HEY! Stop blinking at the weather report looking for additional digits to appear. What you are seeing is the beginning of a little cold snap. Need I remind you that Cold is Good?

It might not be great if you live in the windswept plains or insist on donning a euro-Speedo, but at BOYNE cold means snow.
And snow (particularly this cold, dry fluffy stuff) is good...Really good.

Look at the weather map and you'll see a classic lake effect system in play.

Each day is listed with a chance of snow listed at 70% with at least 1-3 inches accumulation. When the weather turns this way the odds are 70% that it will be snowing at any given moment. Nothing crazy- just a light snow. The kind you see in a kid's snow globe.. But all that little stuff compounds.  Over a couple days it is a significant snow event. And if the wind kicks up things get silly. Accumulation on your knees during the lift ride kind of silly.

So throw on an extra layer and maybe even a balaclava and tell Mother Nature to BRING IT!

-JJ

So, you're on the South side singin the blues about the rain down there?

Here’s a little exercise that sums up the weather pattern that is rolling through the “population belt” just to our south and it’s effects on snow conditions at BOYNE:

Step outside and hold your left hand up in the air so that you see everybody's favorite Michigan map. Now hold it out in the elements for a couple minutes.  If anybody looks at you funny, just smile and tilt your hand in the royal wave.

After a couple minutes tell me, where is it coldest?  

After a few minutes, take note: Do the heat and sweat vapors seeping out of the cuffs of your down jacket have any real effect on the tips of your fingers?

You’ll probably notice that your finger tips are still experiencing the full winter blast, even though the base of your hand is beginning to warm up a bit and other parts of your body are feeling positively tropical. In fact, the tips probably have no idea anything is going on to the South.

The same applies here. In fact, it’s snowing…with no real end in sight.

O.k. that’s enough. You can stop running in place. Point yourself north and drop the transmission into drive.

Just don’t forget your gloves. You'll need ‘em.

-JJ

Why put off to Friday what you can do today?  Especially when it is free.

Boyne Highlands is ringing the bell. It's Game on starting today Wednesday November 19. From 12pm to 4:30 and it's on us.
Experience Gratisfaction there's nothing like it. Here are the details. 

I can't go today, so I'll quietly loathe all of you that do. 

Fact that may only interest me:
Opening day marks exactly one day shy of 7 months from our last day of skiing (April 20). Five months and one day makes for a pretty sizeable ski season.
And you thought all those season passholders were just good looking?  Turns out they are really smart too.

-JJ

It worked!

If the arrival of winter caught you a tad off-guard, don’t feel bad.  It got me too. Or at least, I let it think it did when in reality I made this happen.

In years past I have had everything buttoned down and my freshly-waxed boards propped next to the door by Halloween. There were times I thought of installing a firehouse pole to cut that extra couple of seconds on ski days.  Those were the years that winter gave us the not-so-cold shoulder and took the scenic route instead of the expressway to the hills.

This year I decided to inspire winter’s devilish side by “leaving” out the welcome mat.  In this case, a welcome mat in the form of leaf piles that I have refused to rake up.  What can I say? It worked wonderfully.

Winter caught sight of my snoozing and shot down from the north with enough zest to pull lake effect snow all the way down to Detroit. Now that it’s here, it looks like it’s planning to put down stakes. The weather patterns appear locked in, so the snowmaking crews should be able to get things up to speed pretty quickly.

Rather than posting thanks, you can show your gratitude by coming by and helping me extract the piles of leaves from the thick blanket of snow on my lawn.

Then I can turn my brilliant mind to extending the season clear to May, just like I did last year.  
I think I may keep the season alive by refusing to replace my worn tires with new grippy ones.

You can’t be too careful when it comes to winter weather.

-JJ