Michigan residents may need to bundle up sooner to brace both November and December chilly weather as a result of cooler lakes, MLive.com reported. Lakes may also ice up sooner because of the extra chilly water temperatures, the news site reported. Despite these potential effects, there may be less lake effect snow, the website explained.
'Lake effect snow is heaviest when the lake waters are warm, and the air above is very cold,' MLive.com said. 'The bigger the difference in lake to air temperature, the more intense the snow can fall. Colder lake waters would mean lake effect snow could be not as intense. That is not to say we won't still have what some would call heavy snow. It means the 24 to 36 inch lake effect snows in one to two days would be harder to achieve.'
Lake Superior (pictured) and Lake Michigan may also ice up sooner because of the extra chilly water temperatures
Cooler temperatures prevailed Tuesday, when the NOAA Great Lakes Coastal Forecasting System reported Lake Superior had an average surface temperature of 45.81 degrees.
Lake Michigan, meanwhile, had an average surface temperature of 53.1 degrees.
On Friday, the Coast Guard encouraged boaters to wear appropriate clothing for the Lake Michigan temperatures in a news release.
'Survival time is greatly diminished for someone immersed in water below 70 degrees,' Cmdr. Max Moser said in the release.
'Cold water drains a body's heat up to 25 times faster than cold air. In addition to a life jacket, we recommend mariners wear a dry suit in a cold water environment in order to increase the chances of surviving a fall into the water.'
Well now I am curious to see how winter will go now being a Michigan resident. Already think it will be as bad or worse than the whopper last year.