michsnowfreak

I remember this after the April 6, 2009 snowstorm. The piles did not have a chance to get dirty lol so they were white among emerald green grass and very warm temperatures. I also remember the last snowfall of the historic 2013-14 season (Apr 14/15) was the opposite effect. We finally got a warm day, temperature soared into the 70s then plummeted with snow by evening. It was the 1st day I could recall a high over 70ﾟ with measurable snowfall.

I honestly had begun to think that outside of the famed lake belts northern Michigan winters were overdramatized because of how relatively insignificant the snowpack was. This year, I see what's possible lol. As a side note, I do think it's funny when people in the North mock downstate winters. It's common sense that winters are harsher the further North you go, but sometimes the difference is greatly exaggerated other than of course the snowbelt. I especially loved when I was up North during a snowstorm in Feb how none of the locals went out (other than snowmobilers) for a couple inches of snow lol

Despite the horrific December, I would say this was an epic snow depth Winter in parts of the upper peninsula. In 12 years of traveling North during the dead of Winter, I have never seen snow anything close to that deep from Mackinac to Newberry, and even the locals in Newberry said they cannot recall a Winter like that. I mean everything is relative to climo, but all those years that we were having fantastic winters downstate, much of northern Michigan was having very subpar winters by their standards. Not this year. I can name you 3 winters since 2008 that I went up North in February and left deeper snow in Detroit than what was on the ground in mackinaw (of course I was not staying in mackinaw, just the principle lol). This year Mackinac looked like they were near Lake Superior lol.

The Winter of 1960-61 was an absolute train wreck for snow in Detroit. The April 16/17th storm was the biggest of the entire season!

The national weather service is moving more towards paid snow observers for official climate sites. Many times they do the best they can with where they have to measure. That said, I don't ever foresee a time when we go to automated snowfall measurements or where there is not human error in snowfall.

Snowed lightly overnight, assuming this will be the last of the season based on the extended. Just a trace though. If we can squeeze out another day of flakes somewhere itll be the 80th day of the season.

Snow depth is always rounded up or down to the nearest inch. So 3.6 on the ground would be called 4.

I lament about this every year, so I can assure you it will never die. It's ridiculous, but it will never die. As a matter of fact, as soon as the word February is thrown around people start talking about Sun angle, it's an absolute joke. Heavy snow rates would stick to pavement in July if it happened, will it happen, of course not, but I'm just using that as an example. Sun angle means nothing with heavy rates. Also, we had that cold blast in early March when those were in the single digits and highs were in the low 20s. We had an inch of powder on the ground that did not budge under full sunshine during that cold snap. Everything Sun angle is so overrated. Will fresh snow melt better on a sunny 32ﾟ day in late February than it does on a sunny 32° day in late December? Of course. Will very light snow falling on an early March day with temperatures in the low 30s not accumulate whereas that same scenario in December might have produced 0.1-0.2" of snow over the course of 4 or 5 hours? Absolutely. That is what Sun angle basically does. Everything else is overrated. Sun angle rant over haha.

On March 31st while battling a nasty stomach virus I forced myself to go to the park for a bit to enjoy the snow, assuming it would be a farewell to scenic snow for the season. I would have done the same thing you did today if it was a 30 minute drive lol

Hoosier, was Chicago's last 1" snow in Feb a record if it holds?

Snowed here from 10pm to 2am but didnt stick. Had another snow burst this morning. North of Detroit a narrow band of 1-2" accumulated. This makes 77 days since Oct 20 that it had snowed. Nobody does nuisance snow or mood flakes like the Great Lakes lol. Ironically, more days saw flakes this season (77 days, 31.9") than last season (73 days, 62.5").

As an avid picture taker, Ive done this every year, so heres my annual picture recap of the winter just past. It had its moments but definitely not a memorable winter here nor are their impressive winter pics that there are some years. An unusual amount of ice and a record arctic blast certainly stood out, but snowfall, something southeast MI seemingly could do no wrong with in recent years, was nearly a foot below avg. In fact, almost twice as much snow fell last winter. Despite lots of mood flakes as always (75 days had a trace or more of snow), I finished at just 31.9" (barring no late season snow). This was my 24th winter measuring snow and only 4 had less snow (1995-96, 1997-98, 1999-00, 2011-12). This means that in the past 19 winters, only 1 (2011-12) had less snowfall than 2018-19. Still, snowfall is running well above avg the past 15 years or so. November 2018 - 6.1". Lots of small snowfalls in Nov...it seemed to snow every day. I could not recall a November with snow falling so often. 11-9-18 - The First blanket of Snow 11-13-18 - Another snowfall 11-15-18 - Another snowfall, 1.5" 11-18-18 - yet another scenic November snowfall 11-20-18 - Aaaaand yet another scenic snowfall December 2018 - 0.3" What a trainwreck of a Dec. Quite a few days saw mood flurries, but hardly any snow. Nothing worth a picture. Still, its the most wonderful time of the year! January 2019 - 14.5" A snowy, wintry second half of January proved to be the most exciting time of the winter, complete with several snowstorms and a record arctic blast 1-19-19 - There were some dustings earlier in Jan, but nothing picture worthy until Winters largest snowstorm dropped 6.1", lots of glittering and drifting 1-21-19 - temps plunged to -7F for the blood moon eclipse, but that was childs play compared to what loomed later the next week 1-21-19 mid winter scene 1-23-19 the first of several ice storms 1-27-19 waking up to around 4" of snow when less than 1" was forecast = a good Sunday 1-28-19 Snowstorm ahead of the arctic blast 1-29-19 A well hydrated tree 1-30-19 steam simmers on the Detroit River as temps plunge to -14F with wind chills of -40F February 2019 - 7.2" several ice storms and several snowfalls (tho no large snowstorms) were the story of a roller coaster February 2-1-19 bitterly cold sunset but a huge thaw looms 2-2-19 huge park snowman 2-6-19 another ice storm 2-13-19 I was up north playing in deep snow while the worst ice storm in years paralyzed far southeast MI for a day on the 12th. Some of the pics I saw were incredible but I can not take credit for any of them. Some of the ice melted after nearly 12 hours of thawing, but when I came home the next day, I was surprised to see there was still ice everywhere (it had fallen off the trees). There was fresh wind whipped snow from a day of howling winds and sideways snow. 2-14-19 still lingering ice 2-18-19 a few inches of fresh fluffy snow 2-27-19 a cold snap and a few inches of powder close out Feb March 2019 - 3.8" A cold but pretty benign month 3-3-19 over an inch of unexpected snow on untreated roads meant slick and icy driving 3-7-19 snowflakes and sunshine during a March cold snap 3-8-19 late winter sunrise 3-30-19 A driving wet snow plastered everything in its path 3-31-19 March ended with frozen landscape April 2019 - T just some light snow overnight Apr.10-11 that didnt stick 4-1-19 April did dawn with snow on the ground, leftover from 3/30, however it melted by midday

What a difference in weekends. Last weekend it was a frozen winter wonderland....yesterday i cracked a window for for the first time in 6 months.

2 things you can usually count on for spring snowstorms, is that the model snow maps will overdo things and the local mets will under do things. So whoever's in the path of the storm once it's imminent, take the median ground between what the local mets are forecasting and what the snow maps are showing, and that's probably what's going to happen. Last Saturday was a great example of that here. Pouring rain turning to wet snow before ending had local mets acknowledging the rain would likely turn to snow but there would be little if any accumulation before the cold came in. The model snow maps showed around 3" of snow since they were forecasting at least 0.3" of qpf falling as snow. Well, that's exactly what happened, at least 0.3" of liquid fell as snow, but the accumulation translated to 1.5".

Lol too funny. Though Chicago and Toledo do average a very similar annual snowfall total.

We started April with a nice wintry sunrise at 22F. The icicles glistened as the sun rose, but the leftover March 30th snow melted by the afternoon.

Got 1.5" of wet snow last night which was frozen crunch this morning with temps in the low 20s and wind chills in the single digits. A tiny bit has melted but still a solid covering at 330pm, impressive that we have yet to hit freezing. A typical MI day where forecast sunny skies turned into solid clouds and flurries and light snow showers. Despite a sloppy inch of rain before the changeover, the scenery did not disappoint.

Beautiful snowy night here. One last(?) Winter wonderland for the season.

My model watching absolutely tanks outside of the snow season.

I am aware that I am in the minority and I do not care one bit.

It's almost comical, like clockwork I got a horrible headache on March 21st and had another one this morning. To say that I hate Spring would be a gross understatement. We have 4 seasons, Winter, allergy, summer, and fall. I'll take another Winter in April like last year. In fact I will take that every year. Everything dormant then in the 1st week of May everything exploded. The more gradual the Spring green up is, the worse allergies are.

That is EXACTLY what happened here in early to mid March 2015 and mid to late March 2014. Historically deep late season snowpacks were in place but slow melts without rain prevented any major flooding issues. I remember I could not believe how lucky we were because we did it not once but 2 winters in a row without a drop of rain or a high dew torch. Although snowmelt in Spring of 2014 did uncover some ornamental tree damage and excessive wildlife loss due to the unprecedented severity of the Winter.

First of all this winter is NOT a climo Winter. If the total does not increase this will be the 4th least amount of snow I have measured in 24 years of measuring snow. But secondly, you are from the south where there is no winter and have only been in Indiana (which is still the south to me) 2 years, so you dont understand the Great Lakes climate. Having mood flakes falling all the time when there's nothing else going on in the weather is a huge PLUS to the climate imo, not a minus. When the rest of the subforum is stuck in a cold dry pattern with no action, you can always count on flakes flying in Michigan. Each Winter averages between 60 and 80 days were snow falls between October and April here. Anywhere from 20 to 40 of those days only being a trace, it does not take 73 days of snow to accumulate 30" lol. (Last winter had 62.5" and 71 days of snow). The point of my post is that the normal frequent mood flakes were there, but the normal number of snowstorms were not. I can't be mad that the Western sub got the goods for a change, because in recent years it's usually been us. But this Winter, while it had some good times, will NOT be residing in my memory bank of fun winters. Hopefully we get back to our snowy streak next season.

Snow & Graupel showers all day yesterday. Its amazing how many days snow falls in a Great Lakes climate, even in a subpar winter as this. At only 30.4" we definitely sat on the sidelines this winter, and in fact this is my 24th winter measuring snow and only 3 have had less than this in those 24 years (not that its over for sure)....but yesterday was the 73rd day since October 20ths first flakes that snow has fallen this season. Still some dirty parking lot piles but they are on the way out.

Had a whiteout snow squall this morning. Came out of nowhere. Dropped 0.3" in minutes. There was another snow squall warning but the warned squall was less impressive than the unwarned one lol. Now im headed north for one more trip to see their unusually deep snowpack!