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My daughter announced this morning, “The sun never shines in Houghton anymore.”  That’s an exaggeration of course, but it is certainly true that January can be a difficult month on the Keweenaw Peninsula.  The Holiday festivities are over, Michigan Tech’s Winter Carnival is still a month away, and it’s way too early in the year to even be thinking about when we might see leaves or grass again.  To make matters worse, it’s also the snowiest month (actually the wettest month of the whole year with an average of more than 4 inches of precipitation), which means you hardly ever see the sun.  Suffice it to say, it can really wear on a person after a while.

Fear not, intrepid winter warriors, this too shall pass.  The dark mornings with late sunrise, 8:40 a.m. at their worst, start to shift in January and you begin gaining a minute of morning daylight almost every day.  The regular snowfall of a little bit most days ensures optimal conditions for the incredible snow sports this area offers.  And if nothing else, January inevitably gives way to February, when the average precipitation is cut in half, you see more sun and the days get much longer.

To get through the month (and the season) like a pro, make plans to spend time playing outside.  It’s not enough to snuggle up by the fire with a good book; the Upper Peninsula winter is too long for that, and besides you’d be missing out on all the fun if you did.   Instead try something new: Rent some snowshoes and make your way through the woods, or head up to Swedetown in Calumet where you can sled on a groomed sledding hill or cross country ski, then take a break over hot chocolate and a board game in the facility’s chalet.

Jazz fans, you’ve now got a place to find great music on your Houghton radio dial.  If you like jazz, then The Other Eric Hall Show on Michigan Tech’s radio station, 91.9 WMTU, is not to be missed.  The show runs on Sunday evenings from 6-8 p.m. and offers a wide variety of jazz, blues and other instrumental music, along with some tongue-in-cheek “commercials” for local businesses.  Artists heard on recent shows include Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis and John Scofield.  Pretty straight-ahead, pretty great.

Too bad the show only runs two hours – its host, Eric Hall, clearly knows his stuff and often peppers the program with interesting background on the artists, their tunes, or the time period in which they were written.

It’s great to see this new addition to the radio music scene in the Copper Country; we hope it’s around for a long, long time.  And if live music is your thing, you can keep abreast of the many live music concerts of all kinds that happen in the area every weekend on the Keweenaw Music fan page on Facebook.

Support local music in the Copper Country!