michsnowfreak

Going to be interesting to see how the cansips evolves this summer. It had the cold winter lakes/east look last summer and fall while the other seasonals were mild. Its showing another cold winter in those same areas for 2026-27.

The ridge west, trough east alignment seems to be almost stuck. Not literally, of course it moves, but it has been dominant lately so no need to think it cant continue next winter. It was dominant for almost a decade it seemed if we look back just 11-12 years or so. And of course it goes without saying that the blazing SW is doing the heavy lifting for ranking conus winter warmth. Chuck and I have discussed, I personally dont worry about "cold" when it comes to snow. Its more about storm tracks. You can absolutely apply that to the Great Lakes and New England. Further south, of course its different. We have now had 2 cold winters in a row. With an El Nino coming Id be very surprised to see a 3rd cold winter in a row locally. The last 2 winters here have been cold and snowcovered with powder which is my favorite, but not gonna lie, with the biggest storm this winter 6.2" and biggest last winter 4.6", a milder winter would likely send more dynamic winter storms into this area. Historically its a mix, but for the last 3 decades, milder winters have produced some real dynamic snowstorms.

It was a great winter here as well. It was like the pre party to a fantastic 2005-2015. It was cold and dry west of the lakes though.

2002-03 like would definitely be an interesting outcome!

Idk. No snowflakes in April is rare. But meaningful snow, thats another story.

Wintry day with snow squalls. Just a T for me but 0.3" at DTW. Season totals 40.1" my backyard, 39.4" DTW. Some squalls had isolated whiteouts and the sky often resembled thunderstorm incoming.

Yeah. I mean you cant take winter forecasts with more than a grain of salt in Fall, much less spring. I was just pointing out sometimes colors look worse than they are. Milder winters mean nothing in terms of total snowfall here (as long as we avoid torch). Its about storm track or lack thereof. After two cold winters in a row with good snowcover but no impressive storms locally (largest was a surprise 6.2") my early gut instinct is that next winter sees less deep winter but a bigger storm, likely the biggest in 5 years or so.

Yesterday at DTW ended up hi/low 43/34 and today 55/35 with colder weather the next two days. Backdoor front ftw.

Today is wild here in eastern MI. Cloudy and 35° at 1245pm with an inferno all around.

Not to mention the colors make it look so extreme. +0.8°-1.0° at Detroit and NYC.

They're just using the standard el nino climo like always lol

DTW is overcast and 35° at noon. What a way to run a nationwide torch day

Not expected to get out of the 40s here tmrw.

Wow. How much left?

That's a good catch. But the chart is saw has 1986-87 listed as moderate and 1987-88 as strong.

A strong Nino 3 years after a strong Nino? Ill believe it when I see it.

Id say D at best lol. They use blue so sparingly, imagine being in South Dakota thinking, wow if they use blue its gonna be COLD.

+4-5 is a reasonable guess. It will be the first warmer than avg month since October. Again, I was strictly talking about March 21 and beyond. Some insisted the western inferno would envelope the entire conus post march 21, and that will clearly not be the case. Rather, it looks like a mix of some warmer than avg days and some colder than avg days.

For western Midwest was warmer than normal, but torch was the Plains and West.

Good for the globe! Its been mentioned many, many times. It doesn't change the fact that it was a colder than average winter in the Great Lakes and northeast, or that the cold in that part of the globe often refused to budge. I understand that getting a cold winter where 90% of this forum resides, despite more widespread world warmth, does not sit well with some. But it doesnt mean it didnt happen or cant be discussed.

Im referring specifically to several posts that repeatedly referenced that following this cold shot, the western torch would envelop the entire conus and clearly that is not the case. Just had our coldest st paddys day in 59 years. And after milder days this weekend, there are several more cold shots en route for the lakes and northeast while the southwest continues to burn. Torch is subjective i guess. The word torch was never used til 2012. Now anything a few degrees above normal is a torch to some.

Once again, talks of a conus wide torch around the equinox screeched to a halt from the Great Lakes and northeast. As expected though, the southwest will fry.

With a high of 28 (and low of 17) it was the coldest St Patrick's Day in Detroit since 1967.

It certainly has. I was wondering how much toronto had. I remember when we were getting slammed they were getting relatively screwed. Just shows how it all ebbs and flows over the years. The snowcover lover in me could never give this winter below a B...it was a real "wintry winter" but this is 2 years in a row snowcover and cold outpaced snowfall. Total irony in that the assumptions that winter trends would be decreasing snowcover even with steady snowfall.

Snow showers yesterday and today have anywhere from a T-0.5" in SE MI. I picked up 0.3" which was the first measurable snow of March for mby. Season to date is 40.1". DTW also picked up 0.3", season to date 39.1".