michsnowfreak

Wait...I like to talk about heat records? Actually, I like to talk about all weather records and cold/snow far, FAR outnumber heat when it comes to what i talk about. I know my local climate history like the back of my hand. My interest is local weather history and occasionally looking up other areas for certain things, events, etc. My thing is not spending hours, days, and weeks scouring through anything on xmacis or NCDC to find some rural middle of nowhere site I can plug into my latest post. BTW....its funny that you take coop data from 1903 at face value but have an entire laundry list of what is wrong with tons of official data (if you dont like the outcome). There are two upper peninsula stations that had official weather data in 1903. On July 1, 1903 Sault Ste Marie had a high/low of 76/60 while Houghton (closer to Baraga) had a high/low of 70/52. Downstate Detroit had a high/low of 90/70 with Lansing seeing 90/63 and Grand Rapids 84/67. Highs from north to south in MI on July 1, 1903 Houghton- 70/52 Baraga- 66/20 Sault Ste Marie- 76/60 Lansing- 90/63 Grand Rapids- 84/67 Detroit- 90/70 Yup, that 20F is completely believable

Yeah and so you clearly missed the entire point of what was ORIGINALLY said. Im sure I can find cities with many below normal months since 2023. You cannot say anything on here without Bluewave and you going on a completely OT soapbox.

Im well aware of the mean temps in the warm stretch the last decade. I was wondering why you picked 27°, but i noticed in the 1948-1958 stretch the coldest winter was 26.9° lol. I look at every winter in great detail, and the past 10 years is no exception. We've had some cold months and arctic blasts, but not enough solid 3-month cold to get a big DJF temp departure (2024-25, 2021-22, & 2017-18 were slightly colder than avg). Fortunately, snowfall hasn't been anywhere NEAR a 10 year low. Much like snowfall in winter being the most important metric for me, max temps are the most important of summer. So regardless of what the summer mean temp ends up, Im more concerned with how many hot days we have vs mild muggy nights. We pretty much made it past mid June without any hot muggy weather, so I consider that a win. Todays the first real muggy day. Still doesn't mean im excited about the coming heatwave. Regarding magnitude of anomalies, summer departures will never come CLOSE to a winter departure in either extreme, so its no comparison. We had a temp departure of -14.5° in Feb 2015. Meanwhile, July 2011 (hottest on record) was +5.2°.

You missed my point. Even if a warm background state is in place it does not guarantee big heat at any individual location. I mean, good for it being 26th warmest winter for the CONUS. It wasn't anywhere near that warm here. And this summer I frankly dont care how many heat records melt away in the southwest, I just worry how much heat makes it up here.

The background state as a whole doesn't mean much for individual locations though. It's all about weather patterns. In 2023 they were getting plenty of heat to my south and west while Detroit didn't eclipse 90° all year, something not seen since 1915. This year so far saw a colder than avg Jan, a colder than avg Feb, a much warmer than avg Mar, a warmer than avg Apr, and a colder than avg May. June has been colder than avg so far but big heat lurks. Doesn't look to be long lasting though.

Im not looking forward to the heat but its been a very pleasant June so far. Plenty of cloudy days, quite a few early Fall-like temperature days, and the few warm days have come with low humidity. Ive had my windows open far more than my air on, so no complaints. You knew the heat was coming, so the longer we can delay it the shorter the unbearable part of the year will be.

They were only warmer early. They cooled down quick with plenty of ice cover by mid-winter. The overall ice cover was right around average, but Lake Erie was 100% frozen for a time.

Very pleasant June for approximately the first 3 weeks, but Sunday-Tuesday is going to suck. Its time, but its still going to suck lol.

We dont have a summer banter thread. But I thought this looked neat. 4 seasons look into my backyard (didn't have a good spring pic other than late spring).

This is the deadliest heatwave on record in the U.S. Detroit saw temps over 100° for 7 straight days (peaking at 104 on day 1 and 7). The city allowed people to sleep in parks since their homes/apartments were baking. The MI state record was set in Mio with a temp of 112°.

You can see the smoke in the air in the pic i took at last night's Tigers/Cubs game.

Models overdoing heat the last few years has been a JOKE. in 2023 there were like 6-7 times the gfs had Detroit at like 106-108°. And im not talking day 16, im talking day 7-10. For reference, the hottest temp on record is 105° (1934). The end result is that 2023 was the first year since 1915 where Detroit didn't eclipse 90°.

I recall that username, messenger. Sorry to hear he passed. 2004-05 was an excellent winter here. One of the rare times when we both got slammed from the same storm (Jan 22-23). The most annoying thing about that winter was a handful of bad measurements at DTW; they ended up with 64" and I had 80". There's always the occasional storm you question, but that was the last winter I really was unhappy with DTW measurements (I know with nyc that's every year ). There were a few events that had razor cutoff so I did get more than them anyway, but id estimate they were really in the low 70s.

I do understand that. But again I think that the hostile pattern is way overlooked by some. It may cause some to eat words when a pattern is favorable for SNE and provides some juicy noreasters

I know you guys concentrate on big storms, but I actually have noticed that sometimes a wetter climate does lead to MORE snow in northern climates than it wouldve seemingly produced in the past during a similarly hostile pattern/base state.

Picked up 1.68" rain Wed night into yesterday. The gray, hazy overcast skies only let us get into the mid-60s and you could SMELL campfire smoke in the air. Also had a bit of rain this morning, still hazy.

Super cool! Ill raise you one... I usually am only out of town for 4 days or so during winter when I take a trip north. If it snows during one of those days, depending on the circumstances I have a couple different people on standby. If its a general snowfall with low wind, I use one person to come to my house and use my snow board, but if its one of those squally lake events, I have a more skilled person nearby and use their measurement. I also look at my ring camera to see if i approve.

Its extremely rare that I agree w/ TCC on anything, but I do on this one. Jan 1999 was an incredible stretch locally. PLUS...this came after multiple anemic winters. We didnt see a double digit snow depth from Feb 1994 thru Dec 1998, then bam, 2 feet on the ground in January 1999. Plus, the 1990s were my school years, so really 1999 was snow Id never seen before. Deeper snow was far more common in the 1970s-mid 1980s and 2000s-2010s than it was from the late 1980s to late 1990s, ie: my childhood. It remains the 3rd snowiest January on record (27.3"), behind only 1978 (29.6") & 2014 (39.1"). This is a pic of my mom shoveling snow Jan 13, 1999

I would take 2015-16 anyday over 1982-83 here. It was much snowier, tho still obviously a warm winter.

It was a blowtorch winter for sure. Especially Dec & Feb. Jan was seasonable temps but with record snow the first half here. The infamous blizzard of '99 on Jan 2nd was followed by storm after storm. Definitely made it memorable, but certainly doesnt hold a candle to great winters of the '00s-'10s.

Thats awesome. Ive ran across some others who keep personal records. So cool to have us snow weenies that do that. If I am out of town and its going to snow, I have a standby observer for me too lol.

I can gladly say I dont remember 1982-83, as my mom was pregnant with me haha. But I will say for as much as I dog on 1995-96, at face value 1982-83 was absolutely a much shittier winter. It could have easily been the least snowy winter of all-time (just 9" thru 3/19) but heavy spring snow let us finish at a still terrible 20". But the fact that most of winter was bare after a 64F Christmas is just disgusting. But the winter of 1995-96 was a cold winter with a parade of storms all around us, whereas 1982-83 seemed more like a mild winter with 1 great storm in the east. 1995-96 was the definition of screw zone, but SE MI really hasnt had a screwzone winter since, so I guess its better to let it all out at once (by screwzone I mean how we performed compared to nearby areas).

By the way, 1993-94 was definitely a solid winter here. I was quite young (10) so I remember only bits and pieces. It had a 10" snowstorm in Jan and 2-storms of 6" in Feb, plus the coldest day of the 20th century at Detroit (Jan 19th, high -4F, low -20F). It was certainly one of the best winters of the 1990s, but between my young age and the fact that there were just too many good 2000s/2010s winters, that even if i let it leapfrog 1998-99 as best winter of the '90s and allow for not remembering it all, it could still be no higher than #10 on my alltime list (and possibly lower), whereas I know its one of the favorites on the east coast.

I frequently talk on fb to a former poster from here who lives on Long Island and I definitely see how different the weather is and is to predict. It's crazy for me to talk to a fellow snow lover who had seen several 30" snowstorms in his lifetime yet in recent years gets excited if grass tips are covered. That's such a wild climate. Believe me we get plenty of model mayhem here, but the sheer magnitude of some of the storms that models see hitting the coast that never materialize, or the ones that can sneak up on you is crazy. And i imagine the mixing scenario must be maddening, once models lock in mega qpf but disagree on a mix line. We still get clippers but seems like not as many as we used to. A clipper is actually usually a fun thing to track because some will surprise you with great dynamics and a boost when it crosses the lakes (but just as many others peter out to crap). I love cutters, swfe, and bowling balls...then the unpredictability of lake squalls in the storms wake. So as long as we get the goods im never one to piss and moan when you guys get hammered.

Good point. But I was determined to make that list until I ran into a 1990s winter lol (anyone from here will tell you how superior 2000s/2010s winters were to 1990s). I could also arguably put 2020-21 ahead of 1998-99, but the paralyzing snow of Jan 1999, coming after a snowless Fall and anemic 90s winters was a sight to see. Then we had another snow blitz in Mar 1999.