This is my search interest forecast for March-May. The main project page for this forecast, and corresponding background information, is linked at the bottom of this page.

The winter low search interest was higher than forecasted for both peninsulas. For the Upper Peninsula, search interest was significantly higher than last winter and similar to the 2023-2024 winter. For the Lower Peninsula, search interest was also higher than last year but lower than the year before. Starting last summer, the downward trend in search interest started to stabilize and reverse itself. The current forecast methodology incorporates the average YoY trend from each of the last twelve months.

I made my planned model changes for 2026. First, I removed average temperature as a model variable due to data availability. Minimum and maximum temperature are still considered. Second, I removed places where search interest for the place names is likely to be for something other than places in Michigan (i.e. Greenland).

Weather over the next three months is forecasted to be relatively normal for temperatures and relatively damp for precipitation. I doubt that weather will have much impact on search interest for these months, except maybe in May if we end up having an early warming. Generally, these months have near minimum search interest, but search interest will climb steeply into summer. Forecast is higher than last year for the Upper Peninsula and lower than last year for the Lower Peninsula.

I have also started working on my outdoor recreation search interest project again now that I have solved my computer issues.