So, whaddya think– is it really Christmas in the UP if there’s no snow on the ground?
I know there’s an inch or two of the white stuff around right now. But you heard Ariane earlier–it gets warmer and rainier as the week wears on, and by the time Chritsmas rolls around we could have weather like the weather we had last Thursday, when I wore shorts to work, there were sailboats out in Marquette’s Lower Harbor, and I saw someone running up Front Street without a shirt on.
In Marquette.
In the middle of December.
And lest you think it’s just here, look at this shot (seen in the video above) from last Thursday in the Copper Country, the snow capital of Michigan.
See? I’m not kidding.
I realize the weather’s changing. I realize we broke the planet. But it always seemed like the UP was immune to situations like this.
While the rest of the country went through their hurricanes and floods and heat waves, we had our snow and our cold and our short, short winter days. And while we still have those short, short winter days, this time around they’re filled with rain and mild temperatures and green grass.
Well, half green and half yellow. So… grellow grass. But you get the idea.
The radio station where I work is running a contest called “Where’s the Snow”, where people guess on which date they think we’ll get our first big dump of the year. There are a bunch of listeners who don’t think we’ll get a storm with ten or more inches at all this season.
And I’m starting to wonder if they’re right.
Unless something changes radically in the next few days, it looks like we won’t have a white Christmas, or a white anything any time soon. Maybe we’ll get lucky and a few flakes currently on the ground will stick, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Instead, I’m guessing we’ll be talking about this as our “Grellow” Christmas, the Christmas where we went sailing on Lake Superior, or the Christmas we went for a run through Marquette without a shirt.
Because that’s the kind of Christmas it’s shaping up to be in the UP.
But no matter how it turns out, I hope you have a fantastic holiday season, and don’t forget–make sure you leave some cudighi and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve.
I’m Jim Koski, and that’s another slice of “Life in the 906.”
