Author: DanShaffer
-
Winter Ends
Now the animals sleep as the world holds its breath The woods are as still and silent as death -Chris Ledoux We have quite a fascination with the weather and the passage of seasons, despite the fact that neither present modern humans with much more than a minor inconvenience or a passing treat. In fact,… Read more
-
March-May Northern Michigan Search Interest
In Northern Michigan, winter is coming to a close. The first snowmelt occurred last week for the lower and the next will start tomorrow. Northern Michigan received plenty of snow this year and last month was terrific for snowmobiling. Last month, I adopted significant changes to my forecasting methodology which insofar appear to be extremely… Read more
-
February-April Northern Michigan Search Interest
Currently, Northern Michigan has entered a normal winter with high temps near or usually below freezing and continued snow accumulation. Virtually all of Northern Michigan has been completely covered in snow since before Christmas. January search interest for the Upper Peninsula was similar to last year despite weather more favorable to winter recreation. It’s fair… Read more
-
Understanding Wild Animals
If you’re a wildlife biologist, you probably want to know everything there is to know about species of animals you are interested in. You are also probably not reading this blog post. For the rest of us, we might settle to learn the ‘Cliffs Notes’….at least at first. Lucky for you, you can understand more… Read more
-
January-March Northern Michigan Search Interest
December, like all of 2024, had lower search interest than the last few years. This was especially true for the Upper Peninsula. December was warmer than forecasted, but Northern Michigan was snow covered for most of the month. This winter is forecasted to have relatively normal temperatures and normal or higher precipitation. If true, this… Read more
-
December-February Northern Michigan Search Interest
Search interest was very low for November in both the Upper and Lower Peninsula. Weather was also unseasonably warm. Weather is forecasted to be above normal again in December and about normal in January and February. This coupled with above normal forecasted precipitation means that January-mid March will likely be snow covered like a normal… Read more
-
Back to the Basics of Camping IV
While hot tenting may sound like a youthful euphemism, it means using a heater in a tent intended for camping. While some may point out that cold temperatures are easily handled by a correctly rated sleeping bag and sleeping pad, what they might forget to mention is that this method becomes less comfortable the colder… Read more
-
November-January Northern Michigan Search Interest
November-January have among the lowest Google search interest of the year for Northern Michigan. Forecasts for both peninsulas are higher than last year. Weather forecasts are warmer than normal but with higher precipitation. Based on these forecasts, snow coverage is probable for at least a significant part of December (especially the Upper Peninsula) and all… Read more
-
Setting the Standard
Michigan is famous for many different things including the auto-industry, the assembly line, and post-manufacturing blight in places like Detroit. However, Michigan’s landscape is best characterized by Great Lakes, rivers, and forests. It was these that brought the French to our region using waterways to skirt the edges of the vast woodland to trade for… Read more
-
Michigan Outdoor Recreation Search Interest–Installment IV
The purpose of this installment is to determine whether the search interest data introduced during the first two installments and the weather data introduced during the third installment are correlated. The general idea is that people will search for outdoor recreation search terms differently in some weather conditions than others. Note there are 10 search… Read more