Last Gasp of Winter?

Hopefully I'm not jinxing us here in the Upper Peninsula - but I have a feeling we are beginning to see the last gasp of winter. After a very brutal mid-March chill has brought temperatures down into the single digits and teens, a nice warm-up will be headed our way for the weekend. The forecast for Saturday and Sunday call for bright, sunny skies with temperatures up into the 40's. Don't be surprised if a few inland locations reach the 50 degree mark. And honestly, it's very much welcomed after a brutal winter season up here. It's been snowy and cold; for awhile there, we were on pace for having our snowiest winter of all time! The snows have eased up a bit as of late, but we'll probably still end up having the fifth or sixth snowiest winter of all time. In fact, this winter has been so cold, Lake Superior is mostly ice-covered. Its been six years since that last happened and prior to that, 1994. It's a huge lake so it's easy to see why Lake Superior doesn't ice over all that often, even though it's the coldest lake out of the five Great Lakes. The good thing about having Lake Superior nearly covered with ice is that the lake effect snows stop; which they have. Moisture isn't being drawn out of the lake - so hopefully that'll keep the lake levels from dropping even further than they have in most recent years.

Of course the weather in the Upper Peninsula during the month of March can vary so much. Back in 2000, we underwent an unprecedented warm spell that melted away the remainder of our snow in a matter of a week. Actually, the warm spell began in February and was very relentless. We may have cooled back some during that time frame, but no major cold snaps. Spring came early in 2000 and it certainly was very enjoyable for those sick of the winter chill. That in comparison to the past couple of winters, where the snow extended well into the month of April. In fact, during the winters of 2007 and 2008 - the month of April brought with it our worst snow storms of the year! The good thing, though, is that usually the snow doesn't stick around for very long in April. The sun angle is much higher and the jet stream continues its northward trek into Canada.

So what will the remainder of March and April bring weather-wise for the Upper Peninsula? One can never tell. With the way this winter started and hasn't let up, we're due for a break. Usually if a winter starts off slow, it seems to end with a bang. We started out with a bang this winter, so hopefully we're in for a quick end to winter. However, we don't want it to end too quickly with the snow melting ridiculously quick. That'll cause a lot of worries in regards to flooding. Typically the Upper Peninsula is not an area prone to flooding because the rivers aren't huge. However, that doesn't mean flooding doesn't happen. A few years back, the city of Wakefield in the Western U.P. was innundated by spring flooding. How can I forget back in 2003 when a dam on the Dead River in Marquette County broke. It spilled millions of gallons of water downstream towards Marquette, MI; causing thousands to be evacuated and shutting down our two iron ore mines because the power plant that sits near the Lake Superior shore close to where the Dead River discharges became flooded out. We had to converse power for a good month until that power plant was brought back on-line. So the U.P. isn't totally immune to flooding concerns. Of course we all want an early end to the winter season, but it has to be moderately slow. As long as we don't get any major April snow storms this season, I'll be happy.