Cold weather comes to Michigan - can snow be far behind?

Hopefully this recent cold spell will begin to help out Michigan's beleaguered winter dependent businesses. Ski hills are making snow around the clock to make up for the lack of the natural variety. Of course, snowmobilers and cross country skiers still need the snow and so do the businesses that depend on raising revenue from those winter activities. Swiss Valley here in southwest Michigan has been making snow around the clock this week. Check out some of the photos from their man-made snowstorm here.

Weather Underground has a fairly comprehensive listing of Michigan ski resorts and their current conditions if you are interested.

News of a decent sized snowstorm possible hitting Michigan this Sunday/Monday has a lot of folks who make their living from our winter weather in good spirits. You can view snowmobile trail reports at www.michiweb.com. They have a very extensive listing for conditions all across the northern lower peninsula in addition to the U.P.

Read this Traverse City Record Eagles article about the nation's freeway system

The Traverse City Record Eagle ran a two-part series that coincided with the 50th anniversary of the creation of the interstate system. The two-part article covers the good (get from Point A to Point B much quicker) and the bad (the homogenization of America). The homogenization of America refers to going just about anywhere in the U.S. and having it look like anywhere else. Starbucks, McDonald's, and every other chain store can be found in strip malls all across America.

Not only is the history of the interstate system given, but its future as well. We have 46,876 miles of interstate highways rumbling through America and a large majority of them are in various states of disrepair.

Read Part One - How the interstate system reshaped America

Read Part Two - Interstate system needs money for updates

Web site gives addresses of former meth labs

At the Michigan Department of Community Health website there is now information on the addresses of all meth labs found since July 7, 2006. Why only since July? Well, that is when the law that allows such a list was passed. The list became available on January 3. I was expecting a bit larger list, but the PDF is only about 2 1/2 pages long. The really dismal aspect of the list is the fact that the majority of these former meth lab properties are right here in southwest Michigan.

25 out of the 38 properties on the list are from Allegan, Kalamazoo, and St. Joseph counties combined.

The listing provides details such as the structure type (i.e. SFH - Single Family House) and the remediation status of each property.

It is great that the public can have access to this information as meth labs basically leave behind a toxic waste dump of chemicals that can seep into walls, ceilings, and carpet. Anyone looking to buy a home should double-check (even if the seller swears that the home was never a meth lab) the property against this list.

Look at the list at Michigan Department of Community Health

Via the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Marquette history museum to feature Yoopers exhibit

Coming this April to the Marquette County Historical Museum is an exhibit dedicated to those wonderful souls who call Michigan's Upper Peninsula home and are affectionately referred to as 'Yoopers.' The exhibit will be called "Anatomy of a Yooper." This appears to be a play on the popular novel "An Anatomy of a Murder" written by Marquette resident Robert Traver and also made into a great film starring James Stewart. Robert Traver is the pen name for John Voelker a former Michigan Supreme Court justice. Local residents are being asked to submit stories, photos, or artifacts that help show that 'Yooper' spirit. Directly from the museum's website is this further explanation of what they are looking for:

Unique words and phrases, ethnic customs, coping with the weather, excellent work ethic, unique foods and ways of preparing them, camps and camping, ingenuity with recycling items to make useful things such as Finnish rag rugs and snowshoes, coping with bug season and anything else that makes Yoopers stand apart from the rest.

This sounds like a fun and entertaining exhibit. I wish Marquette wasn't so far away as this is something that will be quite interesting and I would like to see it.

Read the article in The Mining Journal.

Michigan gas prices hold steady at $2.24

Michigan gas prices remain virtually the same as last week with a statewide average of $2.24. Prices spiked up in southwest Michigan at the middle of last week to around $2.32 per gallon. Not sure why, but then again I don't think there is much rhyme or reason to the price fluctuations these days. One month ago we were paying $2.283 across Michigan. A year ago at this time we were paying much more than we are now with an average price of $2.40 across Michigan.

So, it could be worse. :)

Lack of snow putting a hurt on Upper Peninsula economy

Every week that goes by without a significant snowfall costs the Upper Peninsula businesses that depend on the money that snowmobilers bring in. Hotels, gas stations, restaurants, and other stores where money is normally spent as snowmobilers buzz across the U.P. are suffering. A large chunk of their annual income is usually generated around Christmas and New Year's, but without snow that did not happen this year. Michigan's Upper Peninsula is a tourism dependent economy and snow is what drives folks to visit in the winter. No snow - no visitors.

Governor Granholm can't do much to help the winter economy of the U.P. unless she can somehow influence the weather patterns with the same icy exterior normally reserved for state Republicans. ;)

Think snow.

Read more about the Upper Peninsula economy's plight at The Mining Journal.