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I give this an "A" grade - I love the UP! My actual preference is Houghton, located in the Keweenaw Peninsula (that "hook" on top of the UP), but I'd be glad to settle for Marquette any day of the week. I love the heavy snow and generally cool summers, although it does get the occasional heat wave. But even then, Lake Superior never gets that warm, so there's always the opportunity to cool off at the beaches on the hottest days.
Aside from Upstate New York, the UP of Michigan is one of my "dream" places to move to someday - I've had enough of this southern summer heat...lol.
This thread brings back some very fond memories of my trip up there 20 some-odd years ago, in January. Yeppers, I went up there in the teeth of their uber-snowy winters, flying into Houghton / Hancock area via Great Lakes Air. I'll never forget stepping out of that airplane and being awed by all the whiteness all around me. And the air smelled soooo good...ahhhh. I took a little tour of the UP, skied the Porkies, which overlooks Lake Superior, visited Marquette, etc. Some of the scenes I saw from traveling the highways up there were right out of a Swiss Alps postcard, with houses covered in huge mounds of snow. Truly a beautiful place.
I can remember the commercials I saw touting the UP like yesterday - "Upper Michigan...Someplace Speciaallll"...lol. They've that that right.
I give this an "A" grade - I love the UP! My actual preference is Houghton, located in the Keweenaw Peninsula (that "hook" on top of the UP), but I'd be glad to settle for Marquette any day of the week.
I'd give Houghton an A grade as opposed to Marquette. Houghton passes my "high winter" threshold (<25/10 for 2-3 months) which is essential to get an A from me. Houghton averages a high of 21F in January, which is significantly colder than Marquette, and in addition Houghton gets 178 inches of snow vs. Marquette's 141. Houghton also seems to be cooler in summertime.
So like you my preference within the U.P. is for Houghton.
Quote:
I love the heavy snow and generally cool summers, although it does get the occasional heat wave. But even then, Lake Superior never gets that warm, so there's always the opportunity to cool off at the beaches on the hottest days.
Aside from Upstate New York, the UP of Michigan is one of my "dream" places to move to someday - I've had enough of this southern summer heat...lol.
The U.P. as a whole has a good climate even by my standards, and by both of our standards there is no comparison with anyplace in Georgia.
Location: The Valley Of The Sun just east of Canberra
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Houghton is on that western hook (or shark's fin) peninsula of the UP which would be even snowier- I'd imagine this hook of land dries out some of the snow before getting to Marquette. Here's another town that's right at the top of that shark's fin that receives 125 inches of snow a year:
Copper Harbor is an improvement over Marquette and it has cooler summers, plus colder winter record highs, but the winter averages of Houghton are colder and snowier. I will note that in most of these U.P. locations the snowfall is bigger than the not-so-impressive averages would suggest - December and January in these parts usually average at least 30 inches of snow, and in Copper Harbor's case January averages over 40 inches. Don't get me wrong - totals in excess of 100 inches are pretty snowy, but those monthly totals are something I'd expect to see in a place that averages a lot more snow per annum. That's what lake-effect snow can do to a place.
D. Winters are too long and too snowy. Spring is at least a month delayed compared to NYC. Summers are decent, though, if very short.
As the old saying goes in the U.P.: "We have two seasons: Winter's Coming, and Winter's Here."
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I love the heavy snow and generally cool summers, although it does get the occasional heat wave. But even then, Lake Superior never gets that warm, so there's always the opportunity to cool off at the beaches on the hottest days. 
