michsnowfreak

It's not a new normal. Its a weather pattern. A snowblower is a worthwhile investment if you have a big driveway.

It sucks big time for those areas. But this is absolutely the risk a cold/dry/suppressed pattern produces. It has happened many times in the past. FWIW I have no doubt that areas of MN that have bare ground and dont even rise above zero next week will get a 10" wet snowstorm in mid-April.

Its unfortunate for your area snowcover wise. Youd be satisfied in MI. Im actually thinking DTW may get a top 20 coldest Jan.

From the NE forum. Not sure how it translates west of MI.

Exactly. We actually can easily get better snowstorms when it's a "warm" winter pattern. But doesn't have that deep winter feel.

Picked up 0.6" here today. Now at 5.9" in Jan and 11.4" season. DTW got 0.8" with 11.1" on the season. Today's snow widely varied from a light dusting to 2" in SE MI. Keeping the snowcover fresh. I won't complain one bit as it looks like winter, feels like winter, and we won't be getting any big storms til this pattern changes so im enjoying the nickels.

Flurries and falling temps today. 3 inch snowcover in place. Zzz but Definitely winter. I wonder if Great Lakes ice cover peaks above avg this year?

That's literally nothing more than his opinion. There's absolutely no way to know if Chicago will or won't get a snowstorm in the next 2-3 months.

Nice band of snow moving through. Ended up with 0.6" today. Temps rose to 34 this evening ahead of the temp drop.

Nice. Had a dusting of 0.1 this morning then a few peaks of sun. The white blanket makes of world of difference though.

I might consider it an overachiever for me personally since my area had the higher totals, but I'd say overall it was a perfectly forecast snowfall for SE MI.

Ended up with 3.9" of powder here. DTW had 3.7" with 4.0" in Grosse Pointe. Winter wonderland outside. The forecast of 2-4" was perfect in SE MI. The 3-4" amounts fell from DTW east and north to Detroit city, thanks to the early band of parachutes, then the rest of the event was sugar. Most of the rest of the area saw 2-3".

Heavy banding started the event. Definitely think 4" is doable. Already looks like this at 5pm. Toledo should still get 2 or so. Long way to go.

Winter wonderland outside with a fast start. Already over an inch.

Very quickly have gone to big fluffy flakes. Great start, didnt even plan on snow til 4pm. Forecast of 2-4" looks solid, and if these ratios hold should end up on the higher end.

Light snow has begun.

Patterns do persist for periods of time, but changing patterns, trough positions, etc are not mumbo jumbo. It's meteorology. The pattern absolutely will undergo multiple changes before springtime. Whether it's favorable or unfavorable to any one area remains to be seen.

Since Feb 2018, Atlanta has had a total of 0.6" of snow. To say they were due is an understatement.

I knew it was bad almost everywhere in the north, but didnt realize it was that bad in spots. As a casual browser from another region, I dont really know where everyone is so I always go by the first order stations for snow totals lol. Someone posted in the Lakes forum that theres an area of southern IA that has not had measurable snow yet this season, and we have a poster who lives on the Lake Superior shore near Duluth, MN and has bare ground. Im at 6.3" on the season but most of it has been small lake amounts, so Im doing cartwheels at our 2-4" forecast of some actual synoptic snow. Hopefully you get an inch or so out of the system even as it shears moving east. Pattern clearly looks better going forward for northern locales. I know people think it sounds like a broken record, but it really does.

I dont think Atl actually got 5" based on obs. Though they do have white ground. Im definitely not trying to rub salt in the wound, but is your sig up to date with only 2" on the season?

Honestly, 2-4" of synoptic snow with very cold temps and very frozen ground is not a bad call at all. Not sure about IWX, but GRR issues an advisory anytime a lake squall is possible, and it often looks silly. Then they will stick with an advisory when an actual storm rolls through with 4-7" lol.

Winter weather advisory for 2-4". Finally some synoptic powder!

That would be an interesting and very doable hybrid lol

The torch was certainly impressive. But it was essentially a 10 day warm spell in a 6 month stretch where below normal temperatures dominated, including some cold records. Easily the most recent extended cold period we've had.

I have mostly great memories of Feb 2018 here. The first half of the month was deep, deep winter with only the last week seeing a torch/bare ground. The warmth that gets talked about in Feb 2018 was much more extreme to the south (not at all uncommon in a Nina). Wonder if something similar happens this Feb?