MIstorm97

DAB call in danger with these trends edit: I’ll be forced to work Christmas Day at the city if these snowy runs happen so lol

Nvm couldn’t even muster a DAB Very tempting. Too bad Friday is Christmas Day

Never went to the Plains this year for chasing, as there was basically nothing to chase. Saw 8 tornadoes this year, all in Iowa and Illinois. I saw about 25ish waterspouts along the Great Lakes during a record-breaking waterspout season. This includes a waterspout with a rain and snow falling. Severe season locally was relatively dead this year...again. A moderate risk on June 10th failed to produce much. The most impressive storm was a single cell storm that had a downburst with winds of 60-70mph. I spent a week cleaning storm damage with the City of Royal Oak in their DPS parks and forestry department (my job). I covered a ton of lakeshore flooding events this year. January 11th in Chicago, March 6th in NW IN and SW MI, April 13th in SW MI, April 26th in N OH, November 1st in W MI, and November 15th also in W MI. The November 15th event was pretty intense with some of the most consistent big waves lashing the Grand Haven lighthouse that I’ve seen. The March 6th event was particularly intense in New Buffalo and did substantial damage to the beach park. There were a couple 6”+ snowstorms imby in the early part of the year (January 18th and February 25th-26th). An intense LES band from Lake Michigan dropped a few inches of snow quickly here on February 8th. Winter lingered right into May with accumulating snow early on Mother’s Day. So far in the winter of 2020-21, it’s been a zzzzfest with a 42hr 3.7” event being the biggest “storm”. Josh mentioned here the unusually long-lasting and vibrant fall colors. Boy were they great this year. Best I’ve seen in years. I spent every weekend in October going somewhere to take pictures of the fall colors. By far the biggest and most impactful event I saw was the Sanford and Edenville Dam failures. I originally went to Saginaw Bay on the 18th for lakeshore flooding, but a couple FFW for dams caught my attention and I went to the Secord Dam and saw unusually high discharge rates. I figured I needed to head back up this way the next day since major flooding was predicted on the Tittabawassee. I came back on the 19th to find significant flooding ongoing in Midland already. I then traveled to Sanford where Sanford Park was completely underwater. Some homes and businesses were taking on water at that point. I then moved to Edenville and Wixom Lake where numerous homes were under a few feet of water. It was at this time when disaster struck and the Edenville Dam collapsed. There were multiple people observing the record flooding near me when everyone’s wireless emergency alert went off alerting about the failure of the Edenville Dam. I raced south to Sanford to capture some of the ensuing chaos and evacuation, before evacuating to Freeland. The next day, the 20th, I started in downtown Midland where record flooding was ongoing. I saw some wildlife sadly swept down the river. The flooding in Midland was very impressive. I was in constant contact with TWC getting video out this entire time, as well as all the other major news networks through LSM. After getting everything I needed in Midland, I went to Sanford. The town had been effectively destroyed. When the Edenville Dam broke, it sent a torrent downstream that was too much for the Sanford Dam to hold. The Sanford Dam overtopped and then fully failed, with most of the earthen dam collapsing. A lot of homes in Sanford were completely wiped away off their foundations. Downtown Sanford was destroyed as well, with a few buildings leveled and the rest gutted by the flood. It was the worst flooding disaster since the great 1986 flood in Michigan, and honestly I’d put the May 2020 flood at the number 1 spot for worst Michigan floods. The Tittabawassee flood gauge in Midland broke the all-time record crest from 1986 by over a foot. It is a combination of luck and great evacuation procedures from EM and first responders that there were no fatalities or serious injuries. There’s other events locally that I’m sure I’m missing, but it was a relatively boring year. The lightning locally was better than last year I guess. Hopefully 2021 delivers more excitement, but with less destruction from dam failures. Forgive me for the long post with 15 pics haha, ended up being longer than I’d thought it’d be.

DAB looks to be a good first call

Looks like a solid DAB-0.5” tomorrow. Still gonna be a top 10 event

Added an additional 0.3” for a total of 1.9” yesterday. The final event total ended up being 3.7” here. Truly grinded out every last flake over 42 hours. Here’s some more video from yesterday

Well the snow started picking up mid afternoon, and then we got into a solid moderate snow band that has dropped an inch in two hours. I’m at 1.6” for the day so far. Nice surprise

Picked up 1.9” so far with a band of light snow lingering over. Probably should eek out just over 2”. Took some video yesterday when things picked back up in the evening. Itching to get an amped up snowstorm now after watching what’s gone on along the E coast and inland

Tbf I'm in that tiny 1.0-2.0 spot in SE Oakland County where it really has been underwhelming compared to close by areas...but yes SW MI has been poverty this winter.

Solid 1.7" as of ~7:15, so probably approaching 2" now. 2.3" call looking money

We only got 1.1” (lol) from that so this probably is going to top that. A real winner of a winter so far being in the donut hole of two events before this

Steady snow with decent flake sizes. Gonna be the top dog so far this winter

When it’s 37 and we’re struggling to accumulate like the past two events, you’ll be the first to know

Final call 2.3” here. Chucking it deep

Ready 2 b buried same. Literally need more than 1.1” for it to be the biggest snow imby

Tomorrow’s event gonna be a top 3 event of the season here

Ended up with around 5" at my family's cottage/2nd house WSW of Baldwin, MI. Conditions were more intense up by Cadillac where 8-9" had fallen. I took some video between Baldwin and Cadillac on Saturday. Was nice to spend the weekend up north in the snow while downstate was watching the rain again.

Hope it's a big dog in Detroit and there's nothing in IC

Got down to 23F so far this morning at DTW, which is the coldest low of the season so far this season. Taking down trees is about to be fun

...for most of December

It looks like that chart is NAO values, which makes sense as there hasn’t been a true -NAO winter in years. 2013-14 and 2014-15 were top 20 coldest winters, while 2011-12, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2019-20 were in the top 10 warmest winters.

So excited for a week+ straight of cool, dry, and mostly cloudy skies. Mega zzzzz

This guy gets it

I'd take Dec 2017 in a heartbeat. Had almost 26" that month. I'm mentally prepared for another sh*tty December.

Finished with 1.1” here. Farmington got 1.2” so I know my low amount isn’t off. Need a storm that has good rates and actual cold air to work with