Thistle Stop by photoshoparama

The 24th annual Silver Bells in the City takes place this Friday (Nov 21) in downtown Lansing. The event features a parade of lights, the lighting of Michigan's Christmas tree and (weather permitting) a fireworks show. It's also free and attracted more than 120,000 people last year! Click that link to learn more and see a cool video from 2007.

Yesterday we got our first snowstorm of the season, with up to a foot of snow falling in parts of the state. The Muskegon Chronicle breaks it down for west Michigan and shows a video of snow (in case you forgot what it looks like). Up in the UP, there's no need for that as they received a bunch overnight:

"Here at the office we had just about 6 inches," said Mike Dutter, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Negaunee Township. "We certainly had reports out towards Trenary of 19 inches since 10 p.m. last night."

Of course, they race outhouses in Trenary so you never know whether to believe them or not.

Snow Bound by siskokid

That chill wind we feel in Michigan isn't just from Mother Nature. The possible collapse of the Big Three and the US auto industry has been howling like a blizzard for the last week. Over on Michigan in Pictures we have a post that seeks to gather interesting articles and opinions on just what should be done regarding the collosal mess that is the US automotive industry. One of the links that we found is a web site that was created by GM called GM Facts & Fiction. It has a lot of information about the economic impact of the auto industry and we've included a video from the site below.

One person who spends a great deal of time on this is Michigan's Governor. In Economy Is Only Issue for Michigan Governor, the New York Times takes an in-depth look at Gov. Granholm, her job and her detractors - worth a read indeed.

One thing's for sure - winter is on the way. You can warm up (cool off?) with the Snow slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool.