[WillAttack]

So my wife and I are moving to Calumet, Michigan next week. Looking forward to it. Just wondering if anyone knows anything about the place? I'm very familiar with the weather - it's the reason I'm moving there. I've spent the last decade+ living in extreme northern Maine, north of Caribou, so I'm very familiar with cold and heavy snow. I love it. Endlessly.

Also...just curious. I lived in Fort Kent, Maine...but when I look at Calumet...with a population of ~700...it somehow looks like 4 times that size of Fort Kent which had a population of 5,000. Does anyone know why this is? Is it a borderline ghost town or something?

Anyways. I have degrees English literature and Biology...with a ton of classes in Chemistry as well (graduated with a 3.9 gpa.) My goal is to get my teacher certification so that I can teach bio/chem in the UP.

Thanks to anyone for any information. I've been reading about the UP for 15 years...obsessively read things like John Dee's website http://www.johndee.com/ , etc

- Will

[craig11152]

I have nothing to offer except best wishes.

[MikeBear]

You are moving to Calumet without even visiting it, or doing any online research?

It's a former copper mining town. I can't speak for why it seems spread out compared to a town in Maine, but it's isolated with Lake Superior on either side, so why not spread out from the center?

It's a nice area, but it takes a special kind of person to be able to live there long term.

Good luck!

p.s. Look up some photos of previous winters in Copper Harbor, which is north of there. Sometimes the snow gets so high, they have to dig tunnels between buildings!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnkWyxu6M3g

[WillAttack]

I've done obsessive research on it since 2001. I personally haven't been there but my wife has and has family all over Michigan.

I was just curious how 700 people can fit into so many buildings, lol.

Thanks for the response!

I love that video of Copper Harbor. lol. Awesome.

[michmoldman]

We went past there a month ago on our way to Copper Harbor and they were doing a ton of construction on the rd to downtown. There are some beautiful old buildings, I would love to check out downtown area.
I LOVE Winter, but not sure even I could tolerate those Winters, but man..what a beautiful area!
The 94" your city gets is childs play to Calumets over 220" a year, and if they lakes don't freeze..easily more...lol
Good luck!

[walker46]

Originally Posted by WillAttack

Also...just curious. I lived in Fort Kent, Maine...but when I look at Calumet...with a population of ~700...it somehow looks like 4 times that size of Fort Kent which had a population of 5,000. Does anyone know why this is? Is it a borderline ghost town or something?
- Will

Well Calumet which used to be known as Red Jacket and the neighboring town Laurium which used to be known as Calumet (kind of confusing) both used to be much larger a hundred years ago and while they've shrunk since then the buildings are mostly still there even if the people aren't. Together they had a population of about 13,000 in 1910 and last census it's down to about 2500 both towns together.

[WillAttack]

Originally Posted by michmoldman

We went past there a month ago on our way to Copper Harbor and they were doing a ton of construction on the rd to downtown. There are some beautiful old buildings, I would love to check out downtown area.
I LOVE Winter, but not sure even I could tolerate those Winters, but man..what a beautiful area!
The 94" your city gets is childs play to Calumets over 220" a year, and if they lakes don't freeze..easily more...lol
Good luck!

Ah. Fort Kent is odd. The east coast is odd. In fact we receive roughly the same amount of precipitation each winter as Calumet does. The difference is snow ratios. The snow ratios are relatively lower on the east coast vs the Keweenaw. The snow in LES prone regions is simply massively more fluffy than anything we got in northern Maine. Such that - we may only get 130" inches in a winter (the 94" figure is incorrect...actual totals according to nws are around 130" but theres a lack of people willing to measure so...yeah.) but despite getting 130" vs Calumet's 207"...northern Maine would regularly end up with 60+ inches of snow on the ground come March - absolutely on par with the Keweenaw.

My best anecdote for this is as follows - a few years back Buffalo had a LES storm drop ~100 inches of snow over a few days. The funny thing was...during and after this storm the actual snow on the ground NEVER topped 40 inches.

Now...a few years back on Christmas Day in Fort Kent (St Agatha to be exact) we received a storm that dumped roughly 46 inches of snow in 48 hours. At the end of this storm we had 42 inches of snow on the ground NEW.

In other words - LES compacts like crazy. Yes you get more snowy days and such in these areas - but you have to remember that it just doesn't add up like it does from synoptic lvl events.

Couple this with regular winters with temperatures that drop to -45 and lower...and I think I'm pretty cut out for what the Keweenaw has to offer. Especially since I'm obsessed with snow and the more the better...lol.

ANYWAYS.

I'm in Cheboygan tonight!

I'm loving it so far. As soon as we got a few miles north of Saginaw/Bay City...it started to remind me of northern Maine. I loved it. The pine trees started to take over - it was beautiful.

I am falling in love with the northern Lower Peninsula.

Tomorrow morning we leave for the Keweenaw. I am SO excited.

Thanks everyone for responding!!

[michmoldman]

Originally Posted by WillAttack

Ah. Fort Kent is odd. The east coast is odd. In fact we receive roughly the same amount of precipitation each winter as Calumet does. The difference is snow ratios. The snow ratios are relatively lower on the east coast vs the Keweenaw. The snow in LES prone regions is simply massively more fluffy than anything we got in northern Maine. Such that - we may only get 130" inches in a winter (the 94" figure is incorrect...actual totals according to nws are around 130" but theres a lack of people willing to measure so...yeah.) but despite getting 130" vs Calumet's 207"...northern Maine would regularly end up with 60+ inches of snow on the ground come March - absolutely on par with the Keweenaw.

My best anecdote for this is as follows - a few years back Buffalo had a LES storm drop ~100 inches of snow over a few days. The funny thing was...during and after this storm the actual snow on the ground NEVER topped 40 inches.

Now...a few years back on Christmas Day in Fort Kent (St Agatha to be exact) we received a storm that dumped roughly 46 inches of snow in 48 hours. At the end of this storm we had 42 inches of snow on the ground NEW.

In other words - LES compacts like crazy. Yes you get more snowy days and such in these areas - but you have to remember that it just doesn't add up like it does from synoptic lvl events.

Couple this with regular winters with temperatures that drop to -45 and lower...and I think I'm pretty cut out for what the Keweenaw has to offer. Especially since I'm obsessed with snow and the more the better...lol.

ANYWAYS.

I'm in Cheboygan tonight!

I'm loving it so far. As soon as we got a few miles north of Saginaw/Bay City...it started to remind me of northern Maine. I loved it. The pine trees started to take over - it was beautiful.

I am falling in love with the northern Lower Peninsula.

Tomorrow morning we leave for the Keweenaw. I am SO excited.

Thanks everyone for responding!!

Very interesting! Yes, it is very beautiful up here!
I live in Gaylord but my next goal is to someday live in Marquette. That is if we decide not to move back to the Traverse City area.. (which is a place I really love!). If you love the snow, your definitely gonna love it up there! Good thing is Lake Superior will keep the brutal cold at bay most of the time.
Also, if you have never seen Lake Superior...prepare to instantly fall in love! She will cast a spell on you like millions of others and you will be hooked! I can't get enough of lake Superior, I miss it everyday.
Good luck!

P.S John Dee is awesome! I am also obsessed with snow..and the U.P, so I have been following him for many, many years.

[WillAttack]

I now live on the Keweenaw peninsula in Calumet!

It's awesome here. I cannot believe how beautiful this area is. I thought the northern Lower peninsula was beautiful - but it has nothing on the UP...starting immediately on the other side of the bridge, no less. lol.

The route we took here was from St Ignace to Manistique, then we cut north to Munising before going through Marquette, Negaunee, Ishpeming and cutting across to Baraga and then Houghton/Hancock north to Calumet.

Beautiful.

And so much more remote and isolated than I ever imagined - and this is a good thing to me. I love it.

I am beyond in love with this place.

Cannot wait till winter.

[michmoldman]

Congrats! Wait till you start exploring that whole area even more, you think your in love now!!