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

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

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

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

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

During 2024, Upper Peninsula search interest has underperformed forecasts. Lower search interest during the first months of the year was undoubtedly partly caused by a very warm winter with little snow limiting winter sports often popular in the Upper Peninsula. However, this low search interest has continued into the 2024 summer peak. Previous investigations compared… Read more

In the Google search interest project for Northern Michigan, I’ve found that Upper Peninsula search interest has underperformed the forecast. Previously, Upper Peninsula search interest was growing. Here, I look at bridge crossings for the Mackinac Bridge, which is between the Upper and Lower Peninsula. Bridge crossings do not show the same trend as search… Read more

Search interest for Northern Michigan continues to underperform actuals for the Upper Peninsula (and, to a lesser extent, the Northern Lower Peninsula). The Upper Peninsula showed a larger increase in search interest during the last several years. Since my current forecast methodology uses the previous year’s actual as a starting point, this tends to increase… Read more

New search interest forecasts are unremarkable given the last several months. Generally, actuals have been below forecasts, especially for the Upper Peninsula. Weather forecasts remain relatively warm with normal precipitation. Also of note are continued issues with variance between Google trends data pulls. With last month’s data pull, search interest peaks were increasing from 2020-2023.… Read more

My forecasts for Northern Michigan places Google search interest are more moderated for the Northern Lower Peninsula. Weather forecasts are more moderated as well. Last month’s average temperatures were slightly below normals for the Month of July. For the Upper Peninsula, search interest forecasts are still higher. However, Upper Peninsula actuals have greatly underperformed forecasts… Read more