winter

Stateside: How to resist Netflix and get outside this winter

Stateside Staff — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 22:07:55 +0000

Frida Waara is an instructor in the upcoming Becoming an Outdoors Woman event this weekend in the Upper Peninsula's Big Bay, sponsored by the Department of Natural Resources.

The event will help women - even the most devoted Netflixers - develop skills that encourage and maintain an active lifestyle during a Michigan winter.

So, how does Waara get women to be active outdoors when the weather drops below zero?

Michigan Radio's Cynthia Canty spoke with Waara about the program and the importance for women to be active year round.

Michigan snowstorm snarls driving, air traffic

The Associated Press — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 11:29:33 +0000

COMMERCE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Southeastern Michigan residents are making the best of the region's first big snowstorm of the season, which peaked during the evening rush hour and snarled road traffic and air travel.

The fringe of the storm pushed into populous metropolitan Detroit on Wednesday afternoon, and the National Weather Service says it should taper off Thursday.

Snowfalls were topping half a foot by late Wednesday, with 6.5 inches already on the ground in Ann Arbor.

Winter's blast delaying flights, causing accidents in southern Michigan

The Associated Press and Michigan Radio Newsroom — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 22:40:00 +0000

UPDATE 5:30pm

Improving the winter driving skills of Michigan teens

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 15:28:56 +0000

A website is launching just in time to help parents monitor and improve winter driving skills for teen drivers.

The University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute created the site called - "safer driving for teens dot org".

“This promotes parents and teens communication with each other and clarity and what it is that’s expected. And some consequences…what will happen if the restrictions are not met,” says Jean Shope. She’s with the Institute.

More snow coming to Michigan

The Associated Press — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 18:56:32 +0000

TROY, Mich. (AP) - Northern Michigan has had its first big snowstorm of the season, and the South is awaiting its introduction to winter this week.

Most Michiganians awoke to a white Christmas after a moderate snowfall on Christmas Eve made travel risky and caused dozens of spinout accidents around the state.

The Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula got up to 20 inches of snow in a storm that hit last Thursday, and the weather service says a storm expected to push across southeastern Michigan will bring four to seven inches on Wednesday and Thursday.

All but official: NHL's Winter Classic coming to the Big House

Steve Carmody — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:03:04 +0000

The National Hockey League tomorrow will make official that Michigan Stadium will host next year’s Winter Classic matchup between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Today, the University of Michigan Board of Regents agreed to lease the college football stadium for a pro hockey game for three million dollars.

Big time hockey in the open air is rare, but not unheard of. For example, this won’t be the first hockey game at the Big House. More than 104 thousand fans watched U of M defeat MSU on a specially built ice rink on the Michigan Stadium field in 2010. The NHL matchup is expected to draw as many fans, and possibly more, to Ann Arbor.

The largest crowd ever to see an NHL hockey game was 71 thousand at Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Stadium in 2008.

This will be the second time the Red Wings have skated in the National Hockey League’s Winter Classic.

Since its inception in 2008, the Winter Classic has become a popular event on the NHL schedule.

More daylight starting tomorrow, happy solstice!

Mark Brush — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:37:18 +0000

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

The BBC reports that "more than 1,000 people" gathered at Stonehenge in Wiltshire County, England to mark the occasion.

And Arch druid Rollo Maughfling remarked "the solstice celebration had been 'a very jolly occasion.'"

So in Ann Arbor, the sunset tonight is at 5:05 p.m... tomorrow night it will come at 5:06 p.m.

But weirdly, the winter solstice does not coincide with earliest sunset times.

Justin Grieser explains why in the Washington Post. Grieser says it has to do with the sun's declination and the shifting time of solar noon:

In late November, the effect of a later-shifting solar noon begins to counteract the effect that the sun’s lowering declination has on pushing sunset earlier. Eventually, sunset reaches a minimum during the first week of December. While we would expect the earliest sunset to occur closer to the winter solstice, the rapid forward shift in solar noon causes sunset to creep later more than a week before then.

Legislative mistake and a court decision put low-income heating fund in jeopardy

Rebecca Williams — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:24:10 +0000

Michigan lawmakers are debating this week how to help low-income families pay their heating bills. It’s turned into an urgent problem because of federal budget cuts... and a court decision that has tied up millions of dollars. Here’s how it works: there’s a program called the Low-Income Energy Efficiency Fund. If you get your power from DTE or Consumers Energy, you pay into that fund when you pay your energy bills... somewhere between one and two dollars a month. There’s been about $90 million dollars in that fund annually.

Winter farmer’s market kicks off today in Kalamazoo

Lindsey Smith — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 10:55:00 +0000

Carl Rizzuto sells his own sausage and meatballs at the summer farmer’s market in Kalamazoo. He tried coordinating a winter market ten years ago but he says there wasn’t enough interest. Now he says business is so good during the summer market vendors agreed a the Kalamazoo Winter Market would be worth the effort.

Consumers Energy natural gas users will spend less this winter

Steve Carmody — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:25:48 +0000

Consumers Energy says its natural gas customers will be paying less this winter to heat their homes.

Dan Bishop is a Consumers spokesman. He says more plentiful supplies are leading to a 3 percent cut in natural gas prices.

Lansing city council may tweak city's snow removal ordinance

Steve Carmody — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:40:06 +0000

Lansing’s ordinance requiring people to shovel snow from their sidewalks might get a tweak before the snow flies this winter.

Last night, the Lansing City Council voted to allow four people off the hook for failing to shovel snow from their sidewalks last winter. The reason? They either didn’t actually own the property last winter or there was an administrative mistake.

Wacky Weather

Jack Lessenberry — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:40:28 +0000

You don’t need me to tell you this, but we’ve had a rough winter. Not nearly as tough as they’ve had in New York, or almost anywhere on the eastern seaboard. But it’s been cold and snowy.

How snowy? Well, in Detroit, we are already in the top dozen winters of all time, with more than sixty inches. Last month was the third snowiest February in recorded history.

But it could always be worse. If you have any interest in the weather, by the way, there’s a fascinating little book that just came out last year: Extreme Michigan Weather: The Wild World of the Great Lakes State, published by the University of Michigan Press.

Author Paul Gross is a longtime meteorologist who now works for WDIV-TV in Detroit. His book looks at the strange and constantly changing weather we have in this state, or, as he puts it, everything from heat waves to bitter snows, ice storms to tornadoes to floods.

We don’t, however, have hurricanes, and his book will tell you why. (Not having any tropical ocean waters around here is a big part of it.) Ice we do have -- in abundance.

Ice and snow. But if you are feeling so tired of snow you can’t stand it, consider this. We lucked out today. Grand Rapids once got almost seven inches of snow on March 11. In Flint, it’s been as cold as seven below zero this day, which I found in Paul Gross’s book.

He includes all these tables for fun in Extreme Michigan Weather. So, just in case you were burning to know, it was once twenty below zero on this date in Ironwood.

Snow brings dangerous driving conditions to early commute

Zoe Clark — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:58:43 +0000

A winter storm has brought a few inches of snow and dangerous early-morning driving conditions to parts of the state. The Associated Press reports:

The National Weather Service says southeast Michigan was feeling the effects of the storm Friday morning, with an inch or more on the ground as the morning commute began. The snow left slippery driving conditions in its wake and numerous weather-related spinouts and crashes were reported.
The state's Thumb area and Port Huron were expected to get the most snow. The weather service says 5 to 7 inches could fall in that area. Winds contributed to hazardous conditions.

The Detroit News reports:

As much as 4 inches of snow fell overnight as a fast-moving system heads from the Ohio Valley into Canada, with Metro Detroit on the outer edge of the system.
The snow is expected to taper off this morning, but not before some parts of the region see a total of as much as 7 inches snow, said meteorologist Steve Considine of the National Weather Service reporting station in White Lake Township.
"It is winding down now," he said about 6:15 a.m. today. "About 2-4 inches will fall in much of Metro Detroit and higher in Macomb County."
St. Clair and Sanilac counties could see a total of 5-7 inches, Considine said, because of how the storm is moving.
Blowing snow could be a problem this morning because winds are blowing at 25-30 mph, Considine said.
Temperatures were in the 20s this morning but expected to climb near 40 degrees this afternoon, Considine said. A snowy rain is expected later this evening.

Freezing rain leads to slow morning commute

Zoe Clark — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 12:11:43 +0000

Freezing rain has closed portions of some southeast Michigan freeways and made driving conditions dangerous for commuters.

The Associated Press reports:

...portions of Interstate 94, Interstate 75 and the Lodge Freeway (M-10) were closed early Friday morning in Detroit, while portions of the Southfield Freeway (M-39) in Dearborn and Interstate 96 in Howell also have been shut down... Several accidents have been reported.
The National Weather Service in White Lake Township says freezing rain is expected to change to rain by noon. High temperatures in the low 40s are expected.

The Michigan State Police has confirmed to Michigan Radio that as of 6:57 a.m. parts of Northbound 23 were closed as were parts of Northbound I-475.

The do-it-yourself snow and ice test

Rebecca Williams — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:43:03 +0000

In the winter... there’s a quick and easy way to find out where your house is leaking energy... just by looking at your roof a day or two after a good snow. Greenovation.tv’s Matt Grocoff invited me along on what he calls a drive-by energy audit.

Here's what to look for:

Icicles are pretty... but they're a sign that your attic needs more insulation. Heat from your house is escaping and melting the snow.
If you have ice clogging your gutter, it can cause damage to the gutter... and ice can get underneath your roof shingles and damage your roof.
You can use a roof rake to clear snow from your roof... but it's just a short-term fix. A better solution is to check out the non-profit group Michigan Saves to find a qualified contractor, who can come out and perform an energy audit and find your home's leaks and advise you on how to fix them so you can save energy and money.