tuanis

Trees are really weighed down, power flickering on and off, looks like about 4” so far and accumulating on everything. Roads are clearly a mess if you look at traffic on Google Maps. The models were pretty consistent for days, I’m not sure why LOT has held off.

Same here. Road and driveway covered. Gotta love all the spring moisture streaming into this thing. Someone’s going to see 6” if this keeps up.

Graupel/snow mix by O’Hare. Lovely.

A low pressure cutting through Chicago? Who woulda thunk it?!?

I like how this has become the “Wausau Winter Thread”

Definitely a kitchen sink winter down here. I feel like we've seen every kind of snowfall possible from 20:1 fluff to sugary pixie dust/columns/plates, to wet glop and sleet. I will say, all those forecasts for a dry Midwest this fall sure haven't come to fruition around here.

Neither of those things should happen in a "normal" winter, but that whole swing was AWESOME. Those two air masses felt so incredibly different - my house was having a fit with all the contracting/expanding going on. Not too many places in the world something like that can happen!

It's just a webcam plugged into my PC used primarily so I can see when the dog walker arrives to pick up the pooch... but is often used to check on the weather at home while I'm off at work There's a $5 app called iCam that sends a notification to your phone when motion is detected and records the event on your PC. I do lock my doors, though. Gotta keep the kids inside sometimes.

I just checked my front yard security cam saved images... I've had snowcover in my entire neighborhood continuously since January 13. That's 44 consecutive days out of a possible 87 days since 12/1, or just about 50%. If December hadn't been such a turd in the entire midwest, we'd be approaching that 75% figure. Granted - Chicago itself, or even Wausau for that matter, hasn't seen the same snowcover this year. You're not that far from me, have you really been staring at dead grass all winter?

I believe it, the absolutely enormous Atlantic Ocean is right there. I was thinking more along the lines of the Tug Hill (technically upstate NY, not New England) or northern VT, but I bet the same situation applies there too. Regardless... point was, there are few hospitable places in the lower 48 that fit his definition of winter. Winter is variable, and we're all subject to thaws every winter. On another note, I was one of those hippies that descended on Loring AFB decades ago. Beautiful up there.

Wausau is about to break its all-time snowiest DJF winter total with tonight's snowfall... which is only 64.5". They get plenty of thaws and rainstorms up that way every winter. As mentioned, winter was lacking big time in Wausau up until late January. Same story even further north in Minocqua/Hayward. I'm not sure your idea of wall-to-wall wintry conditions with no thaws exists outside of the Intermountain West or parts of northern New England. Heck, even Bo has had some thaws/rain/icestorms this winter and a lousy December.

This has been a particularly challenging winter just 35 miles to your north. It has really tested me and my house. We’ve lost power twice this winter, which never happened before. For two days during the November dump (when I had a brand new week old baby in the house) and the night in late January that the deep cold was pouring in on stiff winds. December was easy peasy. The frequency of events in January tested my snowblower - I have fired it up more this season than any since I bought it four years ago and it looks like I’m not done yet. We’ve had deep snow on two occasions, the deepest being about 20”. The dangerous cold seriously tested my furnace and bank account - set a new record high gas bill. We had limited ice here thankfully, but even the big wind event Sunday had me nervous about the mature trees surrounding my house. It’s been an especially active and difficult winter. We have also had continuous snowcover since the first January event. We almost lost it during the early-Feb thaw, but managed to scrape by. I’m ready for some bare ground (just kidding!).

Great flakes, solid rates. Hope it keep up, love a sledding Sunday with the kids.

Pretty fun to watch the CC radar for this one, especially out in Iowa. Im back to sleet as the mix line just surged north through Lake County and looks to stay there for awhile. Still no raindrops. Madison through La Crosse looks to be in a good spot.