michsnowfreak

2 hours ago, Chicago WX said:

November 2018 temperature and snowfall rankings for cities that were in their respective top 20's all-time.

Alpena, MI: 5th coldest

Chicago, IL: 13th (T) coldest - 4th snowiest

Cincinnati, OH: 9th coldest

Cleveland, OH: 16th coldest

Columbia, MO: 4th coldest - 15th snowiest

Dayton, OH: 11th (T) coldest

Des Moines, IA: 10th (T) coldest

Dubuque, IA: 8th coldest

Evansville, IN: 7th coldest

Flint, MI: 5th (T) coldest - 7th snowiest

Grand Rapids, MI: 10th coldest - 15th snowiest

Indianapolis, IN: 15th coldest

Kansas City, MO: coldest on record - 2nd snowiest

Madison, WI: 19th coldest

Marquette, MI: 3rd coldest - 12th snowiest

Moline, IL: 12th coldest - snowiest on record 

Paducah, KY: 7th coldest

Peoria, IL: 8th coldest - 2nd snowiest

Rochester, MN: 11th coldest

Rockford, IL: 7th (T) coldest - snowiest on record*

St Cloud, MN: 17th coldest

St Louis, MO: 4th (T) coldest - 8th (T) snowiest

Sault Ste Marie, MI: 16th (T) coldest - 13th snowiest

South Bend, IN: 6th coldest

Springfield, IL: 5th coldest - snowiest on record

Springfield, MO: 6th (T) coldest

Toledo, OH: 14th (T) coldest

Wausau, WI: 8th coldest

*via LOT's website - 18.5" in 1895 not listed

Detroit just missed making the top 20 coldest. I think they finished at 21st or 22nd. They did make the 18th snowiest however.

Assuming it's cloudy tomorrow in no more snow falls, DTW will finish November with 6.7" of snow, good enough for 18th snowiest November. Final sky cover of 9.3 out of 10. there were 0 clear days, 3 partly cloudy days, and 27 cloudy days lol.  I'll finish with 6.1" of snow imby and never had to shovel (I did shovel some slush once, just to play with the shovel because Im so ready).  Snow fell on 14 days but no more than 1.5" on any given day. Time for my nature to give a little more at a time in December.  Today 0.2"  snow was like white sawdust.

9 hours ago, beavis1729 said:

Not sure what everyone is so excited about...but the next 2 weeks look like crap.  Rain and warm this weekend, then chilly but not a lot of precip, then a potential warm-up around Day 10-12.  Not saying all of this is gospel...but it looks pretty bad based on current modeling and teleconnections.

People's expectations are so low for Winter, it drives me crazy.  It is not good to have a rain event this weekend.  Doesn't matter if the pattern is "active"; rain is not acceptable this time of year.  All of the beauty of last weekend's snowfall will be wiped away.

And I understand my climo...that is not the issue.  As I have said repeatedly, a climo winter here would receive a grade of D- at best.  As an example: if ORD received zero flakes of snow this December, it would still be around normal snowfall for the season-to-date.  It doesn't mean we should be happy about the early snowfall this season; it just means our climo is horrible.

It's laughable that our normal high is around 40 at the beginning of December.  That is not winter.

And on and on and on. Blah blah blah.

Someone should create a "winter index", based on the following metric:  Average # of days per year with a high temp of 32F or lower AND at least 2" of snow cover.  In my mind, that constitutes a wintry day.  At ORD, the "Winter index" is probably about 25 (?).  And that could be optimistic.  Either way, it means that fewer than 1/3 of the days in Winter (DJF) are actually wintry.  That says it all...

I don't intend to argue or bicker with anyone on this...it's a complaint thread, and I'm venting.  

 I notice you bring this up every year.  And I am right there with you in terms of what I like. I don't care so much how big an individual storm is, I like solid Winter. Cold, Gray, snow on the ground-that is what I like. Kind of odd to be complaining when you're one of the few that has gotten a good snowstorm this year. We've gotten plenty of days with snow here but nothing like the storm you saw. It has been wintry type weather most of November.  It's November 29th, and Detroit has seen snow fall at some point on 15 days already this season. 15 days before December.  I feel almost guilty for complaining that we have not had a good storm and then I see this haha. I know this is the complaint thread and im not giving you a hard time or anything, just saying. The 1st official day of Winter is December 21st.  Chicago will never be Siberia but I'm sure plenty more fun lies ahead.

8 hours ago, cyclone77 said:

I say bring the pain!  Let's make this a memorable season lol.  Not that it isn't already.  

I will gladly take the pain. The Detroit area has seen anywhere from 3 to 12" of snow this November but shoveling has not once been necessary.  It has been a parade of small wet snowfalls. In fact of my 5.9" of snow, only once (November 15th, 1.5") has shoveling even been possible. While it is certainly nice to see it only puts me all the more in the Winter mood and missing the 1st big storm of the season was the capper. Im in fierce Need-Winter mode now!

1 hour ago, Stebo said:

A grand total of .5" at DTW

I was not expecting much out of this one at all. Definitely getting anxious to use my new snow shovel however. Nickel and diming like a pro this year this was DTW's 8th day with measurable snow already totaling 6.5"

The driving rain turned into a driving wet snow and I guess there was a nice heavy burst at home. Picked up 0.7" of slush, much of which has already melted but since I did not expect anything I can't complain. This is already our 8th day with measurable snow this November now just to get a big one. It's hard to be impatient in what has been a wintry November but I am definitely ready for full fledged Winter.  And seeing the snow scenes to my West makes me want it even more. I'm sure people in Minnesota and Wisconsin must be pulling their hair out with as cold as it's been and the lack of snow so far over there. 

3 hours ago, cyclone77 said:

Final total here is 12.8".  Think there's a chance there may have been a bit more, as there's gotta be some compaction taking place with that much snow.  I'd say about 8-9" of that fell in the 4hr period between 5 and 9pm.  I'll post the whole storm time lapse sometime tomorrow.  I'm hoping I caught a few of the lightning flashes this eve.

Happy for you, you deserve it! And very jealous too. Is this your biggest snowstorm since 2011? I know you went quite a few years without any meaningful snowstorms now isn't this your 2nd one in 2018?

5 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Looks like a Nina type pattern for a period of time.  Somebody tell mother nature.

 If we can just keep the active pattern going there will be plenty of fun times as we head into actual Winter

5 hours ago, Powerball said:

Yep. The main thing I remember was the intense snowfall rates and huge flake size once the dry slottibg finally passed. Picked up 3" in 1.5 hours.

 

 I remember that as well and then the gorgeous scenery the next day. Probably one of the most picturesque snowfalls I've ever seen.

On 11/21/2018 at 9:06 PM, Stebo said:

I remember how sharp the cut off was on the east side, rain by the lake but 5 miles inland 5" of snow. This time wouldn't be the same if something like this evolved from this system.

 We ended up with 5" here and 6" at DTW. Rain was not an issue but there was a dry slot.

On 10/27/2018 at 12:51 PM, Hoosier said:

Gotta post the CFS.  You know me...

Looks like we won't have the cold north and west/warm south and east gradient like October, unless this is completely wrong.

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Yesterday mornings snowfall was once again scenic, dropping 0.9" imby and 1.0" at DTW. We have had no snows of significance but the number of snowfalls is very unusual for so early. DTW has nickeled and dimed to 6.0" and mby to 5.2". Measurable snow has fallen on 7 days thru Nov 20. The only time on record more fell was 8 days by this time in 1950. One other year, 1880, also had 7 days (but 1 of them was October). So the perception that this many snowfalls this early was unusual...is correct. By sunset yesterday, snow remained in shady spots and was gone in sunny spots (yes, we had just our 3rd non-cloudy day of November yesterday).

Waking up to another picturesque light November snowfall. We've had nothing of significance but I cannot remember a November with more measurable snowfalls.

13 hours ago, (((Will))) said:

I realized something today...if I ever moved away from the UP (and I wouldn't)...even to a place like where I used to live, Fort Kent, Maine...I don't think I'd ever enjoy winter as much. There's just something about the nonstop snow. If I was back in Maine I would feel like I was in a constant drought or high pressure. It's almost unnerving how constant the snow is up here.

 

 

 

You have to live in the Great Lakes to truly understand it. It snows all of the time. Even down here it just seems to snow so often, even when it's not amounting to much there are flakes flying around. The Lake belts can see daily accumulations for weeks at a time. They certainly get much bigger storms in the northeast but periods of winter downtime are much much much more rare in the Great Lakes.

7 hours ago, weatherbo said:

Definitely!  And I'm still eating Halloween candy!

Still snowing hard at times, and should into the evening.  Way over achieved with this event.  Forecast was for up to 5", I'll likely be double that before it ends. 

Quick depth measurement in the yard

I'm starting to think more and more that my snow trip this year will be negaunee area with another trip to the huron mountains. I loved it there when I went a few years ago and that was in a sub par Winter. With this Winter seemingly being more severe, I really look forward to going back!

This mornings snowfall was so scenic, and now its melting fast. Picked up 1.5", at 4.3" on the season

15 hours ago, donsutherland1 said:

Thanks Josh. So far, Detroit is off to a pretty good start. It has also had among its 15 wettest years on record. If it remains wet, there will be an opportunity for more snowfall than what I am suggesting.

Sounds great! Trends this decade, even this century, say unless there's high confidence in a stinker, snowy is the way to go. Detroits off to a good start with a parade of nickel and dime snowfalls since November 9th, but much more in the northwest suburbs than the southeast burbs where i live. Absolutely no complaints in mid November though. Its snowing again today.

Models have trended North with the band of snow so we may be in for some snow in the morning, add a few more nickels to the pot!

1 hour ago, RogueWaves said:

 

It's very accurate here. That "7" that is right over mby compared to 7.4" I have measured so far. Fwiw, all of these snow total maps tend to miss the tenth here, or tenth there that lands on my deck so I make allowances for that. Still damned impressive technology at our finger tips in this era.

Definitely good technology. Its really 1-2" off in eastern Wayne county but at the same time to be technical the graph cuts off a sliver tracing the entire outline of MI. When you live right on the edge as i do i guess you notice it more. Also the dtx snow map was bad for the event the other day. Downtown Detroit had 2" but melting commenced by afternoon so another report came in during evening of 0.6" lol.  Like I said above it'll be very interesting to see the map as the Winter season progresses because one thing that's for certain is that the sub is getting measurable snow way earlier than normal this year, Winter has not even begun!

9 minutes ago, weatherbo said:

Probably not 100% accurate but pretty close I think for most areas.  

It probably is pretty accurate overall. Like i said will be interesting to see what transpires once we really get into winter.

6 hours ago, weatherbo said:

Several inches of snow fell overnight with a transient but heavy band of snow with a Lake Nipigon connection.  Puts my seasonal total at 3 feet now.

cool hi-res season total snow maps

 

 

Neat map although its a bit low in this area. I notice models have trouble with early season snow right on the water & for whatever reason that snow total map is also low along the water in eastern MI. Now we have been lower totals right along the water, not as low as the map shows. I'm at 2.8" so far here but that map indicates 1.5 to 2. DTW is 3.6" but the map indicates 2 to 2.5. It will be interesting to see the accuracy level as the Winter progresses.

22 minutes ago, Powerball said:

Now be nice! 

Snowless in Carrollton *IS* from Georgia (Carrollton is about a 20 minute drive from here). For a person that's used to the Sun Belt, it is unusual.

 It's been a very gray November as usual, probably even a tad cloudier than normal.

Good writeup Don! I will take colder than normal with 50-60" of snow at Detroit. It certainly would not be the snowiest Winter of recent years with so many good ones, however it's still solidly above the 43" average and when you throw in extra cold it could be a very white Winter, which is what I like.

2 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Almost hard to believe we had this 5 years ago with how this November has been.

With several light snowfalls the past week and constant cold, my mindset has shifted into mid Winter mode, and it's kind of unrealistic because that graph shows you how early in the season it really is. We were having a severe outbreak in mid November of 2013. Little did we know at the time that we were on the way to a historic, once in a lifetime Winter that was completely relentless. It was not just how severe Winter was with the cold, snow, and snow depth, but it set in early and never left. Even then it had not locked in in mid November

You guys speak of this November overcast as if it is unusual . Jokes aside my brother lived in Chicago for 4 years and moved back this summer and he did note how much cloudier it is here in late Fall and Winter.  Its something I'm used to and I'll be honest with you, I actually enjoy it because its another sign of the impending Winter. The Great Lakes has very cloudy Winters, especially November and December, but it has never once bothered me, especially since we have very sunny summers. Through the 1st 16 days of November the average sky cover at Detroit has been 9.1 out of 10.  According to the sky cover scale of clear, partly cloudy, and cloudy, November so far has had 0 clear days, 2 partly cloudy days, and 14 cloudy days.