The whole state is protected by the great lakes to some extent.
True enough. But I can tell you i live on the lake (less than 100 yards from my front door) and I can also say the weather we get up here will vary signifigantly from what Detroit gets. For example: the weekend after thanksgiving, 2000. Detroit got a dusting of snow. Port Huron and points north got 17 inches over 6 hours. I will quite often listen to the Canadian weather forecast due to the fact that it’s more accurate to my area than the Detroit forecast. So I’ll agree with your assessment- up to a point.
CC