Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

Christmas forecast calls for ice

By RALPH ANSAMI

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Ironwood — The first morning of winter arrived in Ironwood with the hint of a snowstorm that quickly subsided before noon.

Wednesday was the first day of winter and that means daylight begins to increase every day.

The dusting of snow that fell Wednesday morning was enough to make streets slippery and send out the plow crews with sand and salt. The snow returned around 2 in the afternoon.

Santa’s sleigh may be flying a bit low this year as the forecast calls for mild temperatures through Christmas that may result in ice pellets forming on both Sunday and Monday.

Highs of above freezing are possible.

There’s no major snow in the forecast through the next week.

The high temperature of 38 degrees for the 24-hour period to 7 a.m. Wednesday in Ironwood wasn’t close to breaking the 119-year record of 48 set in 1967, according to statistics kept by the National Weather Service at Marquette. The record low for that 24-hour period is minus-28 degrees in 1983.

December has reversed a trend of warm weather in 2016, as last week’s sub-zero cold spell took its toll. The average temperature of 14.2 degrees for the month in Ironwood as of Wednesday was below the long-term norm of 18.

Snowfall for December stands at 37.1 inches and that’s 5 inches above average.