Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RALPH ANSAMI
Ironwood — The snow and freezing rain that blanketed the Gogebic Range on Saturday morning was part of a pattern of a weather front that blew through the Midwest.
At the same time an inch or two of snow was falling here, a mini blizzard had covered the field in Madison around noon for the Badgers-Illinois football game and the Michigan-Michigan State contest had to be delayed for more than an hour because of lightning.
Strong winds in excess of 30 mph that whipped through the Range made the 32-degree temperature on Saturday feel more like 18 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Raking leaves wasn’t necessary, as the winds blew them away.
The thermometer plunged from 60 degrees on a mild Friday to 30 on Saturday morning, when the snowplows were sent out because of the icy snow that covered the roadways.
County road 505 at Little Girl’s Point featured a thick coating of yellow leaves on Saturday morning, before traffic and the winds eventually blew off the cover.
Lake Superior was roaring with the winds at Saxon Harbor, while it was a bit milder at Little Girl’s Point.
It’s been a cold October in Ironwood, with an average temperature of 39.4 degrees through Oct. 20. That’s well below the 117-year average of 45.5 degrees.
Precipitation for October through Saturday was around 5.3 inches, compared to the long-term average of 2.8 inches.
For the year, precipitation has totaled 39.34 inches, compared to the average of 28.84 inches. The record through Oct. 20 was 46.1 inches in 2013, according to the National Weather Service office in Marquette.
