michsnowfreak

Snow two Mothers Days in a row? That's interesting weather!

I don't remember the specifics but after snowflakes fluttered around in the cold may 8th and 9th last year, it actually warmed up on the 10th ahead of the rain. Snow was not even forecast then all of a sudden wet bulbing/evap cooling did its thing and it started pouring snow & instantly accumulating. Granted it was 11:00 p.m., but it was 11:00 p.m. on May 10th

It would be hilarious if someone sees snowflakes on Mothers Day because that would be 2 Mothers Days in a row it has snowed in this region. Talk about unheard of lol. Last Mothers day I had my mom over for dinner. it was cold and rainy. When the parents left I started washing dishes and the noise of rain had stopped. I looked outside and saw this.

I'm only 7 miles from DTW.

Increasing cloudiness in the Winter time keeping Winter mins up also really helps that less freezing. That's another interesting trend locally, Winter mins are increasing yet the number of below 0 days is staying pretty constant and in fact is greater than it was during the milder winters of the early to mid 20th century...and the number of mins below 10 below is actually slightly going up. That is why weather is so fascinating, there are so many aspects beyond the means. ot, how far you from Buffalo airport? As a climate buff who loves looking at old data locally it would probably drive me crazy to look at old data for Buffalo but not really know what was happening in my present day backyard at the time since les can be isolated. You have posted pictures were getting 1 or 2' of snow in Buffalo reports like 5" lol.

What I think is cool is that as someone who actually follows the weather in weather patterns and trends I can actually see the difference in certain things. Not talking about some kneejerk reaction to an unusual spring warm spell or some freak October or may snowstorm. talking about overall. And pretty much the trends in local climate are something I notice. I literally argued some bullshit article saying the winters were warming faster than summers in the Great Lakes and I said it was the complete opposite. The most notable trend here is that summer temperatures are rising and mins are increasing 2 to 3 times as much as the maxes in summer. This is why heatwaves of the dustbowl remain untouched but avg temps made the 10s the hottest summers on record. The cooling off of April and November and the heating up of May-Sept basically give the illusion that both winter and summer are "longer" and fall/spring are shrinking into near oblivion. There are very few cool summer nights anymore from late June to late Aug. The mugginess is increasing. Winter is making a habit of popping in unusually early and late but choosing a hiatus at some point during prime time. That Mother Nature is blowing her snowy load in February is getting to the point of as sure as lions not winning the superbowl. I could.go on. But one of my favorite things about GW/CC in a northern climate? There's more juice in the atmosphere. We are getting bigger snowstorms which leads to some great packs at times. Its worth a little extra summer humidity

Thank you lol and see above. I have no problem with global warming, I don't get involved in those discussions much because it seems to be a battle of the far right & the far left which leads to exaggerations on both ends. I guess correcting misinformation when I see it means I don't believe in climate change.

oops sorry i thought you meant 2.0 annual.

When did I say anything about fake news? correcting misinformation and exaggerations does not mean I don't believe in CC. And Detroit does NOT have a microclimate going on lol. Look up most cities in the Midwest and their all time warmest of each month is scattered around from the 1880s to 2010s.

There are lots of variables that go into everything. I can pretty much guarantee you that Pittsburgh's airport has a lot more concrete now than it did in 1948. Things like moving temperature sensors, UHI, etc. I am not sure where you are getting that Harrisburg went up 2°? Have a link? While Harrisburg did go up more than cities in our sub it looks like 0.6° per xmacis, not 2°.

The 90s were the same annual avg temp as the 00s overall. So it will really matter more what the 2020s do.

Yes while 2018 was a more extreme example I've been noticing that overall.

Detroits warmest: Jan- 1932 Feb- 1882 Mar- 2012 Apr- 1955 May- 1991 Jun- 1933 Jul- 2011 Aug- 1995 Sept- 1881 Oct- 1963 Nov- 1931 Dec- 2015

90s had warm winters and summers but cool falls and springs locally. Very similar to the 50s. The trends locally are that November is cooling off then December warms up....Jan/Feb are staying the same temp wise but the snow is increasing...Apr is cooling down...then the heat is on May-Sept. The local jokes about how we don't have spring and fall anymore are actually given a tiny bit of credence with these trends. Though as always the general public exaggerates everything. Winters are not only snowier than they've ever been, but there have been I believe 4 or 5 decades with Warmer winters than the 2010s. Clearly summers increasing temps are the most notable and that is widely due to low temps. Heatwaves/90 degree days pale in comparison to the behemoths of the 1930s-50s. My guess is summers are getting more humid, thus temps not falling as much.

Where were obs taken before the airport? At Pittsburgh since records began in 1875, all months alltime warmest reading was pre-1934 except Mar (2012) & Apr (2017). Harrisburg Sept/Dec temps were about 3.5° warmer in the 10s than the 80s.

Pretty much. Summarizing the changes to Detroit normals: Annual temp went up 0.2°, annual precip went up 0.85", and annual snowfall went up 2.5". Feb, Apr, Nov got colder, the other 9 months got warmer. May-Sept got the most warmer and especially with min temps.

DTX has updated https://www.weather.gov/dtx/NewClimateNormals

I did as well...hope there's another link!

For the 2nd year in a row April saw more snow than March in Detroit. In fact going back to the Winter of 2014-15, mother nature has been confused at the beginning and end of the season. 2014: Nov- 4.0", Dec- 0.1" 2015: Nov- 6.2", Dec- 1.3" 2018: Nov- 6.7", Dec- 0.5" 2019: Nov- 9.5", Dec- 2.7" 2020: Mar- 1.7", Apr- 4.9" 2021: Mar- Tra, Apr- 3.6"

We had snow observed 5 days in a row (May 8-12), a feat never before seen at Detroit. This includes measurable snow on May 10th (0.7" imby, 0.5" DTW). I figured we'd used up our May snow quota for years...but ya never know haha

By a mile the most exciting storm of spring was the Apr 20/21 snowstorm. There were 3 events in April that had around half inch of liquid (including the snowstorm) and there were a few rumbles of thunder in 2 days but nothing really resembling a soaking or true thunderstorm with any wind.

May starts with a freeze. 32 at DTW but the cold spots of Ann Arbor and White Lake were 24.

last year there was a very potent cold snap around this same time.

DTW hit 83. Feels like a summer night. What a week lol.

Had to edit this thread a little bit since I save these picture summaries...winter was not done after all. APRIL 2021 - 4.5" (continue) 4-20-21 Snow began just after noon and fell all day, melting at first then transforming the landscape into a Winter wonderland by late afternoon and evening. 4-21-21 following a storm that dropped 4.4" of snow imby & 3.5" at DTW, the scenes on the cold April morning were gorgeous.