Thursday, 1/9

It's amazing what a difference a day makes.

Here's a picture I took Tuesday--

Then, the same shot from the same time of the day yesterday, Wednesday--

I guess we won't be having a non-winter winter this year, huh?

8-)

While I'm not surprised we received the snow (after all, it's been almost a month since the last flakes fell) I AM surprised at how it fell. You could tell it was lake effect; it was snowing insanely heavy here in downtown, while a mile and a half to the west—out by the Holiday Inn—the sky had not one flake in it.

Not one.

Will this be enough snow? I mean, I for one think any snow is too much snow, but I ask that question in the context of this—is this enough snow for all of our winter events? The route of the Noquemanon has already been shorted to end outside of Marquette, while the fate of the UP 200 is still up in the air. Did the four or so inches we received in the past 24 hours make any difference? Will be getting more snow to add onto it?

If you recall, we received 13 inches during the one day we had a "storm" last January, and we thought winter was here to stay. A week later, we were all wearing shorts. Looking at the extended forecast I don't think that's gonna happen, but you never know. Laura and I had a discussion on the air Monday about whether or not this type of winter is our “new normal”; while she says we should wait and see what the next few years hold, she says it wouldn't surprise her if a non-winter winter was indeed what we'll be having from here on out.

We'll see. All I know for now is that we have a base, even if it's not a lot, on the ground. Will we build upon it, or will it disappear?

I'll let you know in a few weeks, if not before.

(jim@wmqt.com)