Cooler temperatures in Leelanau with chances of rain showers are on tap for the days ahead and into the weekend after an unseasonably warm period of dry weather lingered for the first part of the week.
While the warmer than normal temperatures were a nice reprieve from the typical October cooler conditions, it brought with it elevated fire danger in both the northern lower and upper peninsula. According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), wildland firefighters battled a number of fires last weekend, which included a 100-plus acre “Summit Lake Fire” in the federally managed McCormick Wilderness in Baraga County.
The DNR said the Summit Lake Fire is the largest fire currently burning in the state and was at 120 acres on Monday afternoon. Other fires in the Upper Peninsula at this time were started by recent lightning strikes, and were reported to sometimes “smolder for days in remote locations before becoming visible.” As of Oct. 21, DNR wildland firefi ghters have fought more than 250 fires in 2024.
Between the period of Oct. 16-21, Leelanau County dispatch received seven calls concerning fires in the area.
However, the most prominent fire that spread across 12 acres was in Suttons Bay by Shady Lane Cellars. Suttons Bay-Bingham Fire Chief James Porter said although it is now contained, they’ve been dealing with the fire for the last 12 days, and it will continue to smolder until the area sees a substantial amount of rain. The fire spread due to the persistent dry conditions, low humidity, and wind that has been around for about six weeks. Porter, who has served in the role as fire chief since 2009, said the unusually dry weather is something “they’ve never dealt with this late in the fall.”
“The whole chunk of woods is surrounded by a fireline (a trench), and anything inside the circle if you will is doing its thing because it’s too dangerous for us to have men inside there,” Porter said. “Now we’ve got it where we can fight it from the outside and not put anyone in danger going inside… It’s been horrible. My advice is to call your local fire department and ask if there’s burning today (or any day) before you burn anything.”
Jeff Zoltowski, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Gaylord, said while there have been the occasional cool stretches, the warmer weather has been the most predominant they’ve seen in the region. There were cooler than normal temperatures in mid October around the 14th and the 15th until the heat moved back in on Oct. 17, lasting about a week and prompting fire danger concerns throughout the state.
“We have basically been warm all year from last winter all the way through the fall up to the present,” Zoltowski said. “October has been unusually dry in the region. Rainfall for the month so far (in Traverse City) is at exactly half an inch, and normal for the month is just below three inches (2.82 inches). We have been relatively wet for much of the year, but late summer through early mid fall has kind of flipped that around.”
Next chances for rain sweeping across the region is Thursday night into Friday when people will see a dip in temperatures, Zoltowski said, which may help a bit with the fire danger and overall dry conditions.
“Even though it’s going to be brisk at times, just being cooler than normal will help the fire weather at least for the next several days,” he said. “Saturday is going to be one of the cooler days with highs in the low 50s, with again, a chance of some relatively light lake effect precipitation… by Sunday we should be a little bit milder in the mid 50s and not expecting precipitation.”
