michsnowfreak

It is very strange indeed. To be consistently doubling average snowfall during the already 2nd snowiest month of the year is impressive. Of course I'm speaking with a backyard bias, but in addition to the crap December's and excellent February's, we are seeing lots of snowy November's and zzzz Marches. 5 of the past 8 years saw more snow in November than December. Recent years have also seen a succession of late Oct and late Apr snows as well as may flakes in parts of the southern and Central subforum. It's a very strange mixture.

I thought about going up to the huron mountains but I didn't know how the roads would be lol. You are in another micro climate in addition to MQT so your winters are exponentially more severe than Marquette city! Your pics are always awesome. I'm sure measuring is a pain when there's a lot of old snow on the ground and also a lot of plowed, shoveled, or blown slow. I did tons of depth measurements in Au Train & Munising and came up with a much lower depth then they reported. But when you go to the residential areas there's 5 to 6' snow mounds everywhere. Storm measurement from Munising (9.3") was dead on with what I was estimating.

Certainly not perfect but a good idea. Here is season to date snowfall through the end of February

Can you post for just Jan-Feb?

Your depth never exceeded 3"? Did you miss out on the heavier snows at ORD? I think many of your expectations are unrealistic however that is definitely a kick in the pants to not exceed 3" depth.

I was able to witness it with my own 2 eyes and it was like nothing I'd ever seen. I'm talking about the difference between snowfall in Negaunee/MQT versus Marquette city itself. I think downtown Marquette is only 8 miles east of of MQT. Drove through that area the day after that storm. I'm still a bit surprised at how high of a total MQT reported because of snowdepth apparently settling 15" from beginning to end of the storm. But having 40" on the ground was legit. 8 miles away in Marquette? Maybe 18" if I'm being generous.. A little bit West of MQT? Back to around 2 feet. It's very interesting how they place the official weather site in the micro climate of heaviest snow.

The 20.4" of snow that fell in February in placed Detroit at 14th snowiest February on record, adding to the traffic jam of 21st century dates in the snowiest Februarys list. Only 2 days this February had a snowdepth of 0, after no such days last February. Detroit finished met Winter with an average temperature of 28.0ﾟ. After a very mild December quite a come back to finish -0.4ﾟ. Dec +5.9° Jan -5.5° Feb -1.6°. The 32.5" of snow of snow that fell during met Winter, 20.4" of it coming in February, was just slightly below average, however due to a snowy November, season to date snowfall began March slightly above average.

To be fair, I made this thread a year ago. I bumped it just now due to another snowy February. As funny as it sounds, I'm going to see how December 2022 goes. If it's a mild December with not a lot of snow, I will count on another 20+ inch February. If it's a very wintry December, February will take a break. Mother nature's trends lately.

I'm a big Laura ingalls Wilder fan. Both of books and even the TV show is a guilty pleasure that I watch sometimes. "The Long Winter" is my favorite book. It's so crazy to read those stories although some of it obviously is embellished. Remember she wrote it as an adult. Storms don't last for in 6 days lol. All that said I would have loved to see how the models wouldve handled that Winter. The 93.6" of snow that fell at Detroit in 1880-81 stood as the snowiest Winter on record until 2013-14 when 94.9" fell. In those early days of weather records, snow depth records were not kept however from what I gather locally the snow was very deep in early February but then several rainstorms caused a mess before more heavy snows came. The very following Winter, 1881-82 was incredibly warm and snowless. To this day, it stands as Detroit's 2nd least snowy Winter at 13.2", although I can deduce that there were even less days with snow on the ground then Detroit's all time number one low of 12.9" in 1936-37. More impressive than the lack of snow however was the warmth. The Winter of 1881-82 is by far the warmest Winter on record for Detroit, a full 1.2 degree warmer than number #2. It's a record I doubt will ever be broken. If you read the following book in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series you will see that preparations for another hard Winter were taken very seriously in autumn 1881 with the previous Winter still in their minds and then she makes comments how there ended up being no Winter (the weather/Winter was not the subject of that book so it's just made in passing commentary).

The 20.4" of snow that fell at DTW this February makes it the 14th snowiest February on record. It has actually gotten comical how february's recently have just cleaned up. Since 1881, 10 of the 20 snowiest Februaries have been in the past 20 years. Going further than that, 7 of the top 16 occurred from from 2010 to 2022.

We haven't been able to lock the 24 hour gfs in this winter.

It is. Also, it's crazy to see the difference between the beginning of February and the end of February when it comes to that. I roll my eyes when it's early February and someone comments how their air fluff snow melted in the sun (undoubtedly with plenty of salt nearby) but it's legit at the end of February. That's why unless you have a deep glacier in place ala 2014 or 2015, snow cover season longevity has come to a close and now it's all about getting the storms. A storm with good rates always can overcome the sun angle in March and April.

Regardless whether we're coming out of the most severe winter on record or the mildest, or anything in between, I always want additional Winter in March. Sitting at 39.5" of snow imby on the season. DTW 39.6" which is 3" above avg to date but March has been crappy in recent years. April has been better for snows lol. It ended up being a good Winter for frequent snowfalls, including two 6"+ storms, but no big dog. It's high time March gets her act together and produces a blockbuster snowstorm. Looking at historical data, it's crazy how many horrendous mild/snowless winters in the 1930s and 1950s saw a big March snowstorm. It was as if you expected it. Makes me think somewhere in cyclone area, or perhaps Wisconsin, or Northwest Iowa gets a big march storm. Though hopefully we do too lol.

As another snowy February comes to a close, the sun angle is rearing it's ugly head as snow just gets zapped in the sun. Met winter stats to come after tmrw.

I have to continue to play the devil's advocate. And as a reminder, I much prefer Winter over summer. This Winter has not been great but it has certainly not been a crap Winter either. Ice on the lakes has been quite thick as this is the coldest January/February combo we've had since 2015. I counted my "beavis" Winter days of snow depth of 2"+ and a high of 35 or colder and I got 31 days. I've also had many additional days with snow on the ground either less than 2" or 2"+ but the high was 35+, and several additional days with the high below 35 but less than 2" of snow on the ground. When you take away the stats, I've seen people ice fishing frequently and there has been snow on the ground most of the time. In fact, one time I was sledding with my cousins and a facebook friend of mine who lives in Oklahoma said her friends just can't fathom what it's like to play in the snow for weeks when it has not just freshly fallen. And how she misses Michigan winters. So here's my question. What do we give the summer folks for their metrics? Because let me tell you, I have many friends/family who annoyingly can't wait to vacation south to get out of our cold weather by late winter and our summers are just not hot enough for them outside of heatwaves. I mean, our summers are plenty hot for me, but I'm talking about the average Joe. You can't give Winter these specific metrics and then just say "oh it's warm in summer". Chicago averages the same amount of days per year (45) with the high at or below 32 and a high at or above above 84. Many summer folks love to consider 90 as their magical threshold. They can easily say, "how unfair, we get 45 days a year with a high below freezing but we can only get 16 days a year with a high above 90". Chicago averages the same amount of days per year with the high at or below 22ﾟ as they do with the high at or above 90ﾟ. If you take the absolute dead of Winter or dead of summer, Chicago has an ever so slightly greater chance of having a high at or below 79ﾟ on July 26th as they do having having a high at or above 40ﾟ on January 26th. If a day with a high in the teens and below zero wind chills but only 1" of snow on the ground is not winter, then i guess an overcast summer day isnt summer, even if humid. Or a "comfortable" day with low humidity, even if its in the 80s, is not summer. It's all relative....if you legit want 4 seasons the area this sub covers is primo.

Locally we are well overdue for a good March snowstorm. However, We have also been due for a reality check February and we chalked up yet another snowy one.

I'm never ready for Winter to end, however, I don't really think this is anything new. The forum has always been that way with many people getting the spring itch around this time. To be fair, they also start to speculate what the coming Winter will bring as early as September. Just how it's always been. I certainly don't think that means nobody here likes Winter lol. That is simply not the case. Every snow event is met with excited chatter and if snow does not pan out as expected there is a ton of frustration. But "we haven't even had Winter to begin with"? Come on beavis. No, temperatures have not not plunged to 50 below 0 in places where it never should get close to that. However, the past 2 months have absolutely been Winter in the southern Great Lakes. The frost depth is deep and snow has covered the ground a huge majority of the time. Outside of extremely small areas, the combination of the type of cold and snow you want is extremely rare on earth. In fact, had the past few months been milder, Chicago would have probably seen more snow.

Just an interesting observation on my trek home. Stopped for dinner and Frankenmuth. The snow up there was clearly well settled fluff by the time I got there, but when I got home it was clear our snow was dense sugar with frzg drizzle in it.

How close are you to Standish? I hear they've had a very "open" winter as the old timers say.

Wow. This is the first 3" snow in Mt Pleasant this season!?

1.4" of icy sugary snow at home. Cold sugary snow, no fluff factor. Can't complain it's been a good Feb and I just had a fun week up north. Feb snow 20.2", season to date 39.5". At DTW 1.4" so Feb is at 20.4" and season 39.6".

Munising official snowfall Monday afternoon thru this morning was 9.3", which is dead on what I was figuring. Total depth is what seems high. They have 38 depth. I didn't measure in the backyard post storm but in estimating 28-30.

Actually not as much as I thought. I ventured into areas in the cabins backyard and took tons of measurements and it was 23-26" before the last 5" of snow fell. Also took measurements in munising by the Falls yesterday around 4pm and it was 24-27". And I may have went into the ground because I had mud on the bottom 1.5 of my snow stick lol. I have to accuse the munising observer of slant sticking . There's no way the DEPTH of undisturbed snow was 3 feet before this storm, definitely closer to 2 feet. However if the guy lives in a residential neighborhood can't say he has a choice because literally all the snow is layer upon layer upon layer of plowed shoveled and blown snow. With this fresh snow blanketing everything the beauty is indescribable. Will post pics later.

Doesn't look like anything special but should be at least a few cold inches of powder to come home to. Looks like just piles left at home but fortunately haven't seen a full day of bare ground since mid to late Jan, and haven't seen a day without at least snow piles around since Dec 26. No complaints about the Nov Jan Feb portion of this winter, just Dec.

Grand Forks has done fine snow wise, but areas of the Dakotas have had VERY LITTLE snow this season. Many winters there are parts of the northern plains that are a barren wasteland of bitter cold and little to no snow. Many below zero days that don't count as winter days on your formula beavis (cold + however many inches of snowcover). The UP along Superior is where it's at.