April 2, 2024

Wildly rugged winters are part of the Yooper identity. What do we do as our winters warm up and tone down?

Aude, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Having grown up in the Copper Country, I’ve relished telling my children — and for the 32 years before I retired, my students as well — how we had very few snow days when I was in elementary, middle, and high school. As a matter of fact, it took a blizzard to keep students home. If we were home, we were outside helping Mom and Dad with the shoveling and scooping! And, I swear this is true, I walked uphill to school. In all transparency, though, it was only uphill one way…not both.

Aude, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

There is definitely a part of me that’s reveled in the warmer weather this past winter. Less snow means less shoveling, scooping, and snowblowing. I’ve been able to walk almost daily with my friend, Sandy. Some days, we trek six miles! It seems like there have even been more days in which we can see the sun — certainly a perk to our overall feeling of wellbeing.

Yet, I also wonder about the implications of this, dare I say, unnaturally mild winter. Friends and family have already tapped their maple trees and have gotten hundreds of gallons of syrup. I hear that the local bears are starting to wake up from their winter slumber. What a rude awakening they’re having! We’re supposed to get hit with maybe 12 inches of snow in a predicted snowstorm tonight!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

This makes me wonder what those poor bears will do. I also think about the animals that use camouflage to hide from predators in the winter — like rabbits. What do they do when their white coats actually make them stand out against their surroundings? I just worry that the warmer weather carries more side effects than we can predict.

Is This a New Trend?

Baja1982, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Then there’s the cultural aspect of milder winters. We are a hearty lot, we Yoopers. We take outdoor saunas /sow’nas/ in the middle of winter and then run naked into icy Lake Superior to cool off. People well into their eighties still shovel their own driveways. We send our children out to play in temperatures that would make grown men cry. And we’re proud of that! We have SISU– a remnant of our Finnish heritage! But what happens to that hearty, Sisu-infused identity when our winters are lukewarm?

Our cultural identity not only includes a rugged spirit, but it also includes past times that are embedded in the Yooper persona: ice fishing, cross-country and downhill skiing, skating, ice climbing, and polar plunges. Ice statue-building is one of the local university’s — Michigan Technological University — biggest winter events. As part of their annual winter carnival week, students spend several nights staying up and building these elaborate ice structures. They’re works of art. There are also plenty of other winter carnival activities, like broomball, curling, snow volleyball, and, well, drinking.

All of these winter activities have been impacted this past season due to the milder weather. If this is a trend like many climatologists predict, we’ll be in for more disruptions in our winter activities for years to come. But then there’s another critical aspect of warmer winter weather — the local economy. Ski resorts like Mt. Bohemia and the Porkies Winter Sports Complex, hotels and motels that typically house avid snowmobilers throughout the winter months, and restaurants and shops that depend on winter tourists have suffered this winter. As a matter of fact, the Porkies have the following message posted on their website: “Unfortunately, due to inadequate snowfall and winter conditions, the ski hill will not open for the 2023-24 season. We will see you in 2025!”

So Now What?

Alexander Henning Drachmann from Esbjerg, Denmark, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I’m not going to delve into the science or ethics behind this strange winter weather. Instead, I want to think about what this means for our collective identity as Yoopers. Truthfully, I don’t think a little warm weather can really change the core of who are. I mean, we are tough and stoic, on one hand. But we’re also friendly to strangers and will help anyone who needs a flat tire changed in the rain in the middle of a dirt road or give visitors directions to the best place to grab a pasty for lunch. That’s just who we are. Perhaps, though, we’ll need to trade in some of our winter flannels for cotton.

If you’re planning a trip to the U.P., don’t be alarmed if the next winter is another anomaly. No matter what winter activities may or may not be available, you’ll still find the warm and helpful personalities alive and well in us Yoopers! So come on up to the U.P. Stay, relax, enjoy.