michsnowfreak

Snowy on this day in 2020, the start of 3 years in a row of late snows

I just stayed home for the eclipse. 99.6% totality imby. It was really neat to watch. Totality would have been awesome, but still, no regrets, and i dealt with no traffic into Ohio lol.

Yeah, that's definitely futility. This season, Detroit ranks 18th least since 1880.

Off and on snow showers today, Detroit Tigers Opening day. It honestly seems like it snows every other year on opening day.

Where does this season rank in Torontos entire period of record?

Had a heavy grauple and sleet shower this afternoon that whitened the ground briefly, 0.1", however, it melted quickly. Popcorn showers dotted the area today

What was your deepest snow this season?

Beautiful. The storm sure was a dud outside of the higher elevations/huron mountains (and even there, much lower than forecast).

Jan 12, 2024 DTW 1.04" precip, 4.6" snow, temps 33-34 White Lake NWS 0.70" precip, 7.5" snow, temps 31-32

What's your seasonal total this year and your annual average?

Definitely frustrating to see the models so off on placement for so many days, but the sting is definitely less in spring.

After a cold winter of 1944-45, the inferno was on in March. The original Morch if you will. Oftentimes following a cold winter, spring vegetation is late, but the green up was record early in 1945 and freezes in April and May pretty much destroyed most fruit crops in the midwest that year.

It doesnt matter if its cold or warm or anything in between. Its all about skycover that day.

On January 12th, DTW saw 1.04" precip and 4.6" snow, and that was all snow except the last 0.04". It's like walking through mashed potatoes.

Where is that photo from? Its incredible!

Its a ridiculous description to begin with. When has Mansfield EVER had continuous snowcover Dec-Mar? It has nothing to do with "anymore". Their decade with the most Dec-Mar snowcover days (1"+) was the 1970s, which averaged 51 days out of a possible 121. Thats less than half. The 2000s & 2010s were steady with snowcover, seeing more than the 1980s-90s, on par with the 1960s, and more than the 1950s (data gets sketchy before 1949). Two winters is not ground zero for a change in climate. You seem to be fascinated with Toledo snow stats lately too. So I decided to look up some stats myself. Toledos snowiest winters (since 1886) #1 is 86.3" is 2013-14, breaking the previous record by 13.2". 7 of the top 20 snowiest have come since 2003. 2 of the top 20 least snowy have come since 2003 (the last 2 winters) Winters with the highest snow depth (since 1893) 03.) 2020-21 (18") 06.) 2014-15 (15") 07.) 2000-01 (14") 09.) 2013-14 (13") 13.) 2008-09 (12") 2009-10 (12") 2010-11 (12") So in 132 years of record, 6 of the top 15 peak snow depth winters have come since 2009.

Just the usual standard model clown maps making a real good storm into an epic one lol. There were a few ensemble runs where every ensemble mean had 30"+ at aberdeen

Crazy. Cant talk futility until April in the upper Midwest, and March in the rest of the midwest IMO. Certainly doesnt make up for a shitty winter, but the snow blitz of March 21-26 has plummeted Minneapolis from 2nd least snowy winter to 24th least snowy, and Im sure the ranking will be even lower. At Detroit, 12.7" of the seasons 23.5" fell in a 9-day stretch Jan 11-19, but thanks to that, as Ive mentioned, we are just at 18th least snowy, and easily could fall out of the top 20 with a small April snowfall.

The 1863-64 was well documented locally to have an extremely severe cold snap around New Years and little winter weather the rest of the season. It was considered a very open winter outside of the first half of January, with very little snow, so that total is 100% believable. Documentation about the winter at Detroit (from "Memorials of a Half Century", a fantastic 1883 book by Bela Hubbard). 1863-64: New Years will be remembered for violent & sudden reversal of temperature. December had been mild with only occasional floating masses of ice on the river. Rain set in December 31st, along with a 24-hour temp fall 40F the evening of Dec 31st to -20F the evening of January 1st. Little snow fell here, but the fall was heavy in Chicago. On Jan 5th, 4” of snow gave good sleighing & it remained cold & sunny the next few weeks. By January 18th thawing left the ground bare, and by January 25th the broad expanse of the river was now free from ice. On January 27th it hit 60F. The first half of February continued mild, thawing during the day & scarcely freezing at night. Frost out of the ground. February 15th was as bright & balmy as April, but a flurry of snow & big change the next day followed by -3F on February 17th.

The reason I noted the airport is because I have a friend who lives in Toledo and each of the last 2 winters theyve had more than the airport to their south/west. Much less than DTW, but more than TOL, so Id estimate Toledo the city has probably had 12-15" this season. Monroe, MI is at 17". The last 2 years have been very latitude based in the region. I see Mansfield, OH is at just 8.4". Good Riddance El Nino. And I know its xmacis. Xmacis doesnt always have all the data, it has to be input by someone lol. There is no reason that data that had been counted for 100+ years suddenly is not if there is no M data or anything. Im sure if it was a record that was to your liking youd 100% agree, seeing as though you frequently reference old data

1999-00 & 2003-04 get a pass due to decent snowcover stretches

Toledo snowfall records began in 1885. They were always included until nws Cleveland randomly revamped their website and it now starts in 1890. There was no missing data, so the 6.0" figure is absolutely believable. And actually, Toledo Express airport is a little bit over an hour drive from Detroit Metro airport, although I have absolutely no idea what Detroit has to do with Toledo. Especially as I have said many times the state-line snow cutoff the last 2 winters has been insane. Not sure why we are using DTW as a drive time base, but Detroit Metro Airport (23.5") is a 65 minute drive to Toledo Express (9.6") airport but only a 25 minute drive to U of M Ann Arbor, where 36.9" has fallen this year.

New York City saw just 0.5" in 1997-98 until a freak, unexpected snowstorm dropped 5.0" on March 22nd. It was gone in less than a day. But instead of ranking as least snowy winter, due to that unexpected spring storm, it "only" ranks as 8th least snowy.

We have not had a sub-20" winter since 1969, but they did happen. Not frequently, but Detroits full top 20 lowest snowfall 01.) 12.9" - 1936-37 02.) 13.2" - 1881-82 03.) 13.7" - 1948-49 04.) 15.2" - 1918-19 05.) 15.4" - 1965-66 06.) 15.8" - 1889-90 07.) 16.6" - 1952-53 08.) 17.1" - 1968-69 09.) 18.0" - 1957-58 09.) 18.0" - 1960-61 11.) 20.0" - 1982-83 12.) 22.0" - 1945-46 13.) 22.6" - 1937-38 14.) 22.8" - 1943-44 15.) 23.2" - 1888-89 16.) 23.4" - 1941-42 16.) 23.4" - 1997-98 18.) 23.7" - 1999-00 19.) 24.1" - 2003-04 20.) 25.1" - 1988-89 Some late season facts about the above...they were terrible enough, but look where they could have been without.... #4) 1918-19: A heavy, wet snowstorm of 5.8" on Mar 9th, largest of the season, melted in 2 days, gave a big boost to the total #6) 1889-90: A 5.0" heavy, wet snowstorm on March 29th was by far largest of the season #9) 1960-61: Winters fiercest storm was its last - 3.0" fell at Detroit on April 16/17, but 4-5" fell in some suburbs and blizzard conditions clogged highways in west MI #11) 1982-83: Disaster winter sees a late rally with a 7.3" snowstorm March 20/21 then another 3.4" snowfall April 17th #13) 1937-38: 3 April snowfalls (4th, 6th, 8th) dropped a total of 3.9" at Detroit. The 4th dropped up to 4" well north of Detroit and the 6th dropped 6-7" near the Ohio border #14) 1943-44: 15.7" of the seasons 22.8" fell after Feb 9th & 3.8" fell before November 16th,. So from Nov 17-Feb 9, a total of 3.3" fell. #16) 1941-42: A 4.2" wet snowfall on April 9/10 would be the seasons largest

Interesting in that those simulations seem to show much cooler summers than we have seen recently.