Lake Effect snowfall was very heavy in Grayling and northwest over the past 24-36 hours. It’s a light, dry powdery snow, so harder to pack down on the trails. Groomers are running and the weather is cold, but there are still some wet spots that didn’t freeze up before the recent snowfall. Be careful out [...]
After a big melt a few weeks ago, the past week’s weather has been a solid reminder that winter is still here. High temperatures haven’t been above 10 deg. F all week, and snow has been nearly constant. It’s been a cold, dry, light snow. Snow depths around Grayling are around 6″, 5-10 miles north [...]
We’ve gotten a lot of rain in the past day, after several days of sun and temperatures in the 30s. This has melted away the nice base of snow we had on many areas of the local trails. Saturday’s forecast calls for a high temperature of 51F. We’ll have to wait for better weather and [...]
Had to plow again this morning before my car could get out. A very blustery, icy winter day. Attaching a few photos from my drive to work this morning.
It’s been a fast transition from grass and mud to winter today. A storm brought in around 5″ of heavy, wet snow so far. Forecasts call for another 5″ tonight. It’s warm, 33 now, with big flakes falling slowly. It will hopefully get a good base of snow for the area, but it’s still too [...]
Posts below here are from previous seasons.
It’s Saturday evening, and it’s been a difficult 24 hours. Trails today were rough and difficult, with many whoops and thousands of trees down across trails all across Northern Michigan. As is normal practice, the local club’s groomer vehicles do not run on the trails during busy Saturdays. The danger factor is just too high, [...]
The large storm that moved through overnight left us about 12″ of new snow, thick and heavy. Many tree branches are down, and we’ve seen a few 4 wheel drive trucks almost stuck. Needless to say, conditions are excellent, the best of the season so far. This should be very nice until Wednesday, when temperatures [...]
We’ve been plowing much of the day, and conditions look good finally. Groomers have been running since Tuesday. It looks like 8″ or more of new wet, heavy snow have fallen in the last 24 hours. We didn’t see any rain. If the wet weather continues to hold off conditions should be nice out there. [...]
We’ve gotten a few inches of snow a few different times over the past 10 days, and it’s finally adding up. There is significantly more snow on the ground northwest of Grayling, around the typical areas in the hills around Starvation Lake and the Blue Bear Trail. There is very little snow on the ground [...]
We did get some snow over the past 48 hours, and all of Northern Michigan wants the snowmobilers to come up, so you may be getting some more positive reports than we have. Please take all of the reports with caution. What Rob saw on his way to work in Petoskey this morning: “Our Motel [...]
It doesn’t look like we got enough snow to replace what we lost from the rain on Sunday night. There is still some slushy spots in the low areas that need cold temperatures at night to firm up. We will let you know when it is worth making the trip up again. Diane and Rob [...]
Yesterday (Jan 23rd) the temperature reached 40 degrees. Melting was the name of the day. So sad to see so much of the snow become puddles and then turn into ice. Today the snow is back falling. Fingers are crossed that we get enough to make up for yesterday and that this coming weekend can [...]
Winter and snowmobiling season has finally arrived. Here is the Giere Party as they take off from the motel this morning for a perfect day of riding. Last weekend (Jan 13th and 14th) there was plenty of people up snowmobiling but it was really too early in our opinion. If you called, our advise was [...]
We were a bit surprised to wake up this morning to 5-6″ of new, heavy, wet snow. It looks like enough for the groomers to go out today to pan the snow down. Prior to this new snow trails were in poor condition, down to ice and dirt in many places. So the first few [...]
OK, it’s finally starting to look like winter has arrived. Only a month or two late, but better late than never. In the last 3-5 days we’ve gotten about 8 inches of new snow. The National Weather Service Snow Depth Map (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/apx/depthimage/Daily_depth.png) shows about 9 to 13 inches on the ground in Grayling and to [...]
But not enough snow for the trails to open yet. The National Weather Service agrees with a look out the window and a walk out in the woods, that there is about 6 inches on the ground around here. It’s a bit more over around Mancelona and the center of the snow belt. All of [...]
36 Def F and sunshine right now. It’s a beautiful day, as long as you’re not snowmobiling. This warm weather and sun is really going to beat down on the exposed trails that are already a bit brown. That brown snow will absorb the sun’s heat better, and pretty soon it’s wet mud. It looks [...]
I’ve put off updating for a while here, because it’s a bit unclear what to say. There is a bit of snow on the trails. Not too much, but enough for the groomers to run. Ice is still a major problem, and the frequency of accidents the past few weeks is what holds us back. [...]
9 Deg F and a 20 mph wind right now, it sure looks and feels like winter is back. We’ve had lake effect snow the past 2 days, but not much total accumulation. If you are out riding you’ll probably blow through this new snow and find ice / icy hardpack underneath on the trails. [...]
32 Degrees now, and things are warming up too much to recommend riding this weekend. 37 was the high yesterday, with a low of 30 overnight, not low enough to really freeze everything back up. Snow that is on the trails gets real mushy at these temperatures, and conditions can deteriorate rapidly. Temperature forecasts are [...]
A week has passed since New Year’s Day, but we’ve only seen an inch or so of total snow in that time. We would certainly like some fresh snow on the trails, as what is there is getting a little brown with sand/dirt mixed in (snirt). All the guests we’ve had this week have reported [...]
We’ve had all our snowmobiles out Monday, Tuesday, and today, and have gotten largely positive reports back from the riders and other guests we have this week. With about 6 inches of new snow this week and 10+ inches on the ground, the poor conditions of Christmas day are mostly covered up and gone. There [...]
The forecast for the past few days was calling for some uncertain type of precipitation on Christmas Day. It’s not uncertain any more — it’s rain and 35 degrees in Grayling right now (1 pm Christmas). The radar map show the rain moving out in the next hour or two, but it looks like we’ll [...]
Well, it’s not the nicest timing to write this on Christmas Eve, but the trails are getting pretty brown and snirty out there. Today I rode 80 miles, breaking in one of our new machines. Tough job… I rode Grayling – Frederic – Waters – Lakes of the North – Starvation Lake – Frederic – [...]
We’ve had guests and renters out on the trails Tuesday and Wednesday, and everybody is having a good time. Trails are good, if a little brown, and traffic is light. I think this may change after Christmas, depending on the weather for the next few days. Trail conditions seem OK now, but may deteriorate rapidly [...]
It depends on who you ask… Our rental customers and guests this week have all had a great time, “best ride of our lives” one of the guys said. We’ve gotten a bit of snow in the last week, but not enough to totally eliminate the brown spots that were out there last weekend. The [...]
It’s been quite a snowstorm in the Grayling area since Tuesday night. We had about 6 inches or so early this morning. It’s a bit hard to tell because of all the wind. Saw and heard plenty of thunder and lightning this morning also, it seems like a wet, heavy snow today. The weather forecast [...]
There was an inch or so of snow on the ground for December 1. Just enough to get the county snowplows out and make driving a bit messy, but not like the past two years where snowmobile trail grooming started promptly on the first of December. We’re not expecting too many changes for the upcoming [...]
It’s 45 deg F and foggy this morning, and it’s been above freezing since early yesterday. It looks like the warm weather will continue into the weekend, and things will be too wet and sloppy out there for good riding. Earlier this week we had three mornings in a row with temperatures around -20 F, [...]
