Michigan/Wisconsin/Minnesota best time
Wanting to go to Michigan/Wisconsin/Minnesota at some point and time need suggestions for time of year. Not into winter camping but do not want hot either and have heard the horror stories of skeeters...
Forum Discussion
Depends on just where, because there is almost a month difference in change of season, southern Michigan and Minnesota vs central Minnesota and Wisconsin, Northern Michigan and Northern Minnesota.
Bugs are a Spring and early Summer problem in the North Woods, often gone by late August. But the temperature in the U.P. and Northern Minnesota can also get pretty cool that early. So I would say mid August to early September for the far North, though I've been there that early to find it cold and wet. It can snow up there before October.
Further south, beginning of September to end of October, I've been in southern Michigan when it was warm going to cool, which was my experience the 25 years I lived there. But this year, we had snow before Halloween in southern Michigan, snow mid October in the northern L.P., and ice on the surface of the lake behind my sister's house morning of our mother's funeral, Nov 1st.
It is very seldom unbearably hot in the northern forested parts of those states, altough the southern parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin can be just as hot in Summer as Iowa and Illinois, right across the state line.
Spring is nice in all three states, in urban and rural areas, though in the forest Spring is defined as when the bugs come out. Beaches, however, are often not warm enough for swimming until Summer.
Pinning Spring down to the calendar can be difficult, usually starting mid-March to April in Southern Michigan, and well into Spring by end of May in the northern L.P., and about June in the U.P. But I've lately had glorious warm days end of April around Mackinac, and snow all through March in Battle Creek.
They call Summer "hot" up there when temperatures get into their 80s, 90s are rare except on the prairie. So the reputation for hot summers might be because someone has a different perception. Oklahoma and Kansas, I am accustomed to the idea that 80s are a nice cool Summer day, over my body temperature is hot.
Bugs are a Spring and early Summer problem in the North Woods, often gone by late August. But the temperature in the U.P. and Northern Minnesota can also get pretty cool that early. So I would say mid August to early September for the far North, though I've been there that early to find it cold and wet. It can snow up there before October.
Further south, beginning of September to end of October, I've been in southern Michigan when it was warm going to cool, which was my experience the 25 years I lived there. But this year, we had snow before Halloween in southern Michigan, snow mid October in the northern L.P., and ice on the surface of the lake behind my sister's house morning of our mother's funeral, Nov 1st.
It is very seldom unbearably hot in the northern forested parts of those states, altough the southern parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin can be just as hot in Summer as Iowa and Illinois, right across the state line.
Spring is nice in all three states, in urban and rural areas, though in the forest Spring is defined as when the bugs come out. Beaches, however, are often not warm enough for swimming until Summer.
Pinning Spring down to the calendar can be difficult, usually starting mid-March to April in Southern Michigan, and well into Spring by end of May in the northern L.P., and about June in the U.P. But I've lately had glorious warm days end of April around Mackinac, and snow all through March in Battle Creek.
They call Summer "hot" up there when temperatures get into their 80s, 90s are rare except on the prairie. So the reputation for hot summers might be because someone has a different perception. Oklahoma and Kansas, I am accustomed to the idea that 80s are a nice cool Summer day, over my body temperature is hot.
