Traverse City Record-Eagle

Otsego County

September 22, 2009

Volcanoes to blame for woeful local summer

Eruption debris a factor in cool, wet weather

By Sheri McWhirter

GAYLORD -- Blame it on volcanoes.

Northern Michigan's lackluster 2009 summer featured more rain than in recent years and clouds that frequently obscured the sun. It led to a cooler, wetter season that created problems for some area farmers and distress among tourists and businesses that cater to them.

Much of this summer's weather woes can be blamed on volcanic eruptions this spring in Russia and Alaska, weather experts said.

"It throws a lot of debris in the upper layers and affects the amount of sun that gets through," said Scott Rozanski, meteorologist at the National Weather Service station in Gaylord.

Various atmospheric layers weren't warmed to normal levels as a result of Northern Hemisphere volcano eruptions. That resulted in cooler weather patterns throughout the region, Rozanski said.

But this summer's weather should not be viewed as an indicator of summers to come, he said. In fact, the last few weeks of the season brought warmer than normal temperatures and scant precipitation that's been more typical of the past few summers. That pattern is expected to continue well into October and maybe longer, he said.

"It looks like we'll be in an El Niño pattern through the fall," Rozanski said, which should mean above normal temperatures and below normal rainfall.

Even with the more-frequent rainfall this summer, year-to-date precipitation totals are still almost a half-foot below normal, according to data from Weather Central Inc. based in Madison, Wis. Monday's rainfall in Traverse City was the first since late August.

The Pacific Ocean influences also delayed the region's first hard frost, which is normally here by now, Rozanski said. That first major freeze likely will come sometime next week.

The El Niño effect is caused by the rise of sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean that brings warm, moist air across the North American continent, he said.

Rozanski expects the region will shift to more winter-like conditions around Thanksgiving, with the first predicted lasting snowfall in early December.

In the short term, skies will be partly or mostly sunny for the rest of the week, with high temperatures ranging between 70 and 77 degrees. Saturday should be dry with a high temperature around 70 degrees, with cooler temperatures and a chance of rain Sunday, Rozanski said.

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