michsnowfreak

What a week it has been. One week ago today temperatures of -15ﾟ with wind chills of -40ﾟ, then our beautiful snowpack literally vanished before my eyes as temperature surged into the 50s Sunday and Monday, we then awoke to an ice storm yesterday morning and now after a damp raw day today temperatures decided to spike from the upper 30s to the mid 50s in a few hours for a brief spike, now they're on the way down the roller coaster into the teens. I would take "boring" sustained Winter anyday over this.

The Southern and northern Midwest are 2 different climates. I wouldn't say tornadoes are common in the Southern midwest in February, but they do happen. The weather of the past week has been ridiculous. One week ago here it was -15ﾟ with wind chills -40, we then saw a complete decimation of the snowpack monday with temperatures into the mid 50s followed by an ice storm yesterday, and now a freak few hour rise in temperatures today from the upper 30s to mid 50s now plummeting into the teens. Boring it's not, but give me sustained Winter any day over this.

Very slippery, icy morning here. The ice hung on the trees until late in the day. Now just wet and damp out. My area was almost all freezing rain, whereas to the north there was a crunchy coating of sleet. The ice accretion was similar to the Apr 15, 2018 ice storm. We rarely seem to get ice storms anymore, so unusual to get 2 in less than 1 year.

Looks icy out but haven't ventured out yet.

Its the most frustrating since 11-12, but will end up better than that. The next 2 months will dictate if it is the worst since then. Seeing as though theres only been one below avg snow season since then, its looking likely.

Perfect response and I could not have said it better myself. I have heard countless times how short our summers are here from out of towner's. I do not think so, but that is other people's point of view. Everything is relative.

Remember that ice accretion and qpf arent the same. Still tomorrow morning should be interesting. After not having an ice storm in years (light glazes notwithstanding) we had one April 15th and then possibly tonight.

I thought Nino decembers were notorious for low snow. Id have to look though.

Yup. This is just not a snowpack winter. And to think i was worried the east coast would get all the fun lol. I was expecting some historic east coast winter and hoped we would get fringed enough for a cold dry snowpack...instead they are snowless and the western midwest is the place to be. No doubt more snowfalls are in our future...but a sustained winter it aint. Further crazy that the last week of January (already the coldest week of the year on average) was the 2nd coldest on record and now its muddy out!

The extended look of the se ridge out east and the cold to the west, with the eastern lakes on the eastern fringe of the cold anamolies, would perhaps imply fun times for winter storms in the Lakes and OV?

The torch offs are maddening and i hate them. But also...it seems like we were due for crap after so many great winters this century.

And the summer thing...90% of the time does not feel like summer. Unless anything over 70° is summer. I am the biggest winter weenie around i will say...its COMPLETELY unrealistic to consider a "bad strectch" in winter to be 10" of snow and mild temps in the 20s in 2 weeks. Likewise calling 2013-14 "decent" is an abomination lol. Also....as someone who goes up north annually I will say....its IMPERATIVE for beavis to choose the RIGHT location. There are many areas of the north that are cold but do not get great snow. I can count several times on my trips north when we have had more snow depth in the tropical southern Great Lakes- in Feb- then they have in the great white north outside of favored lake areas.

I would be the same, but all ours melted. How much do you have left?

Beavis is nothing if not consistent. It could be -30° or 2 feet of snow and he would throw in a preface "but in our horrible climate". I always say this and its worth repeating...i love snow more than anyone and I am FURIOUS it all melted so quick. Its further nauseating hearing the general public say how great this weather is. But we see more winter in the southern Great Lakes than probably 80% of the US population. This is a sucky winter for most, and even the north that beavis always laments about it was a brown December. In fact the Chicago area has been one of the best spots to be this winter. ORD had beaten DTW in snowfall ONCE in the previous 8 winters (and the one time was by 3") and this year they are nearly a foot ahead. This winter is frustrating for most of us but its old to hear its because of a horrible climate. Try living in 80% of the rest of the country and youd be begging for your chicago climate. I remembet beavis called 2013-14 a "decent" winter lol.

Thats often the case. Regardless thats a lot of snow loss. I assume anyone who started the thaw under 9 or 10" has grass now.

Wow sounds like you made out better than most. Its crazy how much snow was lost in some areas. I saw DVN went from 12 to 1". How much did you have pre melt? We went from 5" to 0 (just piles).

I am absolutely disgusted with the weather today. All of the snow melted except for piles. It got way warmer than expected. The difference between the wind chill Thursday and the high today was almost 100°.

I'm one of those people who prefer -15. I mean that's a little cold, but these 50s are disgusting. I spent so much time outdoors the last few weeks lol I'm hibernating today. Considering our last frost is probably more than THREE MONTHS away, i do not understand why people enjoy these fleeting and brief mild days so early.

I would take last Winter in a heartbeat after this rollercoaster we've been on this year. I mean last winter had a roller coaster to some extent, but solid Winter by far dominated. This entire Winter has been unpredictable until almost short range time. And what a wild one. From a November where it was cold and snowed seemingly every day, to pure hell from December through mid January with only a few dustings of snow, to deep Winter for the 2nd half of January including a record shattering cold blast which occurred during the coldest part of Winter, now a huge thaw. What is next?

The last week of January is considered the climatological dead of Winter. This year, the last week of January was the 2nd coldest on record for Detroit. The last 2 weeks of January was the 11th coldest on record. 147 years of record. Just wild to have that kind of cold in a met Winter dominated by mild.

The dustbowl was crazy. But I disagree....unless you put asterisks in todays numbers due to UHI. I cant count the time DTW missed a record low by a few degrees due to their UHI that was not there when they were a radiating magnet in the 1960s and 1970s.

Went out sledding and built a snowman with a cousin and her kids yesterday. Now the disgusting snowmelt is ongoing rapidly in the moist, damp airmass. What a rollercoaster it has been.

Did some nice winter walking today. I always like to be outdoors as much as possible during periods of deep winter, and unfortunately a nasty thaw is coming up. So as usual, I soaked in the crunchy snow and deep winter air.

Jealous but you definitely deserve it out there. This is certainly your Winter. We've had lots of good snow packs in recent years, this year is not one of them however it has certainly been a deep Winter the last week. Snow has been on the ground since January 17 although not too deep. My peak snow depths the last 10 winters: 2018-19: 6" so far 2017-18: 15" 2016-17: 10" 2015-16: 6" 2014-15: 19" 2013-14: 21" 2012-13: 8" 2011-12: 5" 2010-11: 16" 2009-10: 12"

DTW was below zero for 37 consecutive hours. Back on Jan 6-7, 2014, I think it was just over 40 hours. To happen twice in 5 years is amazing. As an FYI, in the 146 winters since 1873-74, there were 39 winters where Detroit never fell below zero. The warmest min temp for a winter was 11F in 1997-98, the only winter there was no single digit temp recorded.