Like living in a snow globe
Snow.
In the U.P. of Michigan, which averages well over 200 inches in a season, we love it and we hate it. It literally snows here almost every day from mid-November to mid-April. As you can imagine, it stacks up fast. Real fast. And 5- to 6-foot snowbanks are not uncommon.
When you live with this much snow the first thing you learn is that you need to move it…a lot. Snowblowers, plows, multiple shovels (the square variety not the pointed digging shovels), and Yooper Scoopers are not options here, but necessities.
So what is a Yooper Scooper you ask? A couple are shown in the photos below. It’s basically a really deep shovel with a u-shaped handle that you push rather than lift. It works like a charm and probably moves 4-6 square feet of snow in one scoop (depending, of course, if you have the manly size scooper or a more lightweight, petite size for those pint-size Yoopers). And you aren’t just moving and removing snow from your driveway and walkways but also from your roof. Triple the pleasure!
Yoopers also learn to “pank” the snow down, a total yooperism and not even a real word! To “pank” in Yooper-speak means to firmly press down the snow. Why we call it “panking” we don’t know but, there is a “pank” in the dictionary defined as “breathing hard, similar to panting,” which definitely correlates to moving snow so…hmmmmmmm.
The second thing you learn is that when you’re done moving it, it is important to also play in it, whether that’s on skis, snowshoes, snowboards, toboggans, skates, snowmobiles…you get the idea. Students at Michigan Technological University also host an annual Winter Carnival in February where they design, engineer and create beautiful freestanding snow statues. Literally sculpting art from snow. Brilliant!
One of my mom’s cousins actually proclaimed himself the Finnish God of Snow (Heikki Lunta, or Hank Snow in English) back in the 1970s and recorded a song: The Heikki Lunta Snow Dance Song. Of course when the snow kept coming and coming and coming, he also was forced to record “Heikki Lunta Go Away!” Yes, these are real songs! I still have the 45.
So just how much snow does the U.P. of Michigan get? As of last week, Keweenaw County (very tip of the western U.P.) had recorded 262 inches of snow for the 2021-22 season with over 45 inches on the ground. Yes, almost four feet! The all-time record snowfall was in 1978-79 at 390.4 inches. That year over 116 inches fell in December alone.
There have been (a few) lighter years. The low snowfall was a mere 81.30 inches in the winter of 1930-31. With that low total it kind of makes you wonder if someone just stopped counting and went to Florida for a few months. There’s even a giant snow gauge on US-41 in the Keweenaw, a popular roadside attraction, updated annually.
Living through a U.P. winter is really a badge of honor. And honestly, you rarely hear a Yooper complain about the snow. They expect it, they shovel it, they joke about it, and life goes on. Heikki Lunta will always be back next year.
Photos courtesy Brockit, You know you’re from the Copper Country when… Facebook group, Marcus Benjamin.