August is synonymous with swimming, for more than one reason. The primary reason I’ll save for another day, as it’s an essay in itself. However, by August, Lake Superior is mostly pleasant for swimming.

In 2020 I made it my goal to swim every day of August. Sometimes that was after sunrise, sometimes at sunset, but preferably as the sun was rising, neck deep holding my camera just above the water’s surface. This is one of the best ways to experience sunrise.

I have always assumed that August was the hottest month of the year in the Upper Peninsula, and I was surprised to look at the weather data and see that the hottest sunrises of the year have occurred in July.

Summer sunrise is a special experience, the warmth, the comfort, the energy of a busy town in the summer. But summer sunrising is less inspiring for me, the skies are often clear and identical from one morning to the next, and it lacks the unpredictable energy of October and January.