Brian D

Biggest total from the U.P. MI is near Baraga with 42.8" with lots of 2-3' readings across N MI in general.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Winds started howling after sunset yesterday. 50+ gusts. It was wild there for a while, until just after midnight. Winds settled down some, and are now back up to the 40+ range today. Duluth really close to a monthly record for snow in Dec. One week left. I think we'll get it NP with the upcoming pattern. Probably smash it. 1950 44.3 2022 43.1* 1996 42.2 2013 39.9 1969 38.8

Areas of N MI reporting 2-3' of snow this morning, and it's still snowing up there.

Now that's what I call a BLIZZARD!

Winds had relaxed at the surface here in town this afternoon, but this evening they've amped up quite a bit. Very similar to early this morning. Gusts 35-45 mph. This afternoon they had only been 25-30 mph.

3-11" of snow being reported early this morning across the northern areas of MI from the synoptic/lake enhanced stuff so far. Snow should amp up a bit as the cold N/NW flow kicks in hard for the weekend.

Two Harbors cold records for low max, and min. Low max Dec 21st (4th) 1989 -6 1924 -4 1921 3 2022 5 Dec 22nd (3rd) 1960 -1 1989 4 2022 5 Dec 23rd (tied 1st) 1914/2004/22 1 Min Dec 21st (7th) 2022 -13 Dec 22nd (4th) 1914/24 -18 1916/89 -17 1998 -15 2022 -14 Dec 23rd (tied 6th) 2004/22 -11

Near record Low Max temps from Duluth. And top 10 record Min temps Dec 21st (3rd) 1989 -9 1924 -8 2022 -4 Dec 22nd (tied 2nd) 1983 -5 1943/90/2004/22 -4 Max temp today (23rd) should be top 10. Update: Tied for 8th at 2 1878/92/97/1984/2013/22 Dec 21st (tied 6th) 1989 -28 1916/70 -23 1921 -22 1973 -20 1924 -19 1976/2022 -18 Dec 20th was tied at 9th 1921/2022 -14, and Dec 22nd was tied at 8th 1969/2022 -12. This morning's low was -14 which places that at 8th 1878/92/1953/2022. Very cold for this time of year.

Temp around 0 right now, with windy conditions. Not too bad, tho. Earlier this morning, winds were very gusty, whipping up the fresh snow we just had, but now pretty mellow in that regard. Upper level clouds moving in from the E/NE. Radar picking up some returns along the North Shore as the moisture interacts with the ridges along the shore. They are moving SW along the shoreline. Extremely light snow bands, but that will contribute to limited visibility along Hwy 61 north of me.

Snow streaks across the N Plains. Pretty cool, and dangerous.

Lower Lakes getting hammered once again for Christmas weekend. Buffaloweather should be in here soon, as well.

Bust for this forecast. There will be a weak clipper diving southeastward, tho, not really affecting us much, as it ends up in the southern US. A little light snow possible in the western areas of the sub. But my forecast latched on to the upcoming pattern next week that starts Tuesday the 27th. Better luck for New Years.

That thread will end up pretty long, and the conversion from synoptics to LES events into the weekend should have its own.

Ugly Christmas weekend. At least Christmas day things start to mellow out.

Northern areas of MI looking good for intense LES snowfall, with some synoptic mixed in. Blizzard conditions widespread along the shoreline areas for sure. Weatherbo should pop in soon for his comments, and pics when things get going.

4" here in town this morning. Very cold at -2. High of 5 at midnight. Winds not too bad yet. Just some gusts up to 30-35 blowing the snow around a little. Will be worse starting later tonight thru Sat night as things develop more. They do have a Blizzard warning for me (the Arrowhead in general) starting this evening into Sun am for winds up to 60, but, honestly, I think that'll be more for areas up the shore from me. The terrain there is much steeper, and it's common for strong down-sloping winds to occur there. NWS Duluth even talked about gravity well conditions that can happen there, in the past. Interesting stuff. Driving Hwy 61 along the shore will be a bad idea the next few days.

3-4" of steady light-mod snow so far. Couple more inches possible tonight. Winds will start blowing it around tomorrow, and they have backed off the winds to 40-45 from 55-60. Temp at 6, which is the high for today so far. Been a very slow steady rise all day.

-2 in town with light snow. 30:1 LOL

This will be another strong event as the low moves NE of the Lakes. Strong, and very cold W to NW winds should provide ample Lake snows for the favored regions over the Christmas weekend.

Christmas LES gonna be good. GFS bombs to 961 Sat am.

NAM hits 971 on latest run by 00z Sat. Of course that's centered NE of Lake Huron by then. LES will be cranked at that point.

Light snow this morning. So it begins.

NWS Duluth summary of the last storm we had here. They are calling it the "Blue" Blizzard of Dec 2022. Interesting reason for the name in the last paragraph. https://www.weather.gov/dlh/BlueBlizzardDec2022 A powerful, long duration winter storm brought widespread snowfall amounts of 8 to 24 inches across parts of northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin, with areas around Lake Superior receiving up to 30 inches of snow. A wintry mixture of sleet, freezing rain and snow began Tuesday (December 13th) afternoon and evening, spreading northeast overnight Tuesday night and into Wednesday (December 14th) morning. This first wave of precipitation brought a widespread 6 to 12 inches of snow. We had a break in the snowfall during the day on Wednesday, but it started up again Wednesday night and continued into Thursday (December 15th), bringing another 8-20 inches of snow. This second wave of precipitation was nearly all snow, enhanced by the main upper level low pressure system as it moved close to the area. Lighter snow lingered into Friday and Saturday, December 16th and 17th. A low pressure system developed over eastern Colorado early Tuesday, moved northeast to eastern Nebraska by Wednesday morning, then to east-central Minnesota by Thursday morning, lingering there through Friday before moving off to the northeast Friday night and Saturday. The storm resulted in a long period of poor road conditions, with strong winds causing blowing and drifting snow. There were also widespread power outages, with some people reporting no power for over two days! Notable with this storm was how wet and heavy the snow was, with 3-day liquid equivalent values of 1 to 4 inches. The wet quality of this snow, unusual for winter storms in this area, heavily weighed down trees and power lines. The density of the snowpack also exacerbated the quality of snow to absorb the red end of the visible light spectrum, transmitting the blue end, which led to many folks observing a glacier blue color in holes and cracks in the snow as they cleared it. Because of this blue color, as well as the very wet quality of the snowfall, NWS Duluth has taken to referring to this snow as the Blue Blizzard of 2022.

Winter Storm Warning, heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 7 to 10 inches. Winds gusting as high as 60 mph. Wed-Sat Most of the snow will be tomorrow into tomorrow night with east winds, but then the winds kick in out of the NW Thurs-Sat with light snows, and ground blizzard conditions at times. I'd imagine there could be near hurricane force winds along the eastern shores of Lake Michigan as the low bombs out over Lower MI.