michsnowfreak

Not sure what kind of phone camera you have, but whenever that happens that's a great time to get pictures of snowflakes. I have the Samsung Galaxy S21 and it's awesome for that

I never said Winter's gone as advertised. A mild, gross January pattern was seen way back when we were shivering on Christmas. It became clear there was no avoiding it. I'm just glad the light at the end of the tunnel is finally showing.

Im not trying to polish anything. The mild first half to two thirds of January was well advertised. I mean there's really nothing you can do but wait it out.

I said the cold was coming back before new years? Wow that's news to me

One more week to muddle through, then it looks like the ensembles have a more active and colder look. This far out that's all you can ask for is signs of change, which there are.

I remember back in the 1990s we were taught that El nino means warm and dry and La Nina means cold and wet however the past few decades enso has been all over the place in terms of sensible weather

This will be a great post to bump Feb 8th.

I would love to visit northern MN someday.

There's plenty of factors that give us decent winters. Just like the ones that give us crappy winters. Things like enso, volcanoes etc are all just a piece of a puzzle.

I personally am a snowcover person so Minneapolis would suit me just fine. But I know a lot of other folks are just about the snowfall and say they don't care as much about snow cover (or so they say during the good times). Buffalo has had 101.6" of snow this season but only 29 days with 1" or more of snow on the ground lol. But I like where I live so I'm staying put and will continue with my annual February trips to northern Michigan. If I where you were i would definitely be checking out the northwoods of Minnesota for a Winter weekend or something. Maybe catch northern lights.

Of course not. There's literally nothing pointing towards that happening. Just depends on my mood if I want to respond to palm trolling

I know your comment was tongue in cheek, but Minneapolis is having an exceptionally snowy season while most everyone else is having an exceptionally low snow season. Obviously Minneapolis is always a better place for snowcover, but in those snow seasons where the lower Great Lakes is getting lots of snow often Minneapolis sits cold and dry getting much of their snow early and late in the season. I remember several dud winters a few years back where Minneapolis was really getting screwed similar to this years bullseyes. In fact, while Minneapolis averages a bit more than Detroit (52.5" to 44.6"), Detroit actually averages more in January and February.

BTW @beavis1729 don't think my correcting your stats and bringing you down to reality means I'm happy with the weather either. It does suck. It was very nice around Christmas here but other than that it sucks. I would suggest hibernating for another week and a half then it looks like a much wintrier pattern may take shape.

Nope. They've had a number of record snowfalls in far Southern climes in recent years. I don't think anyone as far north as Milwaukee or Chicago or Detroit needs to worry about the snowfall average

Good point. Absolutely you can be dissatisfied with Chicago's climate, or any climate for that matter. But if you decide to fudge numbers or exaggerate, be prepared to be corrected lol. I mean Chicago had almost 2 feet of snow on the ground 2 years ago in February. Does that not count as a "good month"? I know Detroit has shaved a few inches off of the December norm as well but weve added several inches to January and February norms so there is a net gain for season average. 1991-2020: 44.6" 1981-2010: 43.0" 1971-2000: 43.0" 1961-1990: 40.8" 1951-1980: 38.1" 1941-1970: 32.4" 1931-1960: 32.4" 1921-1950: 35.7" 1911-1940: 39.2" 1901-1930: 43.3" 1891-1920: 43.5" 1881-1910: 45.1"

For the "it doesn't seem like that much snow" crowd, the measurable snow season in the lower Great Lakes is typically November through April. Occasionally October and May make appearances. Everything that accumulates adds to the season total. This is why I always think it's way early to talk season futility before the halfway point of Winter. It gets brought up every year there's a below average start to the snow season and thus far has never panned out. There's a difference between a slow start/bad pattern and all time futility.

Meaning much colder of a pattern than we are now. Temperatures a little colder than normal during the dead of Winter looks good to me. I don't need -30 windchills like we had a Christmas. Just give me cold and snow.

Looking like a turn towards much colder weather in late January is still on track.

Typical media bs What ill bet that hes doing is taking the current mean temperature and applying it to the final January mean temperature

After the expected mild looks of week 1 and 2, week 3-6 of the weeklies look good for bringing winter back.

I would actually say a warning was warranted for the conditions. I was driving in them and it was quite brutal. Most roads had snow rutted much deeper than that, lots of places were 6 to 8" or more because of blowing from in nearby fields and what not Besides think of all the advisories DTW issues for what should be warnings. At the end of the day it's just the public's warning mechanism and nothing more. Also we really have not had much Winter rain in recent years so I can't really complain from that aspect, but I never ever want winter rain to begin with lol.

I agree. I love snow as much more than anyone. And needless to say this Winter outside of Christmas week has been frustrating so far. Just saying I'm not happy with the current weather pattern is an understatement. Some ranting is definitely acceptable, but I just don't get the delusional concept of what is normal.

40 years ago, this December would be a departure of +0.3°. 80 years ago, this December would be a departure of -1.0°. At no point in Chicago's climate record would this December be +2-3°.

I am not a fan of grading winter until it's done. And this is especially early. But id go D. I mean what more can be said that hasn't been lamented over and over about the bad. The good times however were the November 19 arctic front dropping a quick almost 2" snow with below zero wind chills. Then of course Christmas week. Blizzard conditions Dec 23 with -30 wind chills despite only 2.4" of snow there were some impressive drifts. Then waking up to a surprise 2" blanket Christmas morning. So arguable Christmas day was the most winter wonderland day of the season, snow depth of 4-5" with good drifts.

I see your point too. And I said if any winter is ripe for complaining it's this one. But those aren't "my numbers". Those are the official Chicago numbers. Every place goes thru site changes so it is what it is. So the official Chicago numbers show January today is the same or colder than the first half of the 20th century. Our winters OVERALL have been pretty average since 2015. There have been ups and downs. And CERTAINLY frustrating periods. But Chicago was almost -30° in 2019 and had nearly 2 feet of snow on the ground in 2021. Those are clearly wintrier than is typical.