Question about snow belts

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Willh

New member
Hi, sorry for another question, lol.

Looking over the maps of yearly snowfall totals it's obvious that the two bullseyes for snow stretch from Twin Lakes to Painesdale, and from ~Calumet north to just past Delaware.

I'm wondering about that bullseye over Keweenaw County. I understand that Painesdale, etc, gets a ton from it's elevation being 1,200+ feet up...but in the case of Keweenaw County, while there are locations of similar altitude it seems that that bullseye includes lower elevations as well. I'm curious to know what is the driving feature of the bullseye over Keweenaw County and why places that seem to be lower than others get so much more snow (apparently these places in Keweenaw County tend to get a significantly higher amount of snow than where I live in Calumet at 1,220'). Delaware Mine, where that almost 400" snowfall total came from back in 1979, is only ~1,000 feet up.

Also my wife and I are looking to purchase land or a house soon and we're considering this sort of thing when trying to choose a place - we're both utterly obsessed with snow, and want to live as close as reasonably possible to the best LES bands. We actually moved here from northern Maine because of the things we learned from you (Been reading this website since at least 2003, maybe earlier...back when you were in Lake Linden.)

~ Will
 
jd

jd

Administrator
Staff member
Hi Will

I guess the first thing I want to point out is that these maps are produced with somewhat limited data points, especially considering that LES can vary so strongly from one location to another. With that said, they do give an excellent representation of the general snow outlay for the UP and its LES belts. My point being that the small scale (like one village/town vs. another) variances sort of get smoothed over.

Also, LES will vary from one season to another, meaning some seasons see the Twin Lakes to Painesdale area being king of the hill and others somewhere from Calumet to Delaware. The differences between the two are not usually too much, less than 5-10% in most cases, but they still exist from season to season.

As for the spacial coverage north of the bridge vs south. That has to do with the fact that north of the bridge will pick up snow when it is not snowing south. West or WSW winds can give areas from Calumet good dumps while the sun is shining south. Conversely, a pure NW wind will usually cause Twin Lakes to Painesdale/South Range to get pounded, while north of the bridge will see snow, but it can be considerably less than what fell south.

So as for where to live to get the most. I would say anywhere from Twin Lakes to Painesdale/South Range and then from around Calumet north to Delaware would be your best bet. Trying to nail it down more than that would be kind of like splitting hairs, as the differences get small and also vary from season to season. But, if you prefer getting a larger percentage of your snow in bigger dumps, with more pronounced breaks, then the southern belt would be best. While if you like getting more days with snow, but perhaps not the total number or severity of the amounts, north would be best.

-John
 
B

Bullitt69

Member
Hey Will,

I completely understand where you're coming from - when searching for my place up there, I looked around with the same criteria - where does it snow the most often, who gets the biggest totals. I too have have been visiting John's site it seems forever (pretty much from the beginning when he lived in Lake Linden anyway).

I'll give you a few real estate ideas / pointers about the places John mentions:

Twin Lakes: Very nice, but expensive - especially the waterfront properties
Painesdale: Old mining town, more affordable too - some properties that go up for sale have a woodsy feel, most don't
South Range: Still gets a ton of snow, but probably not quite as much as Painesdale - (there's a big hill going up to PD from SR)
Anywhere between Twin Lakes and South Range?: Good Luck finding a place built - there's not much there at all - I considered buying land and eventually building around Donken or Toivola, (almost bought a parcel on Lake Eva as a matter of fact) but that might not have been for a few years yet, and didn't want to wait to build so am currently revamping an older camp. (I thought of knocking on a few doors around Donken and making an offer on one of those old places if anyone was interested, but found something else already for sale). There's a lot of state land between the two so it is rare for land to even go up for sale...

Calumet: There's "In Town" and then there's a suburbs - every now & then a place with a few acres comes up for sale - that would have been awesome for me & my family and that's probably what we would have done if for not getting a place out east.
Mohawk: That's the next town up and there's often town houses for sale, but I hardly ever see anything outside of it.
Delaware: In the 10 years or so I've been looking at properties, I think only one or two properties have ever been advertised there. You'll have better luck finding land, and that's rare too.

Hope this helps, feel free to p/m me for a list of good real estate sites, I know em all lol.
 
T

Tracker

Guest
nice info bullitt69....good to know stuff....I was thinking the same thing....but I too know not many properties or at least any good ones go on the market....they get passed on....so with that in mind I was thinking of this on a parcel of land....gonna pour a slab and add water and electric hookup on some land....that way its built already...and can be moved if a really good spot becomes available....and will be good in winter....just a thought for like twin lakes beach front or something without spending a million dollars.

http://www.midmichiganhomes.com/Home/3490-Squaw-Beach-Big-Bay-MI-49808/PPN/1105798/


 
F

frnash

Active member
Tracker said:
…
http://www.midmichiganhomes.com/Home/3490-Squaw-Beach-Big-Bay-MI-49808/PPN/1105798/
…
Click to expand...
If anyone's looking at a little "beachfront bungalow" like that for $2M+, maybe they ought to "go big or go home" instead, for a few more coins (≈ $495,248)?

Just a short distance away (≈30 miles south), see (click →) Granot Loma,
"a 26,000 Square foot log cabin, on 415 Acres of beautiful Northern Michigan lakefront property including over a mile long private beach and an island on Lake Superior.
Fifty rooms including a steam room, indoor boathouse, and a 3,000 gallon hot tub overlooking private marina and Lake Superior.
The Farm is complete with an apple orchard, and 13 buildings on hillside with a mountain view."
Click to expand...
… and so much more.
See also, Wickedypedia, (click →) "Granot Loma".

Kinda your own (click →) "Huron Mountain Club". (If you don't mind grotesque.)! :cool:
 
T

Tracker

Guest
frnash said:
If anyone's looking at a little "beachfront bungalow" like that for $2M+, maybe they ought to "go big or go home" instead, for a few more coins (≈ $495,248)?

Just a short distance away (≈30 miles south), see (click →) Granot Loma, … and so much more.
See also, Wickedypedia, (click →) "Granot Loma".

Kinda your own (click →) "Huron Mountain Club". (If you don't mind grotesque.)! :cool:
Click to expand...

hmmmmm....i wonder why the wind mill tom built is not listed....and I think he is selling it for 19M...thats way more than 2M...and whats so grotesque aboot HBMC???? don't understand....i'll have to ask tom if it comes furnished...LOL
 
T

Tracker

Guest
frnash said:
Nutin' grotesque 'bout HBMC, er… HMC (Huron Mountain Club), that was referrin' to Granot Loma. Did you look at the interiors? Gro-teski to the max!
Click to expand...

yes I have been in and at granot loma many times....nothing is grotesque that I know of....old old pictures of every indian chief and barons....carpeting that looks and feels like leaves in the great lodge room....a HUGE BEAR in living room....a hyena I took a selfie with.....every animal imaginable.....is thats whats groteski? otherwise its like wild bill hickocks hunting cabin and hotel is what it reminds me of.....only the teepee wasn't as large and was rounder in the great room lodge

PS....huron bay mountain club...and huron bay wildlife refuge.....and huron bay wildlife foundation....bigfoots home turf???

https://www.naturefind.com/places/huron-national-wildlife-refuge/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huron_Mountain_Wildlife_Foundation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-taxa_biodiversity_inventory

All ATBIs are inherently incomplete since, a) the biota of even well-studied areas includes many undescribed and often difficult-to-study species, and b) new species are regularly established through immigration and introduction.
 
F

frnash

Active member
Tracker said:
yes I have been in and at granot loma many times …
Click to expand...
Alrighty then, I'm not much into this debate anyway, and I 'spose next week is gonna be purdy busy fer ya, what with you, yer golf buddy Trumpski, Dennis Rodman, Chairman Kim (김정은) with all those other folks at that big confab at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island.

Y'all may be too busy there to get a chance to swing yer golf sticks at the Serapong Course; ah well, It doesn't look like such great golf weather for next week there anyway.

(Do yer buds Rodman and Chairman Kim play golf too?)

Maybe y'all will at least get to have some good Singaporean victuals. Maybe some Pig's Brain (or Pigs Organ) Soup? Duck Rice? Har cheong gai?
Perhaps even some Durian (the "King of Fruits") for dessert? Yum!

So I'll just let it go. :devilish:
 
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