Sitting in his office in downtown Chicago in 1999, John Dee could only dream of where he'd rather be at that moment: The Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan.
It had everything the man who once dreamed of driving a four-wheel-drive truck through forests he personally managed could want: Unique and beautiful seasons, ample trails, panoramic vistas and snow. Lots and lots of snow, actually. Snow piling up at a rate faster and deeper than anywhere else east of the Rockies.
Fortunately for Dee, the growth of the Internet meant he could do his job as a private agricultural meteorologist from anywhere he wanted. He no longer had to rely on a bulky satellite dish and subscription services to get the data he needed. Sure, there were risks in uprooting himself from his customer base, but the reward of living just where he wanted to outweighed them.
So Dee made the decision: He was U.P.-bound. You might call it destiny.
A dozen years later, Dee, now age 45, has a wife, Nora, a two-year-old daughter, and a cabin in the woods of Allouez Township. For his day job, he produces high-end worldwide forecasts for individuals and businesses. On the side--almost like having a second job--he manages
John Dee's Snow Central, a free website with snow forecasts for Midwest winter lovers.
"There was really no other area that even interested me," Dee says. "I've lived in many other areas of the country … the Keweenaw just felt like home to me and it does still."
Meteorology wasn't Dee's first choice for a career; forestry management was. And for a child growing up in Chicagoland, he hadn't given much thought to agriculture, either. An introductory course at Purdue University set him on a course to his current profession. Usually not one to enjoy the inside of a classroom, he found not only did he do well in the course, he enjoyed it, too. So he decided to enroll in the agricultural college's meteorology curriculum, and the rest is history.
Dee has been self-employed for 21 years now. Today, he produces forecasts that span the entire globe--wherever grain, wheat, soybeans or other agricultural goods are grown. To make his forecasts, he mostly uses the vast scope of information available free on the Internet.
But make no mistake, how Dee uses that information is both an art and a science.
"My forecast is truly my forecast," Dee says. "I don't just split down and spew out what the models are saying. It's a very rare instance the models are in agreement. That's where the art form comes in: Getting all this information and trying to decipher where the models make an error and what has a good chance of coming through."
What Dee specializes in could better be described as regional forecasts rather than specific location forecasts.
"Say, for instance, you might get a local forecast in Iowa or Illinois, the National Weather Service forecast might give a forecast for a good chance of rain," Dee says. "I'll go further and say how much rain is going to fall, 1/2 to 1 inches maybe, 1 inch to 2 inches. I don't give what we call point forecasts very often, an exact forecast for Marquette for instance, or Chicago. I'm giving forecasts that say, 'In areas where corn is produced, this much rain will fall in these areas.'"
Dee applies the same concept to snowfall in the Midwest. His website has forecasts showing a range of snow.
Since one of Dee's favorite activities is snowmobiling, forecasting snowfall is a personal endeavor. He tried to design his website around what winter sports lovers would want to know, including web cams to help people to make their own judgments about what the snowfall is like--not only in Upper Michigan or the Midwest, but in some western states as well. The site also has a discussion forum, and Dee keeps a weekly journal with pictures of his outdoors adventures.
"Being (from) Chicago, I totally understood what people down there were longing for as far as information for snowmobiling in the Northwoods," Dee says. "Now that I was living in the Northwoods I was able to organize it, put it on the Internet for others to view."
Dee says maybe someday he'll be able to call his website his main job, but right now it's more of a supplemental income and labor of love.
Freelance writer Kurt Mensching and his German Shepherd Dog, Donner, also enjoy playing in the snow when Marquette actually gets some.
Photos by Shawn Malone.
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