Climate
The Ottawa National Forest is an area of relatively high precipitation in both winter and summer. Sections of the Forest enjoy more than 200 inches (500 cm) of snow annually. In winter, Lake Superior, which usually does not freeze over, is itself the source of much of the water vapor that falls in the area. In many of the summer months, moist air carried by southerly winds from the faraway Gulf does not fall below the dew point in temperature until it enters the Lake Superior basin.
The forested area is rich in water but poor in topsoil. The glaciers of various Ice Ages, including the most recent Wisconsonian glaciation, scraped much of the forested area down to bare rock or sand. The result is a highly characteristic boreal forest ecosystem.
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