Weather Info for Northern Michigan

In a region averaging 120 inches of snowfall each season, it’s no surprise that many consider Northern Michigan a winter destination. Deep-powder snow events, snow days off from school and times when drifts grow taller than your car all contribute to the scenic splendor of winter Up North.

Since Petoskey and surrounding communities are located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, it is a prime location for lake effect snow. That’s the weather phenomenon in which snow showers — sometimes very heavy snow showers — develop when the cold winter winds pick up moisture over the warmer waters (warmer than freezing, that is) of Lake Michigan. It can mean inches and inches accumulating on top of weather-system snows.

While the same lake that brings the lake effect snow can sometimes keep the shoreline areas warmer for at least part of the winter, Northern Michigan also can offer some bone-chilling temperatures — especially in January and February.

In fact, Pellston, in Emmet County, has gained notoriety as being the coldest spot in Michigan and many times the coldest spot in the nation. It is even nicknamed the “Icebox of the Nation.”

So bundle up — and enjoy walking (or skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, etc.) in this winter wonderland.

The Lake Effect: Know the Lingo

Lake effect: Precipitation which results from cold polar air flowing over warm lake water after passage of a synoptic cyclone
Lake enhanced: The additional precipitation resulting during another weather event.

Lake effect in particular affects the western third of Michigan, along the waters of Lake Michigan. Throughout other parts of the northeast U.S., annual snowfall exceeds 100 inches in the snowbelts to the lee of the lakes, and exceeds 200 inches in the Tug Hill Plateau in New York, to the lee of Lake Ontario and on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Northern Michigan, to the lee of Lake Superior.