How much snow does Michigan get at Christmas? - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Considering a trip that would put us driving in some northern states during the last week of December and the first week of January. I live in Georgia and do not know how to drive in snow... Is this realistic for me to do?
Here are some of the areas we would be driving through:
Madison, Indiana (Clifty Falls State Park)
Brecksville, Ohio (Cuyahoga Valley National Park)
Saint Ignace, Michigan
Houghton, Michigan (Isle Royale National Park)
Bayfield, Wisconsin
International Falls, Minnesota (Voyaguers National Park)
Mauston, Wisconsin
West Frankfort, Illinois
I'm trying to determine what kind of snowfall these places see on average December 21st- January 7th. Do the roads stay cleared well? What about these national parks, would we be able to get to them in the winter?
I can't speak from experience, but my grandma used to tell me stories about growing up near Houghton and the mountains of snow they'd get. I think they average over 200" per year? The winters are long, so that 200" is spread over several months, but it's still a LOT of snow.
I love the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and I hate to discourage anyone from visiting, but if you're really nervous about snow driving, Michigan in winter may not be the place to be.
I grew up in Brecksville!
How much snow they get in NE Ohio depends on when and whether the lake freezes. If there's open water, the winds pick up moisture and drop snow on the hills around Cleveland. If the lake freezes early, there's less snow.
That said, I'd avoid the Upper Peninsula in the winter.
The sites you have listed are all beautiful in the summer, but I'm not sure I'd think of any of them as winter destinations.
Voyagers has very limited services that time of year. Everyone I know goes there to canoe in the summer. I don't know anyone who's been in the winter.
__________________
Carolyn
Last edited by Carousel96; 07-31-2012 at 11:26 AM..
Wow, you really like an adventure huh. Personally, you couldn't pay me enough to be in that neck of the woods that time of the year. And that's coming from someone who learned to drive in snow! . That said, weather is so unpredictable these days you just never know. I do agree with the above poster though about the Upper Peninsula being a summer destination.
I have never been to any of those places, but I would much rather drive in the snow where snow is a regular occurrence than in the south. In the north most people have some idea of how to drive in the snow and most towns are prepared for it. When DS2 was in school in Rochester, NY he said the roads were always clear. when he drove back from Texas in January 2011, the inched through a mix of rain and snow in Alabama. He and his friends, who are all good northern drivers, were petrified.
I've lived in Michigan most of my life and snow at Christmas is very unpredictable in the lower part of the state. Some years we have none at all and some years we do. That being said, I agree with everyone else about the Upper Penisula. There will most likely be A LOT of snow up there at the end of December. If you are not familiar/comfortable with driving in the snow I would not recommend a trip there that time of year (although it would be very beautiful!)
The upper pennisula of Michigan can get many feet of snow. The past couple years I don't think there has been much early in the winter. I know my snowmobiling friends have not been happy. Last year in lower Michigan we didn't have much of a winter at all (thankfully!)
Thanks for the responses everyone.... I'm still torn/confused as to what to do... Sure, I could wait and take the trip in summer months.... But the thought of seeing all the snow is actually what makes me want to go in the winter time (the idea of snow mobiling and there is dog mushing avail in Wisconsin) but the thought of snow is also what makes me scared to go in the winter..... I have zero experience driving in snow; hopefully the roads would be clear- but I just don't know what to expect....
Thanks for the responses everyone.... I'm still torn/confused as to what to do... Sure, I could wait and take the trip in summer months.... But the thought of seeing all the snow is actually what makes me want to go in the winter time (the idea of snow mobiling and there is dog mushing avail in Wisconsin) but the thought of snow is also what makes me scared to go in the winter..... I have zero experience driving in snow; hopefully the roads would be clear- but I just don't know what to expect....
I would personally say if you have no experience of driving in the snow, then don't even attempt it. We don't get nearly as much snow over here as the States and we are notorious for being ill prepared and having terrible road conditions. However, I just wouldn't take the risk. I know that the parts of the States which regularly get snow are so much better prepared than us for it, but if it's something you're not used to, I wouldn't risk it on a vacation for the first time. Just my thoughts...
I would personally say if you have no experience of driving in the snow, then don't even attempt it. We don't get nearly as much snow over here as the States and we are notorious for being ill prepared and having terrible road conditions. However, I just wouldn't take the risk. I know that the parts of the States which regularly get snow are so much better prepared than us for it, but if it's something you're not used to, I wouldn't risk it on a vacation for the first time. Just my thoughts...
If you have never driven in snow, I wouldn't tackle a road trip in the Northern U.S. during the winter .
I was born and raised in New England and I have been driving in snow for 29 winters. There are times that I still get nervous driving in it. Here's the thing -there is no way for anyone to keep the roads 100% clear while it is still snowing, In our area, once the snow fall ends it can take up to 24 hours for the roads to be completely clear (depending on the duration and intensity of the storm). The conditions will differ from road to road as well, depending how well traveled the road is. So even if the State and Town do an excellent job at "keeping the roads clear", if snow is falling, driving conditions are going to be compromised.
Yeah, no, I wouldn't take a road trip through that area in the middle of winter... If you want to see all the snow, maybe fly to Michigan and stay in one place for a week or so? That way, unexpected heavy snowfall won't ruin your plans (which could very well be the case if you're doing a road trip). Having experienced one LONG, cold northeastern Wisconsin winter, I really wouldn't want to be stuck in a snowstorm in the middle of nowhere...
I was going to give advice similar to Sabine's.
There are places where you can go to "see" snow, and "be in" snow. But driving that route in winter would not be the best way to have a first winter experience IMHO.
My husband and I grew up near Cleveland and now live near Minneapolis, so we've driven in our fair share of snow. We drove back to Cleveland for Christmas a few years ago and got caught in a terrible storm. Quite frankly, we're lucky we arrived in Cleveland in one piece. Even my DH, who wants to see his parents for every conceivable holiday, won't drive to OH for Christmas anymore.
__________________
Carolyn
Last edited by Carousel96; 08-01-2012 at 09:27 AM..
I am on the great lakes and let me tell you there will be snow. Potentially LOTS of snow, as in feet. Once the snow is there, it won't be bad driving as they are very efficient in clearing it. But if you get caught in a lake effect "band" you will not be able to see 2 feet infront of your car. There have been times where the faint light of the taillights in front of you is all that keeps you on the road and it becomes very disorienting as you don't know exactly where the road is anymore. I would take it very cautiously and pay very close attention to local weather reports. Lake effect bands can pop up very quickly and dump several inches per hour creating white outs. But like I said by the next day the roads will be fine.
I live just north of Detroit and some years no snow and some could have a lot. Now the UP I wouldn't even want to drive in some of the snow fall they get and I have a good 4x4 truck
__________________
"Raindrops taste like tears without the pain"
1186 miles from Home
I live about an hour south of Bayfield and driving in snow around here is a challenge. The last couple years we haven't gotten a lot of snow early in the winter season. but the U.P.(upper peninsula of Michigan) is a beast of its own making. People up there have doors on the second floors of their homes so that if the snow gets above the lower door you just move up to the next level. The snow is usually deep and if a blizzard blows up in the U.P. or around Bayfield they do close the roads and you could be stuck until roads are passable again. That might be a day or two. The scenery is BEAUTIFUL with snow and there are places to rent snowmobiles most towns around northern WI and some places in the U.P. Dog sledding is available but limited. Not as many places/people do it anymore. You might want to research it before driving up.
International Falls gets quite a bit of snow too. The roads up north of Minnesota are generally 2 lanes and the plow drivers move snow as quickly as possible when there is snow. International Falls is known for getting COLD. Usually they are setting records for the bitter cold they get up there.
Good luck w/ your planning. If you do take an adventure up north make sure to take it nice and easy better to take it slower and be safe. Also have a winter survival bag packed in case of break down.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
. That said, weather is so unpredictable these days you just never know. I do agree with the above poster though about the Upper Peninsula being a summer destination.
Our last WDW trip as a family 
PassPorter Guide Author
We don't get nearly as much snow over here as the States and we are notorious for being ill prepared and having terrible road conditions. However, I just wouldn't take the risk. I know that the parts of the States which regularly get snow are so much better prepared than us for it, but if it's something you're not used to, I wouldn't risk it on a vacation for the first time. Just my thoughts... 
If you have never driven in snow, I wouldn't tackle a road trip in the Northern U.S. during the winter 
Linear Mode
