural identity of the region. In summary, Northern Michigan's approach to managing snowfall is a blend of preparation, community support, and embracing the harsh yet beautiful winter environment. This resilience allows the region to not only endure but also thrive during the snowy months.

Transcript

Mike Dell's world number 3 94 for November 7th, 2023. Hit it again. What a dummy. I. Ah, there it is. And here I am. How's it going? Let's see. Well, today being the 7th of November for a lot of the northern parts of the world, it is getting close to winter time and winter time. You know, I like to think of winter time as a time that all the events slow down, you know, other than the holiday stuff, but it's not as busy as summer.

Summer always seems that there's always something every week, every weekend, every day after work, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, you know, now it gets dark at five 30 here, uh, in Northern Michigan anyway, and, you know, everything kind of huns down and, you know, I tend to get a lot of reading done and, and stuff like that, you know, stuff that normally I wouldn't get to do. But on the other hand,

I gotta deal with snow. Not that it's terrible. And, you know, back a few years ago, or well, many years ago, snow used to be a lot, you know, a lot more than up here. And now it's, uh, you know, going, getting warmer and, uh, less snowy. Last year, I only had to blow the driveway out maybe three times, and I don't ever remember the snow sticking around completely. Like you, you know, it used to be like mid-November, it would snow and that, oh, that's the one that's gonna stick.

And we wouldn't see the lawn until sometime in March. But now it always seems once a month we get a thaw. We may get a bunch of snow, but we'll get a, a day or two or three that'll, uh, we'll thaw. And that's, eh, I don't know. I, I guess, I guess maybe it's a climate change, but I, I believe that climate change climate's change all the time. We used to be in an ice age, so obviously since the ice age it's warmed up a bit.

And I think it may continue to do that for a while and then a little cycle back and, and all that. And, uh, you know, like I said, I, I'm not denying that the change is happening, but I kinda wonder about the cause. I don't think the fact that, uh, you know, I, I drive around in an old car that doesn't have a catalytic converter is contributing to anything other than, yeah, it kind of stinks. But I don't think,

uh, we're gonna hurt ourselves with it. I mean, one volcano puts out more crap than, uh, than all the cars in the world, you know, as we've talked about before, I don't think the, uh, electric cars are gonna be the answer, answer completely. Maybe, you know, hybrids, I'm cool with that. But, uh, you know, as far as fully electric vehicles and, you know, until there's a charger, uh, or multiple chargers in, uh, in quantities similar to gas stations, I don't think it's gonna work.

And of course, our grid doesn't really handle it well, but let's get back out on the subject at hand. Snow, uh, you know, up here we deal with it in, in, in a lot of different ways. Our County Road commission has these great big dump trucks with big plows on 'em, and they fill 'em full of sand and salt, and they spread sand and salt all over the roads, and that makes the cars rust. And, uh, that kind of sucks, but, uh,

at least you don't slide off into the ditch. You know, all the big stores with the big parking lots, they have their snow crew, and usually they got a couple of big tractors with, or loaders with, uh, snow buckets. If you've ever seen a snow bucket, it looks like a, a flat horseshoe, uh, about four feet high and, uh, you know, two or three times the, the length of a normal loader bucket. And then it still has kind of the same loader bucket towards the back of it.

But that way they can push a whole bunch of snow and then kinda lift it up. Big piles. You know, in the Walmart, uh, area, you know, in Traverse City here, there's a whole section of the parking lot by, you know, the end of winter there's, you're just a giant mountain of snow, and that's always the last snow to, uh, melt . And of course there's a lot of, uh,

pickup trucks and whatnot running around with plows on the front. And, uh, they do people's driveways and smaller parking lots and businesses and whatnot. And the city, they, you know, in the, in the main part of downtown Traverse City, they plow it all into a big furrow in the middle of the road. And then they have a giant snowblower that blows it into semi trailers, um, you know, open top dump trailers, and then they take it out to a lot that they have just outside of town,

and they got a giant mountain of snow over there. So that's kind of cool. Uh, as far as, you know, people at home, you know, there's the snowblowers, there's shovels of course, and, uh, some people have tractors with, with plows or snowblowers on 'em, or sometimes both, or loaders. Um, you know, I've got a tractor with a plow blade and I got, uh, a couple of walk-behind snowblowers, and I even have a blower for the tractor, but the walk-behind ones are easier to deal with, so I never use it.

But you know, we, we, we deal with it, we deal with, my dad always jokes he says, he says, yeah, I'm getting tired of winter. I'm just gonna drive south with a snowblower in my back, back of my truck. And then, uh, the first stop place I stop where, uh, I ask somebody what that is and they say, oh, never saw one before. That's where I wanna be . I, I still don't mind the winter.

Of course, you know, my wife is retired and I am still working, but commuting, you know, 30 feet out my back door, so it's not a hardship, even if it does snow a foot. Okay. I just have to kick my boots a little bit at the door when I come in the office. And it's nice and toasty warm in here. It's nice and toasty warm in the house. If I've gotta go somewhere, I can go out, start the truck and come back in the house and wait for it to warm up,

you know? So I, I'm never in that big a hurry to go anywhere, you know, I don't have to commute to a job with that involves a vehicle. So I don't have to scrape windows or anything like that unless, unless I've got time. And this year with my shoulder, uh, surgery, I, I'm not gonna be able to operate a snowblower probably all winter, uh, because it's, you know, it takes a few months before, uh, that's all back up to fight and strength. So we'll likely hire someone to take care of the snow

blowing slash shoveling chores. You know, between the house and the office I use, I got a small snowblower and that's what I usually do is, you know, do the walks with that. And they do a trail around the backyard for the beagles so they don't have to get in the deep snow if they don't want to. But it, uh, you know,

that's how we deal with snow up here. You know, just like people that live in Phoenix or some other hot desert area, Vegas, whatever, deal with the heat in the summer, you know, I don't care who you are, 120 degrees is hot. 105 degrees is hot, even if it's a dry heat. 'cause as you know, a snowblower, uh, snowblower , a blowtorch and a campfire are both dry heat. So at some point it just gets too damned hot. So they deal with it with air conditioning. Well, we do it the other way around.

We deal with the heat. You know, most, most places have, you know, most houses have at least two ways of heating our house. 'cause you never know, the furnace might crap out or whatever. I've got, uh, you know, just electric heat in this office, a little Eden. P you might hear it running in the background, although it's pretty darn quiet. And if that crap, well if, if the heater craps out, I got another one.

But if the electric crap's out, well I wouldn't really be out in the office if the electric crapped out. But I do have a generator so I can run electric heat in the house. We have a fireplace and gas heat, you know, furnace. So if the power goes out or the gas furnace goes bad, you know, we can minimally heat with the fireplace. And we always keep enough wood on hand to last a few days anyway.

I think we got like half a cord or something, you know, 'cause we've really never experienced too many power outages here. That's because there's not a lot of electric cars up here. If, I guess if there was more electric cars, we'd have power outages, , you think? But, uh, yeah, so it's not like the end of the world to deal with snow. We just happen to be in a really snowy part of the country. Uh,

it's not the worst snowy part of the country. You know, the, the buffalo, New York tends to really get hammered and you know, there's places in Minnesota that get hammered pretty bad. And of course Alaska and out in the mountains and the west, but a lot of people don't live up there. Or if they do live up there, they, they're prepared for it. You know, the up of Michigan, you know, gets a lot of snow and Northern lower gets a lot of snow.

And you know, we're just used to it. We get the thing called lake effect snow, where the cold air blows over the, uh, warm water of Lake Michigan or relatively warm water, or Lake Michigan. And it dumps all the snow on us. , uh, we're a little close to the lake here, so it blows over us mostly, but a little bit inland. It gets real deep at times.

It could be a sunny day and we'll get a six inches of snow. So that's, uh, that's just the way it is. And, you know, most people adapt well, uh, where to wherever they're living. I lived in Iceland for a year and up there they didn't get a lot of snow. They got some, didn't get a lot of snow, but they get a lot of wind and you just get used to it, you know, a 40 mile an hour wind, you just dress for it and you know you're prepared for it. And it just wasn't that bad, you know,

it was actually milder winters than here. Just, they lasted for six months instead of four or three, you know, whatever. So any who, that's gonna be my, uh, episode for today. We'll catch you tomorrow.

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