How’s your 61-degree May Day going?
A bit too sarcastic for what’s really happening out there?
For folks who would like a little more spring in spring’s step, it’s still turtleneck time. Following some relatively mild winters and early springs, the weather so far in 2025 has been decidedly average.
As of today, May 1, temperatures were forecast to top out 11 degrees below the historic average high of 61 degrees.
“I know people are complaining about it being so cold,” offered Nikki Rothwell, whose studies on cherry tree health have earned her lofty acclaim in the world of pomology, “but I think people just forgot that this is really more of an average year.”
As one might expect from a scientist, she has the receipts. Sweet cherry buds in mid-Leelanau County on Tuesday were in what is termed their “tight cluster” stage, which means they remain relatively undeveloped and less vulnerable to low temperatures. The light frost predicted for Tuesday night should cause little damage.
Given that temperatures are expected to remain chilly through the weekend, she’s anticipating tart cherry bloom progression to slow. Blossoms should begin blessing county hillsides in a little more than week or so.
“That’s almost spot-on with our 35-year average,” Rothwell continued.
May Day more so than the official first day of spring way back on March 20 sends a message that seasonal transition is taking hold of Leelanau. Some mushrooms are being harvested. Trilliums are showing if not displaying flowers; trout lilies are out. And the red buds of maples are shading hillsides.
Give the county 10 more days, and she’ll be wearing a whole new wardrobe.
“I was just noticing that the leaks have popped up, which is lovely,” reflected Laura Ann Johnson, who just finished her seventh month as the first executive director for Friends of Sleeping. Bear Dunes. “I haven’t seen any trilliums yet, but you really have to look close when they first come out.”
Local asparagus stalks have yet to hit fruit stands or grocery shelves, but they’re coming.
Johnson is a cheerleader for outdoor recreation. The sooner the better.
“The old saying is that there isn’t bad weather, only bad clothing. So don’t put away your big jackets yet. Get out there,” she suggested.
Spring is notorious for inconsistent weather, which is what Lake Leelanau guide and bait shop owner Greg Alsip blames for a poor walleye opener on Saturday. The lake is considered a premier walleye fishery in Michigan, so empty live wells after one of the biggest fishing days of the year constitute a letdown.
“It’s been terrible,” Alsip said, although he didn’t express worry over the fishery itself. “It’s a little warmer (water temperature) than it should be. They just aren’t biting. I think it has something to do with all the changes in the weather. Consistency is what they need.”
During April overnight low temperatures have varied between 18 and 50 degrees; daily highs migrated from 35 to 78 degrees.
While walleyes had lockjaw, perch were coaxed into biting and smallmouth bass have been downright aggressive.
“I know guys who boated 30 (bass) in a day, but never caught a walleye,” Alsip said. He’s hoping for a change in luck by May 10, the date of the Lake Leelanau Narrows Walleye Tournament. Stop by the Lake Leelanau Narrows Resort Bait and Tackle shop to sign up.
While recreational pursuits stir in early May, it’s the advent of crazy season for cherry growers who have about 14 weeks to protect, grow and harvest their crops. Leelanau produces more cherries than any other county in the nation.
Don Kiessel, who farms 300 acres of orchards in Suttons Bay and Bingham townships with his brother, Ed, was out Tuesday helping a two-man crew consisting of his son Chris and Kevin Dempsey plant a block of sweet cherry trees. They were working up a plot atop an unprotected plateau east of M-22 at McAllister Road.
One ridge over toward Lake Michigan, Mark and Esther Send were plotting out an orchard of tarts. The husband-and-wife team was hand measuring out rows, then John dug trenches from atop his John Deere tractor that would eventually become tree lines.
Kiessel works as a lineman with Consumers Power to support his cherry habit. He got a call at midnight about power outages caused by a thunderstorm that cut off his sleep — but he still appreciated the moisture.
“With this wind, those rows will dry up quick,” he said Tuesday morning. “We’re suppose to get some more (rain) this week.”
Like Rothwell, Kiessel keeps an eye on the weather. But he’s now a year away from retiring from Consumers and decades into his farming career.
Weather and its role in damaging buds with spring frost are concerns more than worries at this stage of his life.
“There isn’t anything you can do about it. Mother Nature is Mother Nature. (Frost damage) is not something I can spray for. It can be the end of the blossoms and then you get a hard freeze and lose your crop … I don’t change much in how we farm. I’m doing what I usually do,” he said.
High temperatures are forecast to reach only 46 degrees on Friday and 49 degrees on Saturday, but sunny skies are predicted to dominate Sunday and Monday with temps reaching 58 and 63, respectively.
Lows are predicted to stay safely in the 30s and 40s through Monday.
By Alan Campbell Michigan Stories
