Northern Michigan Weather
Michigan weather definitely has an earned reputation for being unpredictable, and well... the way it's going it looks like we will just be seeing more record temperatures and abnormal weather events so we should probably learn to deal with them.
Rain or Shine
The response of plants to rain is similar to a panic response, water landing on the plant triggers complex chemical signals that turn on defense signals and warn nearby plants to do the same. This is because rain is the leading transmitter of disease in plants.
Yup, that’s a picture of me standing knee deep in a river in the rain. It had been raining all morning, it was cold, and we were not having a great time. But science stops at nothing and we only had two days to collect the data we needed to write a final paper, for my group that data involved collecting macroinvertebrates from rivers up and down stream from road crossings, hoping to look at the effects of road runoff. So, we spent half of this rainy cold day driving the university minivan to different river crossings, often having to turn around when the river was too deep or hard to access. Then sorting through our samples on the side of the road, to pick out all the bugs. Let’s just say a hot shower after a long day has never felt so good. My point is that regardless of the weather, you’re probably going out into the field and you need to be ready for that reality.
1. Don’t underestimate a good raincoat, and keep it shoved in the bottom of your backpack at all times, you never know when a surprise rainstorm will start.
2. If someone offers you waders, take them. If it’s already raining, and you’re on the way to a watery ecosystem, and it's not super hot out, waders do in fact keep you dry and the raincoat + waders = pretty dry.
3. Sunscreen, rain isn’t the only weather to worry about, sun can hurt you too, so every 2 hours, everywhere, you do not want to be sunburnt tomorrow when you have to go on another adventure.
4. Sun hat and/or sunglasses, on that note, it’s nice to keep the sun out of your eyes too, especially for long days outside. Those chemicals that plants release in a panic response to rain also happen to smell nice and have been shown to improve your mood and respiratory health, so try to enjoy the rain if you can, take a second to stop and smell the …plants?
90 Degrees? In May? Up North?
2023 was the hottest summer on record worldwide, which is a very not fun fact. The midwest did not experience extreme temperatures, however we did see periodic intrusions of thick smoke from wildfires in Quebec, and Northern Michigan experienced its own wildfire in Grayling in early June.
So much of the advice I had heard before heading up to the bio station was about how cold it could get, I mean late may in Northern Michigan, I was expecting 30-40 degree nights, I had my winter coat packed just in case. Turns out we had the opposite problem, for the first week and a half of my time at the bio station almost everyday was hitting over 80 degrees, with a couple reaching 90. The one small fan I had in my cabin was working overtime, and so was my deodorant. Thankfully my classes had me spending the hot afternoons wading in rivers, and bogs, and after returning to camp I would jump into Douglas lake to cool off.
1. Light layers, hot weather doesn’t mean no mosquitoes and it’s hard to deter them when you’re sweating off the bug spray. Having light but long layers was ideal for any wooded areas during this hot weather.
2. Take any opportunity to get wet, in contrary to my previous advice, cold water when it's that hot out is such a relief so maybe just bring your swimsuit, or wear shorts you don’t mind getting wet because maybe jumping in the bog doesn’t sound that pleasant but it sounds a lot better when you’ve been standing in the hot sun for an hour.
3. For your cabin, point that tiny fan directly at your bed, open all the windows and just lie still. You want maximum airflow and minimum exertion.
4. Don’t forget about layering, yes the high for the day is 90 but the early mornings and late nights can still get chilly.
Freezing Temps? In June?
Being outside in colder temperatures actually has a ton of benefits including helping you get better sleep, helping you think more clearly, and reducing stress.
About a week after I had been dripping in sweat from the heat, I was tucked into bed, blanket, sleeping bag, socks, sweatpants, hoodie, and cold. The temperatures had dropped, leaving us with a cold week and occasional cold rains, which are just the worst. The cabins are heated just by wood stoves in the middle of the small room, which were a bit of a struggle to get started and made the room almost too warm once the fire was going strong. The theme by now is that work at the bio station stops for nothing and of course we were just going to have to deal with the cold weather and not spend the week hibernating in our toasty cabins.
1. Get that stove working, it is shocking how quick you can heat up your cabin with a little fire and coming back to that after being out in the cold is such an amazing feeling. It’s a lot easier to keep a fire going than start it again from nothing so check on it often and follow the safety precautions. Yes, someone did catch their shoes on fire by leaving them on top of the stove, everything(besides their shoes) was fine, but be careful.
2. Layers, of course. I know I tried to pack light when going to the bio station because space in the vans and cabins is limited, which meant that when it got really cold I was layering my fleece over a flannel over a long sleeve over a tank top to keep warm.
3. A hot shower right before bed makes it a lot easier to fall asleep warm and not shivering
4. Stay dry, being cold and wet is just awful, refer to the previous section.