Storm Approaches
George's
Eagle Harbor Web
An unofficial source of Eagle Harbor, Michigan news, views and information.

The Week's Weather Journal.
Winter Storm Approaches

"...when we don't live with birds or weather or waves we lose the opportunity to think hard about ourselves, to discover from nature important facts about human nature."
(excerpted from Nancy Lord's, Fishcamp)

The Week Of April 12, 1998

Sunday

This is not a good day for storm doors. The wind is blasting down from the hills and testing the holding capacity of everything not permanently affixed to a structure. I have three storm doors: one I replaced last fall, a second was blown away early this winter and has not been replaced; and, a third, on the south entry door, met its maker this early AM. Methinks I haven't got this figured out yet. The second door would have been replaced except that good ole 41 Lumber delivered it several months ago to an unknown destination. I finally found it last week at another fire number 401E. Seems that Eagle Harbor is unique in that the same fire number is assigned to more than one property. Crazy! I guess I can't fault the 41 Lumber driver, although with all the stuff I have had delivered from them it seems odd that they would know where I am. Oh well, such are the ways of the Copper Country. In any event, it's blowing like the dickens and the harbor is possessed. Cresting waves are rolling into the north shore. The sky cover is broken, with occasional periods of sunlight rapidly changing the water from dark gray to bright blue. It's a lively scene and quite beautiful. There is a lot of wind noise as the rapidly moving air works its way through still bare trees and around structures. When the gusts get to 30 to 40 mph, as they are, the camp shutters and the eerie howl makes me glance outside to see what's going on. There is a harshness to wind through bare trees that you don't hear in the summer. The sound pitch is higher and sharper. A roar. It seems closer, more ominous. The chimney howls. It really spooks the wonderdog. She huddles by my feet, occasionally nuzzling my leg, seeking a reassuring pat. I glance out into the harbor, envisioning my boat PEREGRINE tugging at her anchor and being pushed around by the gusts. I'm glad she is still perched on her winter roost on the Pequaming shore.

Monday

Still blowing hard from the south, perhaps southeast. Dark clouds lurk behind the hills and over the lake to the west, but we are blessed with some more sunshine. It's warm, in the mid seventies. Hard to believe. I've noticed that our weather systems are hanging around for quite a while. The clear, cool northeaster of last week hung around for almost a week, and this southerly flow system is now in its third day. The barometer stays pretty steady through it all. It must be good ole El Nino at work again. Except for El Nino's momentary lapse of a few weeks ago, when about two inches of rain fell in the Copper Country, but not here, the early spring is dry. Even with all the commotion that's going on now, and all the dark clouds on the horizon, the air is dry and there is no rain. The woods are very dry and I suspect the fire risk is high. Abby and I strolled around to Cedar Creek in mid afternoon to check out the fishing at the creek discharge. It was surely 10 to 20 degrees warmer over there and, like on a south wind summer day, you could feel the heat rolling down out of the hills. Abby waded out from the beach and hunched down in the water. I was tempted. A lone fisherman in high-top waders was out about 100 feet from shore trying to tempt some rainbows in the 10 to 15 feet of water a little further out. No luck, at least while I was there. The geese honked noisily offshore as Abby attempted a few fruitless swim outs to give them chase. We now have 15 of these pesky honkers making the harbor their home. The very last shore rock ice caps are getting their due today. By morning they will probably be gone. That, plus the County road crew retrieval today of the snowplow hazard marker sticks, certainly means that the winter of '97-'98 is history. A winter that never was!

Tuesday

I'm sorry to report that the Weather Journal will be off-line for awhile. Not for lack of weather, indeed with the wind now having veered to the northwest, we are experiencing what surely will be a brief winter encore. No, the problem is that I'm having a good deal of difficulty writing. Seems as the recently increased dosage of the medications I'm taking to keep the leg pain under control is interfering with my hand-eye coordination and power of concentration. Weird feeling. I'm assured that it will correct itself in time. I'm leaving this weekend for a short stay in Minneapolis. I hope to have the Journal back on line in a couple of weeks. Sorry!

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

The Snow Report
Final 1997-1998 Report

Keweenaw Snow Record (1)
Year Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Total
98-99
97-98 3.1 51.6 28.4 56.5 7.9 9.4 0.0 0.0 156.9(2)
96-97 0.0 28.3 83.6 104.6 19.3 35.9 2.1 0.0 273.8
95-96 0.0 50.7 96.6 108.2 35.4 41.8 26.2 8.5 367.4
Most 23.1 75.5 129.3 111.4 79.8 78.3 34.8 13.9 390.4(4)
Least 0.0 3.9 16.6 35.6 15.3 3.0 0.0 0.0 161.7(5)
Avg 3.1 29.0 62.2 70.6 38.5 27.4 10.9 1.6 243.2

(1) Recordings by Keweenaw County Road Commission since 1957.
(2) New Record Low
(4) 1978-1979.
(5) 1957-1958.

The Weather Journal Archive.

The 1996 - 1997 Winter Snow Report

The Week of April 5, 1998
The Week of March 22, 1998
The Week of March 15, 1998
The Week of March 8, 1998
The Week of March 1, 1998
The Week of February 8, 1998
The Week of February 1, 1998
The Week of January 18, 1998
The Week of January 11, 1998
The Week of January 4, 1998
The Week of December 28th
The Week of December 14th
The Week of December 7th
The Week of November 16th
The Week of November 9th
The Week of October 19th
The Week of October 12th
The Week of October 5th
The Week of September 28th
The Week of June 1st
The Week of May 18th
The Week of May 11th
The Week of May 4th
The Week of April 27th
The Week of March 23rd
The Week of March 16th
The Week of March 9th

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