Michigan winters, as generations have known them, may be coming to an end

[Cold War]

3 minutes ago, GGNHL said:

My dad and grandparents always tell me about the horrible decade stretch of snow in the 1980s that actually made my grandparents sell all their sleds except for the two 1960s olympics and these were some of the first people in town to buy them and have had them from 1990 til now. 

Also most of the snowmobile manufacturers went out by 83 except for the ones we have left today (well cat too for a while).

It ebbs and flows and even with global warming itll still snow and we will still snowmobile, just might look different than today. I can't see myself getting out of it for quite some time, grandparents are 76 and they still do 1k miles a year right from their dooryard up north one 50 mile loop at a time.

The late 80's were bad. I remember a couple  years  when we never had ridable snow.   Growing up , there wasn't a house on the street that didn't own a sled.  

[Highmark]

February of 2019 Northern, Wi got over 90" of snow.   I don't recall temps hardly getting above 20 deg that month.   Winter's are cyclical and not going anywhere. 

[Edmo]

2 hours ago, Jimmy Snacks said:

Hopefully cyclical...I remember some good and bad winters in the 70’s when I was a lad...IIRC the Winter of 78/79 was a whopper.

Thanksgiving 1978 at my Grandmothers house in St. Clair Shores

My uncle had a place in Gaylord we used to go to in the 70’s. I remember us all loading up in his 4wd suburban because the roads were bad. I also remember the 7-8 foot snow banks on the side of the road in mancelona.

[smokin george]

We've always went up to our camp on Boxing day from 2000 to 2016. We only had 1 or 2 times we had to use atvs to go in/out due to low snow or rain. The last four years we've had a good start around X-mas then the rain hits and fks everything up and and now it seems like it's happening in Feb as well. 

[SayatodaU.P.eh?]

I can remember buying my first new sled (98 Yamaha 600 SX) in the fall of 1997. I only rode that thing maybe three times that year. Once around the farm fields of mid Michigan where I grew up, once up in Traverse City and once in Munising. The TC  trip in January had decent snow. We actually had reservations in Seney in February. When we got there, it was all ice, water and mud. So we drove to Munising where there was at least snow. I remember driving through 6 miles of mud to get into Melstrand for gas on that trip. Rough year. We’ve had better years since then. Not sure if I remember one that’s been worse than that, since then. 

[SnowRider]

25 minutes ago, Highmark said:

February of 2019 Northern, Wi got over 90" of snow.   I don't recall temps hardly getting above 20 deg that month.   Winter's are cyclical and not going anywhere. 

Pass the tinfoil   Damn you’re out to lunch.  I grew up spending the Holidays in  North Central IA in the 70’s and 80’s and the snow was epic.  Never had to worry about snow but rather could we get there and/or get home.  Rode sleds all over the area.  They haven’t experienced those conditions in over 2 decades.  Could see the changes in the 90’s. 
 

The last respectable winter in central WI was 2014/15.  Sledding is turning into a joke in the Midwest.  Trails are open for 2-3-4 days at a time maybe 1-3 times/year.  Conditions are questionable at best.  Gotta travel to Canada or the mountains of you really want to ride.  Otherwise it’s just putzing around even in the UP.  If you’re a diamond pounder the UP is swamped with sleds and the Western UP really doesn’t have that many trails.  How many times are you gonna ride to Copper and over the Bill Nichols Bridges before it gets lame and boring?  To each their own.  

 

 

 

[snoughnut]

9 minutes ago, SnowRider said:

Pass the tinfoil   Damn you’re out to lunch.  I grew up spending the Holidays in  North Central IA in the 70’s and 80’s and the snow was epic.  Never had to worry about snow but rather could we get there and/or get home.  Rode sleds all over the area.  They haven’t experienced those conditions in over 2 decades.  Could see the changes in the 90’s. 
 

The last respectable winter in central WI was 2014/15.  Sledding is turning into a joke in the Midwest.  Trails are open for 2-3-4 days at a time maybe 1-3 times/year.  Conditions are questionable at best.  Gotta travel to Canada or the mountains of you really want to ride.  Otherwise it’s just putzing around even in the UP.  If you’re a diamond pounder the UP is swamped with sleds and the Western UP really doesn’t have that many trails.  How many times are you gonna ride to Copper and over the Bill Nichols Bridges before it gets lame and boring?  To each their own.  

 

 

 

You're a moron, the last 2 winters up by my cabin in northern WI were pretty damn good and the winter of 18/19 had alot of roof damage in that area. Like Highmark said, winter's are cyclical but I'm sure you blame it on Global Warming. Central Wisconsin? Nobody rides there because you can only stand looking at silos and cornfields for so long. 65 - 150 miles North/Northeast of Green Bay has some of the best trail riding the midwest has to offer, maybe you should try it some time.

[SnowRider]

6 minutes ago, snoughnut said:

You're a moron, the last 2 winters up by my cabin in northern WI were pretty damn good and the winter of 18/19 had alot of roof damage in that area. Like Highmark said, winter's are cyclical but I'm sure you blame it on Global Warming. Central Wisconsin? Nobody rides there because you can only stand looking at silos and cornfields for so long. 65 - 150 miles North/Northeast of Green Bay has some of the best trail riding the midwest has to offer, maybe you should try it some time.

I have.  Also NW WI.  I don’t currently trail ride.  Head West and enjoy real snow and scenery.    Probably get another trail sled in 3-4 years and ride Ontario, Quebec, and maybe Western US/Canada.  Bigger the adventure the better.  

[Angry ginger]

My first Quebec saddlebag was because of a complete lack of snow in Maine and NH and my father was flying up from FL to ride.   I chased snow from 06-08 and 13-18.   Finally got tired of it but I do miss sledding some.   if the border reopens i can see getting something next year for 1-2 canada bag trips.  

[Dave]

14 minutes ago, Angry ginger said:

My first Quebec saddlebag was because of a complete lack of snow in Maine and NH and my father was flying up from FL to ride.   I chased snow from 06-08 and 13-18.   Finally got tired of it but I do miss sledding some.   if the border reopens i can see getting something next year for 1-2 canada bag trips.  

Having that sxs will make you realize how big of waste of money sledding is...especially if you have a good group of people to tour with...

[1jkw]

We haven't had a decent snowy winter here in 6 or 7 years, if that isn't bad enough the lakes don't even freeze or freeze enough to be safe.  We had a number of years in the 80's with no ride able snow but the lakes were frozen and at least you could ride on them.

[Jimmy Snacks]

3 hours ago, Cold War said:

Yeah, that was a nasty storm.  we were at my grandpa's house, about an hour and half away.   My Dad insisted we drive home in our 78 LTD .  Luckily Grandpa made my dad take a shovel with him.  I think we were on the road for like 14 hrs .  couldn't make it up our road so we had to abandoned the car and walk the rest of the way home.  Different  times then. people were getting out of their cars to help push each other up hills.  My Dad bought me and my brother a Yamaha Enticer that year.  we drove the track off it that year. The only time it stopped was to put gas & oil in it.  I need to get over to my parents and dig some of those photos out. 

My old man drove LTD Wagons..thankfully we lived up here and my mom bought that K-5.

[Ez ryder]

On 1/4/2021 at 1:04 PM, Dave said:

Sledding is a dying sport in most places except the mountains....way more bang for the buck as well...and if you get a high performance sxs its pretty much the same rush as a sled....jmo of course. 

 Bull shit the oen have been selling the sbit out of sleds the last 6 yrs . As far as the Up this is far from the first time I have seen shit conditions in Jan. Last time I remember I think was 05 or 06 .