• Thursday-What'sUP February 8 - 08:34 pm

A big thank you to our snow removal teams all over the U.P., as we could not make it through each and every day as easily without them! Today's photos give us a glimpse of the big machines at work, with the first shot from Dennis Foreman. He caught the grader going by, either in the morning hours before daylight had completely arrived or in the evening before darkness fell over the land. I like the way the lights shine underneath to let the driver see what he's doing down below his perch. The second picture is one from Tina Hyrkas, giving us a view of the blower shooting the snow into a dump truck, so they can move it to somewhere else, thus widening the streets.
That reminds me of the animated blower shot that's appeared on these pages before, but always is a fun repeat:

I've lived in some wintery places, but the only place I've ever been that really knows how to remove snow is the UP. They do such a fabulous job (much to my chagrin when I was a kid and school's didn't get closed down because they did their job so well). Hats off to them. Love the animated shot, Mary.

THAT'S HOW I IMAGINE SNOW IN THE UP. DOES VIRTUALLY EVERY FAMILY HAVE A SNOWMOBILE? SEEMS IT WOULD BE A NECESSITY RATHER THAN A LUXURY. COOL,ER,COLD PICS.

Amen to that. Get south of the bridge and they just haven't a clue what to do with a snow plow.

wheres the pic of the huge snow plows?
My uncle Walt used to drive one for Houghton County....those big wings threw the snow pretty far off the road...also it depended on how fast they drove

I don't know Mary, seems like all the Sno-Go is doing is moving forward about 10 ft., then has to back up and try it again, endlessly!!! At this rate, the poor driver will never finish..... ;-)

The first year I brought Dr. Nat to the Copper Country, she had to leave early one morning from Calumet to get to Tech. It was snowing pretty good so visibility was poor. Anyways, when she got to 6th St. she said there was this huge pile of snow in the middle of the street that she almost hit..... Poor thing, I forgot to tell her that's where the city piled the snow up before the blowers come and load it into the trucks.

Mary could'nt have said it better. My hat is off to the snowplower's of the UP too. They really have a gift of clearing snow. You kinda take it for granted until you get south. While we lived in the UP I had a front wheel drive and my friend and a rear wheel drive pick up and hardly ever had a problem. Thanks to the snow removers!!

I've always wondered how the snowplowers get to work???

WWhen my wife and I moved back to the U.P. last fallafter being
away 50 years or so, I wondered how much shovelling (sp.?), we
would have to do in Esky. It didn't seem as tho Esky got much,
and so far that is true. I use a broom mostly to clear the
sidewalks, and an ordinary K-mart shovel takes care of the
driveway in no time. It is colder here than in the Copper Country
(until Lake Superior freezes over, I guess), but nothing like the
lake effect snow that area (and other places like Buffalo and
Syracuse, N.Y.) get. Am I complaining? Are you kidding?

Plow drivers get to work in their VW beetles. I saw a commercial years ago that said so! Also,.... best little car on Zeno.

One of my clearest memories of living in the UP is the sound of the snowplows early in the morning.

the grader used to be my alarm clock, every morning at 6:45am it would wake me up for school, thankfully with the wing down it could just about clear the entire road on its first pass, so when it came back around it didnt bury my car everytime

The snow plow as an alarm clock?

And I thought they deliberately waited around the corner until just after I got my driveway cleared; then they came roaring by to deposit a new snowbank in my freshly cleaned driveway!

As a kid growing up on College Ave. in Houghton, I sometimes woke up in the middle of the night to watch the plows do their work. We later moved to Prospect St. that came uphill from College Ave., and I recall being fascinated by the huge Oshkosh trucks (http://www.oshkoshtruck.com/airportmunicipal/shome.cfm) that would plow up the hills as though it were no effort at all.

Also, I didn't start playing hockey until relatively late (5th grade), but very much appreciated the SnoGo's and the squared banks they created -- they were great for road hockey!

They do know how to clean up the snow, great pictures in action. It amazes me that there is a machine that can take on those hills in the snow. I still can't believe my Grandma used to roller skate down them as a kid! In strap on metal skates no less!

Is it just me or has the plow been in the same place all morning? I guess that's what you call; "spinnin' yer wheels and gittin' nowhere.

Those graders look like giant yellow grasshoppers on rollerskates.

You can make some pretty awesome snow caves at the end of your driveway after these plow through. I used to love to dig into the "walls" of snow and pretend I was an Eskimo!!! Of course I think Dad had a different feeling as he had to move the snow they pushed in out of the driveway!! :)

We made an igloo once, that was fun because the sun goes right thru the snow you can see just fine. It was our hangout until the roof caved in.

joanie, you're so clever.
'how do the snowplowers get to work?'

i've also wondered where and how the dump trucks
dump all the snow they've collected from
city streets.

Pank that snow..........

That 2nd pic is in Laurium, on Lake Linden Ave, looking towards the top of Lake Linden hill, right? Familiar shot... reminds me of home because my parents live off of Quincy St. I miss it, even though we've been pounded with snow here in SSM!!

Pank that snow and pank that kid!

The dump trucks take all the snow to "snow man's land"!

UGH! That was bad.

Okay, how about pank that K j and snow her the way to being a good girl?

"Snowman's land," good one, Joanie!

Thanks Stefany! I was wondering where that second picture was taken. It looked so familiar.

Therese--that grader really does look like giant yellow grasshoppers on rollerskates1 (LOL)

I that little animation is cool, but I suspect that Derek might say it is hot, assuming that's the correct lingo for kids today. I agree, he's been plowing the same stretch all day. :-)

As for us here in mid-Michigan, a snow plow would only work as an alarm clock if it is on a Monday (the day before our garbage day), & if you are holding your tongue just right, & if the moon is just the right size, etc, then, they might plow our street at 5:30 am, or even some other quasi-regular time, for that matter. Otherwise, depending on the amount of snow, they might get around to plowing it sometime, some day, some week, maybe??? Ironically, the more snow that we get, the less apt they are to plow anything but the really major thoroughfares in a somewhat timely fashion. That's why I had snow all the way up to the floorboard of my car & had to dig it out with a snow shovel, quite literally, on an almost major city street back in 1985. If I did not have that shovel in my car, I would have had to walk home, because I was thoroughly stuck. It's also what led to my eventual purchase of an SUV. It really doesn't matter how many-wheel drive you have--if it is drifted completed up to the floorboard of your vehicle, well, you are just flat out stuck. The only solution that I could think of was to get the floorboard higher up off the ground.

It is my understanding that the dump trucks dump at least the Houghton snow in Portage Lake, at least that's what I have been told. Can anyone confirm or refute that?

I am lucky, my son in law plows the snow here in Berkley. The only thing is I can't get him to not put it in my driveway.

Marianne, I have a hard time believing that snow is is dumped in Portage Lake. Especially with all the rules & regs from the DEQ & such. There may be some that goes over the side when the snow is removed from the Lift Bridge. Just my 2cents, but I would be interested in hearing the facts.
TGIF!

Houghton City snow dump is near the water tower, just off of sharon ave/portage st corner

Back many years (40's and 50's), my uncle drove snowplow for Houghton. He was so proficient, he could take an automobile parked in the snow on a restricted street,take the wing plow, build a cushion of snow under the car and place it on a mound about 2-3 feet off the ground, without so much as a scratch. Imagine the look on the face of the owner when he came out to start his car in the morning....

Doug 6540, that's really a funny story! That sounds like some of the pranks that were pulled when my husband & I were in college, but those pranks weren't with snow, since that was in Houston. :-)

Serves the people right who leave their cars parked on a restricted street! In our town, they would be ticketed for parking on any city street between 3 and 6 am, but your uncle managed to give them a lesson or two!

That reminds me of a co-worker of mine, who a few years ago got sick of putsing along behing a snow plow thought it would be a good idea to pass it. She got maybe a mile and wound up in a corn field, but the plow driver had the courtesy to honk as he drove past. She will never live it down.

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