Apostle Island Ice Caves, 2014, photo by Chris Plys

There is still time for the winter of 2023/24 to show its stuff. For now, all we have is the past.

Destination Duluth, a nonprofit that shares images and stories on social media in an effort to promote the city and region, recently declared “We want winter back!” A group of photographers have contributed photos from “when we had real winters,” posted with the hashtag whenwinterwas.

“We’ve missed the beauty of our normal winters,” Jerry Thoreson said in a news release. The managing director of Destination Duluth noted that more than 150 Duluth photographers contribute to the organization’s content on Facebook and Instagram pages. “They love capturing the beauty of the cold, snowy winter months in Duluth and on the North Shore. They literally thrill with the chill of 20 below with the magical sea smoke on Lake Superior.”

Shared here are select images from Destination Duluth’s “When Winter Was” collection.

Sea Smoke on –20º morning, 2016, Matthew Moses

Great Lakes Trader/Joyce L. Van Enkevort at -10º, photo by Dawn LaPointe

Brighton Beach, 2018, photo by Ken Palmer

Tettegouche State Park, 2019, photo by Jim Schnortz

Enger Park, 2019, photo by Gregory Israelson

Split Rock Lighthouse, 2022, photo by Bryan Benson

Lake Superior Ice Formation, 2022, photo by Adam Malmanger

Tettegouche State Park, 2022, photo by Jeffrey Doty

Tettegouche State Park, 2022, photo by Dawn Parendo

Hockey on Lake Superior, 2022, photo by Steve Mattson