As the summer season draws near, thoughts of picnics, swimming, boating and other warm-weather activities come to mind, with any thoughts of the winter season far behind us.

However, Marquette city officials have been thinking about winter weather – and not even from the winter of 2014-15, but rather the deep-freeze of 2013-14.

That horrid winter that we all want to forget was brought to the forefront this week in a positive light – at least partially positive.

The Marquette City Commission discussed the winter at this week’s meeting when it held a public hearing to signal completion of a nearly $500,000 state grant that helped defray the costs associated with the frigid weather.

Receiving a $495,588 Michigan Community Development Block Grant helped lower the cost to the city caused by the deep-freeze, which totaled about $2.5 million, according to city officials.

A good chunk of that, more than $1 million, was incurred from the water let-run policy issued to city residents. The let-runs were to prevent more freeze-ups, which the repair of would have probably added up to much more than the cost of allowing excess water to run down the drain.

With the block grant, and another grant from the Michigan Emergency Management Act for roughly $100,000 and taking out the let-run costs, the city spent about $937,000 to deal with the weather. Included in that amount was costs for equipment, labor, materials and supplies related to water, sewer and storm water repairs.

These costs are for the city of Marquette only, with many other communities across the area also unexpectedly spending huge amounts of money during the winter of 2013-14. Many of these communities receive grant funds to help them out, as well.

The cost of dealing with a normal winter in the U.P. is high enough, so it’s good to see the state willing to cough up some cash to assist communities during excessively expensive winters.

In addition, there is probably some good lessons from the winter of 2013-14 for local governments to heed, such as be prepared for the worst of what Mother Nature can throw at us.