As many of you probably know, I went to South Haven the afternoon of New Year's and into yesterday morning. I really wanted to see a big lake effect event for myself, and see not only how it appears on the local forecast, but just see the snow myself. I was looking at going down to Benton Harbor, but decided on South Haven because I thought there would be a legacy STAR (due to the population of 5,000 there). It was incredible, I hadn't seen visibilities that low in years now. It was fun to watch the weather slowly "degrade" as the sun even in Hastings slowly got clouded over, and we ran into the snow band just a few miles from our hotel. But, the band made its way south, and hit Benton Harbor. However, it came back, and with a vengance that nite.
The next morning, I decided I wanted to go downtown and check out the shoreline, since I haven't been to Lake Michigan since July 2005. I had my sights set on seeing the South Haven pier lighthouse, but it was... well, not easy to describe. The wind was biting cold, and the walk from the road down to the pier was a lot longer than I thought it was. I only made it a third of the way before I had to turn back and borrow a pair of gloves. Then, I made it all the way down to the pier, but it felt as if I was walking into a black hole. The sky was dark, and I couldn't see much outside of the snow covered beach in front of me, and the famous lighthouse still off in the distance. There literally was a blizzard moving through, and the canal next to me was incredibly choppy. I couldn't actually go onto the pier, mainly because it was iced over, but it was really dark and scary. I probably would have lost my life trying to go down there, lol.
Please be sure to look at the pictures I'm attaching of the lighthouse and a couple more I was able to get through South Haven. Also remember, they were taken with my cell phone
