[MI-Roger]

Originally Posted by Joe_in_Mi

Yup, if your daughter can handle Alaska, she can handle anything the UP will throw at her, weather wise.


As far as I know, the crazy snow accumulations are from lake effect snow. My employer sent me to Marquette, I think it was 2005 if I remember right, and on the day that I was coming back, over a 24 hour period Marquette got 72 inches of snow. No exaggeration. One of my coworkers lived in the Keweenaw Peninsula near Houghton, and that same storm dumped over 80 inches in his area. The local road commissions up there are experts at handling and clearing large amounts of snow, I was very impressed with their efforts. But these types of snowfalls are probably once a winter, or even less. The main thing is to be prepared and stay off the roads till things settle down.

Years ago I worked with a bunch of EE's who earned their degrees at Michigan Tech in Houghton MI. In the UP, when the docks are removed from the lake in the Fall they are then installed in the homes' front yards. The home-owners do not need to shovel the first 4-feet of snow that falls, just brush the show off the dock/elevated sidewalk.

By springtime the drifts next to these elevated sidewalks are as tall as a grown man can lift and throw snow!

During Freshman Orientation the students at Tech were cautioned to NEVER stray off the sidewalks in winter. What looks like snow covering a smooth lawn between campus buildings may be covering a 10 ft deep gorge. Bodies would be discovered in the Spring - or so they were told.

[alaskaflyer]

Originally Posted by Joe_in_Mi

Yup, if your daughter can handle Alaska, she can handle anything the UP will throw at her, weather wise.


As far as I know, the crazy snow accumulations are from lake effect snow. My employer sent me to Marquette, I think it was 2005 if I remember right, and on the day that I was coming back, over a 24 hour period Marquette got 72 inches of snow. No exaggeration. One of my coworkers lived in the Keweenaw Peninsula near Houghton, and that same storm dumped over 80 inches in his area. The local road commissions up there are experts at handling and clearing large amounts of snow, I was very impressed with their efforts. But these types of snowfalls are probably once a winter, or even less. The main thing is to be prepared and stay off the roads till things settle down.

I moved from Interior Alaska to the Keweenaw. I have to say that the amount and type of snow was way different. We broke down and bought a snowblower for the first time, and I never had to shovel our roof twice a season (or at all) in Alaska. I think I counted having to snowblow my walk and driveway just to get to work 16 days in a row one time. Also, the UP is pretty gray for much of the winter compared to other snow bound locations.

On the other hand in Alaska we'd suffer through extended cold snaps below -30F all the time. Never that cold in the UP, at least for more than a day or two anyways.