Only In Michigan - Sunbathers Spotted Next to Huge Piles of Snow

It doesn't get any more Pure Michigan than this!

We here in Southwest Michigan aren't the only ones experiencing a heat wave. While we've been enjoying temperatures in the low 80s, our friends to the north have also enjoyed unseasonably warm conditions too.

U.P. resident Paul Hepner shared a photo to the "You Know You're From Marquette If..." Facebook group saying,

Marquette...where you carry your lawn chair and SPF-100 through snow to get to the beach on an 80°F Wednesday afternoon

Hepner says his photo was taken on Wednesday, April 12 from the lighthouse looking across McCarty's Cove.

Paul Hepner, with permission

Despite having grown up in Michigan, I've lived in several other states including Nebraska and Missouri. Everywhere I've lived they all have said the same thing, "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes."

However, that adage seems most accurate when used to describe our weather here in the Mitten!

Michigan Weather

As a Michigander who is not a fan of snow and cold weather, even though it may read Spring on the calendar I never truly let my guard down until it's practically summer. I can remember many Cinco de Mayo celebrations where there was still snow on the ground!

Throughout this week's warm spell I thought maybe, just maybe I could safely assume we'd seen the last of the snow. However, in Pure Michigan fashion we've already got a wintry mix in the forecast for Monday, April 17. I should have known better!

Despite only having just taken his photo on Tuesday, Paul says the current weather in Marquette is,

Only 50s today and 3-6" of snow forecast for Monday... This is more like spring here

Again, you've got to love #PureMichigan!

The 15 Snowiest Winters On Record In Duluth History

Since the National Weather Service began keeping weather records in Duluth in the late 1800s, here are the 15 winters with the highest snowfall totals on historical record.

It is worth noting that the official records from 1941-today have been recorded at the area now known as the Duluth International Airport (away from the lake, on top of the hill). Before then, various locations closer to Lake Superior had been used for official weather recording data. For anyone that knows anything about how Lake Superior and the hill play a role in temperature and snow, you can see how this makes older records inherently different.

While these records note the "snowiest winters", they actually include all seasonal snowfall from July 1 through June 30 of the following year.