The temperature here in southern Michigan sits at eight degrees below zero Fahrenheit, which is about negative 22 degrees Celsius, as I write this post, but I can barely begin to imagine what it felt like in 1933 when the Village of Pellston in northwestern Michigan recorded the state's record low temperature of 53 below zero Fahrenheit (-47 degrees Celsius)!
International Falls in Minnesota may lay legal claim to the title of being the nation's "Icebox", but Pellston's recorded low of -53F certainly seems to put it in the running for the dubious honor of being one of the coldest places in the nation!
The temperature rose to a relatively balmy 18 degrees Fahrenheit (-8C) on the recent day that we visited Pellston in northwestern Michigan. I braved stepping out into the cold to take these few photos near the city's airport, and as much as I like cold weather, that was more than cold enough for me that day!
Pellston is a place I remember hearing about as a kid on the local television newscasts in metro Detroit whenever the village recorded yet another low temperature, so it was fun to catch a wintertime glimpse of it a couple of weeks ago.
Pellston records sub-zero temperatures for an average of 40 days each winter, rivaling places like Minnesota's International Falls, Big Piney in Wyoming and Fraser in Colorado for the nation's coldest temperatures.
Why is Michigan's Pellston so cold?
The village sits in a sand basin between two large, semi-circular ranges of hills near the Maple River. Low-laying cloud cover tends to gather there during the day, causing evaporation as the daytime clouds disperse and reflect much of the heat away from the valley as the air cools each evening.
Pellston is about 20 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge that separates Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas (yes, it's in Michigan's Lower Peninsula). The village has a population of less than 1000 hardy souls. It is also home to a number of great trout streams like the Maple River, an airport with a terminal that more closely resembles a North woods-themed lodge, a number of ski resorts and some of the longest and best snowmobile trails in the state's Lower Peninsula.
Lumber barons once ruled that area. Railroad grades left behind from the early 1900s lumber mills provided a base for the area's many snowmobile trails, and the industry's clear-cutting of forests in the area left behind an environment clearly reflecting the impact of extreme de-foresting of the northern woods on the land.
In 1909, the University of Michigan established a research and learning center on 10,000 acres of land acquired after lumbering interests left the area. U of M students and faculty originally focused on studying the effects of exploitive logging and subsequent forest fires on the area, but more recent research at the station increasingly focuses on measuring climate change, studying the impact of global warming and increased levels of carbon dioxide on the upper Great Lakes region, working with endangered species in the area and improving computer models to forecast future changes in the climate.
We stopped by Pellston long enough to park in the airport's free parking lot so I could check out village's welcoming sign and admire a couple of snowmobiles parked in front of the airport before popping back into the warmth of the car (where Tim decided to stay while I took my photos!) and heading back south.
Want to learn more about U of M's work in Pellston? Check out The Changing Environment of Northern Michigan: A Century of Science and Nature at the University of Michigan Biological Station, a collection of essays edited by Alan J. Hogg Jr., Knute Nadelhoffer and Brian Hazlett.
The Michigan Eco-Traveler: A Guide to Sustainable Adventures in the Great Lakes State by Sally Barber also sounds like an interesting read for travelers looking at the environmental impact of tourism and other recreational activities in Michigan.
© Dominique King 2015 All rights reserved
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