Skiers wait in line to ride the T-Bar to the top of the hill at Mont Ripley Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. Mont Ripley reopened later that same day after higher temperatures and rain forced it to close for the final week of December. (Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — If, looking back on 2024, you felt the year gone by was warmer and dryer than other years, you’d be right. Meteorologist Joseph Phillips from the Marquette office of the National Weather Service said last winter was the warmest on record, both in the Western U.P. and the entire Upper Peninsula. “For the period from December 2023 through February 2024, the average temperature in western Upper Michigan was six to 11 degrees above normal,” Phillips said. 

Phillips said in Houghton County, the high temperatures were 9.1 degrees above normal while the lows were 10.4 degrees above the average.

“Ten daytime high temperature records were broken in Houghton in the winter, dating from 1887 to the present'” He said. 

As a result of that record-breaking warmth, Great Lakes ice coverage for Winter 23/24 was one of the lowest on record. “The highest ice coverage of the winter occurred on Jan. 23 of this year at just 14%,” Phillips said. 

Phillips credits (or blames) an El Niño weather pattern as a driver of warm temperatures in the Great Lakes. El Niño causes the Pacific jet stream to move south and spread further east, creating wetter weather in the South and warmer and dryer conditions in the Northern United States.

“Precipitation was between 50 to 75% of normal for last winter,” Phillips said. “The area reporting the lowest seasonal snowfall total dating back to 2007 was Delaware at 153.23 inches. Other totals from last winter include Herman – 169.6 inches, Watton – 81.6 inches and Kearsarge – 104 inches.”

Phillips said the lack of precipitation during the winter trough summer affected more than winter tourism. “Below normal precipitation during the winter and through a majority of the summer enabled widespread drought conditions,” Phillips said. 

He notes that a wetter fall helped reverse the trend. “Drought conditions have improved thanks to a wetter pattern in the fall. As a result, precipitation will be close to normal for the year,” Phillips said, noting the period of September through November of 2024 was the “warmest fall on record.”

Looking ahead to the new year, Phillips there’s basically a 50 – 50 chance of things changing. “A weak La Niña is expected to establish itself soon and the current outlook through March 2025 suggest equal chances of temperatures being above and below normal and a 33 to 40% chance of experiencing above normal precipitation. Otherwise, right now, there are no clear signals for what the rest of the year may look like for the Copper Country.”