While most of the nation turns its eye towards Punxsutawney Phil, true Michiganders know there’s only one source for your winter woodchuck weathercast: Howell Nature Center’s own Woody the Woodchuck. Woody has been a fixture at the nature center since (at least) 2017 when I shared the photo from John Heinz Jr of lil Woody figuring out if something was or wasn’t food.
If you’re in the neighborhood, their free Groundhog Day Celebration is already underway, but you can also tune into their Facebook livestream that starts at 8:20 am!
Here are two pics from Charles of the joyfully painted Mai Tiki Resort on Lake Huron in Oscoda demonstrating that you can find a little spot of summer in Michigan even on the coldest day. See his latest on Flickr & stay warm!
Like many businesses & individuals across the nation, Michigan in Pictures will be participating in the nationwide Ice Out of Everywhere general strike on Friday, January 30th. The protest calls on Americans who believe that the Administration’s immigration enforcement campaign is violating our Constitution and national fabric to voice their displeasure with a nationwide day of no school, no work and no shopping.
You of course are free to do whatever you want, but if this post offends you, trust that I will almost certainly offend you again.
No post Friday – stay safe & see you next week everyone!
Yesterday the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MSHAA) unveiled their new name, image, and likeness (NIL) rule. Under the policy, a student-athlete may earn compensation from the individual use of their Personal Branding Activity (PBA), including activities such as commercials, product endorsements, personal appearances, autograph or photo sessions, merchandise, sports cards, apparel sales, group licensing, personal logos, or acting as a social media influencer. These must be individual opportunities for individual student-athletes.
They add that students can’t use the uniform, mascot, or name of any school and that they can’t endorse inappropriate things or be paid to play. Click through for all the info on PBA from MHSAA and let me know what you think about this.
I featured Steve’s photo 18 years ago but had to bring it back because it’s got the perfect “million dollar shot” vibe! Head over to Flickr to see his most popular pics!
These photos of the St. Joseph North Pier Outer Lighthouse on Lake Michigan taken just four days apart provide a dramatic example of how fast cold weather & high winds can build ice! For sure follow Michigan Native Photography on Facebook for their latest & more great Michigan photos.
“We should not measure human progress solely on the basis of what we’ve built, but also on what we have preserved and protected.” – Michigan Governor William Milliken
Today is the 189th birthday of the great state of Michigan, and I thought it fitting to share the words of Michigan’s longest serving Governor on what he believed Michiganders were called to do. The Great Lakes State has definitely risen to his challenge with 103 state parks and recreation areas, 140 state forest campgrounds with almost 14,000 campsites & cabins, and 360,000 acres of land within state parks and recreation areas drawing nearly 40 million visitors every year!
“The most extensive and very nearly the most severe blizzard in Michigan history raged throughout Thursday January 26, 1978 and into part of Friday January 27. About 20 people died as a direct or indirect result of the storm, most due to heart attacks or traffic accidents. At least one person died of exposure in a stranded automobile. Many were hospitalized for exposure, mostly from homes that lost power and heat. About 100,000 cars were abandoned on Michigan highways, most of them in the southeast part of the state.” -National Weather Service Ann Arbor Meteorologist in Charge, C.R. Snider on January 30th, 1978
48 years ago one of the most powerful blizzards in Michigan history brought the state to a standstill. In her feature on historical Michigan snow days in the now defunct Seeking Michigan, Jessica Miller of the Archives of Michigan related:
On January 26-27, 1978, snowstorms with fifty-to-seventy-mile per hour winds pummeled much of Michigan. Snowfall totals ranged from eighteen inches in Lansing to an incredible fifty-one inches in Traverse City. More than 100,000 cars were abandoned on roads and highways, and travel was impossible for days. Governor William G. Milliken declared a state of emergency on January 26 (See the image below.) and activated the National Guard to assist with the cleanup. The governor also requested financial assistance from the federal government and estimated damage totals to be more than $25 million, not including lost productivity from workers who were unable to get to their jobs.
Regarding the photo, John wrote: Marty Lagina stands on the frozen pier at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy on January 29, 1978, viewing the capsized training vessel Allegheny, which capsized from ice buildup during the Blizzard of ’78. This image was on assignment for TIME magazine, who had seen my b&w image on the UPI wire and wanted a color image. Marty and I were lucky – the sky cleared and the wind stopped for about 20 minutes, then the storm began again. I wondered at the time who TIME knew to make that happen…
The only places not under an Extreme Cold Warning are the Southeast corner of the state – from Saginaw and The Thumb down to Flint, Ann Arbor and Detroit, as well as the Lansing and Jackson area along the southern rim of Michigan. Those southern and eastern spots are under a Cold Weather Advisory, as the cold is not expected to be quite as severe there.
The Extreme Cold Warning now covers the Upper Peninsula – where wind chills could plummet to -45 degrees over the next couple of days – and all of Northern Michigan and West Michigan. This extreme warning covers Grand Rapids, Holland, Muskegon, Traverse City, Gaylord and the Tip of the Mitt, too.
That’s a big yikes from me! Brian took this when we were deep in the polar vortex of January of 2019 from the South Pier in Grand Haven. See his latest on Flickr and STAY WARM!
PS: If you want to tune into the current scene in Grand Haven, check out the Grand Haven South Pier Cam!
A lot of the photographers I feature on Michigan in Pictures as well as many readers are from the Detroit area. If you are and are interested in growing your skills and/or your network of photographers, I encourage you to check out the “Click & Create: Detroit Photography Meetup” this Saturday, Jan 24th 10:00 AM at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
They write: “Join us for a photography meet-up designed to spark creativity across all ages and skill levels. We’ll explore the space together, work from shared shot lists, compare styles, and trade inspiration as we capture fresh perspectives in the heart of the city …. Meet inside the Woodward Entrance. Bring your camera or phone. No flash photography. No tripods or extra equipment. Just your eye, your curiosity, and your creative energy.”
Coretta Billy shared the event with me. She specializes in portraits & events, and is of the photographers who will be in attendance. You can follow her on Facebook and view & purchase her work at corettabillyiecphotography.com.
“You think YOU’RE a snowbird? Please.” – -Yogi the Great Lakes Piping Plover
Michigan in Pictures features almost exclusively photos from Michigan, but every so often there’s one that will have me reaching beyond our borders. Such is the case with this photo of Yogi the Piping Plover from Cumberland Island all the way down in Georgia that was recently shared by the Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort. Yogi hails from the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, but his preferred nesting site is the wild and busy Silver Lake State Park.
They explain that the Piping Plover is a small shorebird that is listed as an Endangered Species and nests in three separate geographic populations in the United States and Canada: The Northern Great Plains, the shores of the Great Lakes, and along the Atlantic coast. Birds from all three populations winter on the southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts in the United States & in the Caribbean.
Regarding the distinctive bands, they say: Great Lakes Piping Plover chicks are banded between five and sixteen days of age. Since shorebirds are precocial (Like chickens, Piping Plover chicks begin running around, feeding themselves within hours of hatching), these chicks have well developed legs, which makes it possible for us to band them with adult-sized bands at a young age. The bands we use are made of either plastic or aluminum, and they are very lightweight. Every sibling in a plover brood gets the same color and arrangement of three or four bands (depending on the band color-pattern used). This is called a “brood-marker combination”. There aren’t enough possible combinations available to give every chick their own unique identifier from hatching, but by giving the chicks from the same family, or brood, the same combination we can study such things as parental success, fledging rates, and return success.
Here’s a few more Piping Plover pics – visit greatlakespipingplover.org for more and to help support their work!
Michigan in Pictures 