michsnowfreak

Upper 40 temps and dews and a compact area of heavy rain moved through this morning, absolutely nuked the snow down to just piles and drifts.

A world of difference on this side of Lake Michigan compared to the 60s that hit Chicago on West. Nevertheless, you could feel the warmth in the sun (after a low of 18, high 43 today). Still some drifty snow remains, but allergy season (some call it "spring") is encroaching.

Just a warm Winter and some extra bad luck for Evansville and Paducah. These winters going to happen from time to time. Seeing as though they only average 8 to 10" for met Winter, I'm surprised this has not happened more often to be honest with you.

Interesting. So it seems around 1970 is when they went from the weather bureau to the nws.

Awesome pictures! You are indeed correct, while February did not place either in the warmest or snowiest top 20 list, it was definitely a milder and snowier than average February. Despite the overall mildness, 12 days had measurable snowfall and 15 days had 1"+ snowcover. Also 4° on Valentine's day finally eclipsed the record 7° on Nov 13th for coldest temp of the season. After the 13th coldest November on record, Detroit saw the 9th warmest DJF on record. Season snowfall as we begin March is at 36.6", a few inches above average to date, however it doesnt look too wintry coming up. This seems like the type of season that could definitely sneak in a good late season snowstorm, but who knows. Regardless, snowfall has been ok in what has been a frustrating Winter overall.

Saw a nice sunset starting while driving yesterday

If that's the case, then shame for overmeasuring if done intentionally). It's actually been a pretty easy Winter for measuring because there's not been too much wind with the storms, with the exception of Wednesday's storm having lots of wind. For what it's worth I can tell you that my storm total of 5.7" had 0.55" of liquid equivalent, and the snow depth was about 5-5.5 at the end of the storm. Current depth about 4.5. I notice in open areas all bets are off, drifts of one plus feet and spots with grass tips peeking out.

Yesterday with winds gusting to 30-40 mph, blowing and drifting snow all day, and wind chills in the single digits, it was a legit deep winter day. We have not had much wind this winter, and this was the first real drifty snow we have had. I typically do prefer more even snow anyway, but it was nice to see the winter wind howling.

While I dont doubt some people over measure, some seem to lowball too. Measuring every 6 hours will account for a bit of compaction. Today was a lot of blowing and drifting too. Im not in Macomb county, but I've heard several people report they had 6-7". Just food for thought.

Not sure if this has ever been posted, but check out this amazing link. Really shows you that haves and have nots of every Winter since 1950. Also shows you how crappy winters were in the 1950s, how great they were the 2nd half of the 1970s, and how unprecedented 2014 and 15 were. You can slow it down using the speed button on YouTube.

This was a disappointingly and somewhat unexpected mild Winter. However, your exaggerations aside (ie "no" cold air, Christmas "summer", etc), none of these nuances are newly invented this year. They come with crappy winters. Unfortunately every Winter cannot be great, that is just how things have always worked. Whether you like to admit it or not, this region has been quite lucky the past 20 years. I am just hoping for a much colder Winter next year.

Though I know you were referencing lack of snow in Indiana, I have to lament on two things. We lost our snowcover several days ago...as seen by the satellite in se mi. I think this was the first time this season there was such an annoying close cutoff here. Also...unusual to not see the thick overcast shrouding the Lakes.

Anywhere between 4-7" of snow fell while i was up in munising. Just awesome scenes

Oh wow. I remember when Madison was the snow magnet in 2006-2008. Weve eclipsed 13" several times since 2011, though not this year (peak 9").

Enjoying TON of snow in Munising, on the Lake Superior shoreline. But this is actually quite a mild Winter up here for them as well, as I always say it's all relative lol.

Picked up 0.1" of snow last night. 30.6" on the season here, 30.8" at DTW. Headed north to the UP today! There will be snow on the ground the entire way for the trip up (trip home wed will prob be just piles from flint south). Accumulating snow expected up there Monday night

Sunny, cold and dry the last few days. Love the crisp, dry, frigid winter air thats been all too rare this winter.

4F at DTW, coldest of the season, finally erasing the mark of 7F from Nov 13

While today's snow was far down on the list of exciting snows this season, taking a walk in fresh snow never gets old.

After the November 11 storm way overperformed and the Jan 18 storm met expectations, i laughingly thought this would be the season when Winter storms got better within short range. Since then its the frequency of snow has picked up but every event (except LES) has ended up much less than it first looked.

Sun was out most of the day today and the high hit 40ﾟ, once again taking the snow cover down to a trace in the afternoon. Still lots of piles and quite a few patches, but more areas now bare than not. It won't last long as snow returnstmrw evening, but this just has not been the season for uninterrupted snowcover. Today was our 30th day with 1"+ on the ground at 7am, avg for the entire season around 50 days. Tomorrow night and Thursday, barring some massive bust, season snowfall will eclipse the 30" mark as well. Saw this snowman today lol, he did not like the sun.

Wow I did not even realize that. I do remember the one day where we hae a midnight high and afternoon temps in the teens but still. That should end friday. Just 2 winters ago we set a record for the longest streak of consecutive days without hitting 20ﾟ. Even winters that are warmer than this have managed a day or two with a colder max. The record for warmest minimum high temp for a season is 20, set in 1952-53, 1997-98, 2005-06.

I want to look up the stats for Detroit as well, are you counting 0ﾟ or counting -1ﾟ and colder

With the moderating Great Lakes, Detroit has more winters than Chicago where temperatures do not fall below 0. Obviously more often than not they do fall below 0, but I have to check how many winters do not (but I know it's more than 10%). Very few subzero readings in the 1950s, easily the decade with the least. What is interesting to me is that the lowest temperature so far this season was 7ﾟon November 13th. I don't think there has ever been a season where the coldest temperature was in November (granted that was not only a record low but record earliest date for a single digit low). On another note since the last few days were the 1st fluff fest of this season, I am reminded how quickly fluffy snow compacts/settles/melts compared to wetter snow. Nothing more gorgeous than the sparkles a fluffy snow, but it's so annoying to see how a temperature of 32ﾟ can zap it down so quick.

We picked up 0.9" of fluff over night, and I mean airy fluff, a very low water content. We missed the heavier stuff to the North. Once it stops snowing that stuff settles very quickly, I suppose that's what you call a stat padder, though it does keep the snow cover nice and white lol