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Winter '13/'14 Banter/Complaint Thread Part 2


Powerball

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Someone mentioned a while back that they didn't think the winter really had a defining moment in their area.  I sort of agree as there's nothing that leaps off the page for me but if I had to pick I'd go with the January 5 storm and post-storm recovery.  Didn't crack a foot but it might as well have been a 2 foot blizzard with the mess that was caused by the bitter cold right after.  That was some serious stuff and to see a large stretch of I-65 closed for the better part of 3 days was impressive. 

 

It was and is still my belief that the January 5 storm ranks up there with the other historical big disruptive winter storms for the state of Indiana. Granted it was no Jan 1978, not saying that...but the combo of fairly widespread 10"+ amounts (basically from Indy on north to the state line), gusty winds/and resulting drifting, and the extreme cold that followed isn't something that happens on a regular basis.  

 

Grading the winter here is gonna sound harsh, but it is what it is...

 

Total snow:  A+...  50"+ is pretty damn good for around here.  Especially considering the dozens of events it took to get there.

 

Significant storms:  F-...  It's bad enough to go a 3rd winter in a row without a heavy 6"+ event, but to watch time and time again areas nearby get slammed made for a miserable season.  Especially when so many times this area was modeled to get slammed a few days out.

 

Snow cover:  A+...Solid 1"+ of snow cover from Dec 8th deep into March.  Much of that time the snow cover was 8"+.

 

Cold:  A... Had over 30 days below zero.

 

Overall:  F...Sorry, as good as this winter was, I cannot give it anything other than a failing grade as it failed to deliver a single heavy event for the 3rd season in a row.  That may sound harsh, but that's an asinine stat right there.

 

:yikes:

 

You really need a 6"+ storm. :lol:

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As for my grade, it's a slam dunk A+. 

 

74.3" of snow, top 10 coldest winter, solid snow cover, etc etc. I could nitpick a few things, sure...but I don't know if an absolutely perfect winter is possible. Alas, if this one was the closest to perfection I ever see in the LAF...well, it was an awesome one to experience. :) 

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Solid A+ here....the benchmark for all future winters to come. And I will have to be very careful in grading future winters, because unless the very very unlikely scenario of matching this winter ever occurs, I wont be able to give out a solid A+ to anything else.

 

Snowfall- A++. 93.1" so far imby....91.7" at DTW. This is over 2.25 winters worth of snow in one, based on longterm averages here.

 

Cold- A+. On 79 days we failed to crack 32F (only 2 winters had more days), and 17 days DTW fell to 0F or below (only 3 winters had more).

 

Snowcover- A+. The record for days with 1"+ snowcover was broken at DTW with 94 days. Also....from Dec 8 - Mar 28 a T or more of snow was on the ground every day (110 consecutive days).

 

Snow Depth- A+++ = Unprecedented. The long duration of deep snow this winter smashed all records. The record number of days with XX inches of snow on the ground was broken for EVERY SINGLE inch-threshold through 17-inch depth. The entire month of Feb had double digit depth, another first.

 

Snowstorm/Snowfall Frequency- A+. Six storms dropped 6"+ this winter, including 4 which were 8"+ and 2 which were 10"+. To have 6"+ in a 24-hour period 6 times in a winter had never been done before I believe (5 had a few times).

 

Biggest Snowstorm- B+. The biggest storm was 11.6" which spanned nearly 48 hours from late Dec 31 to early Jan 2nd. Snow fell continuously, and in fact if you include the snow that fell early Dec 31st, the Dec 31-Jan 2 total was 13.2" in snow that fell near continuous for 60 hours with but a 4-hour break. The storm of Jan 5/6 was of higher impact, and of the 10.3" of snow 5" fell in less than 5 hours, complete with a ice-locked snowbound gridlock as temps plunged well below zero immediately following the storms depature. 17" of powder was on the ground at this time, freeways were a sheet of ice, so indeed many people were "snowbound" but it does have to be said that no single storm did manage to exceed 12".

 

Once again...final grade regardless of April: A+

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Wow. Tough crowd. Solid A+ here.

 

  • 14.8" on Jan 5
  • multiple 6" events
  • more than doubled our average seasonal snowfall
  • a couple LE events got down this far
  • almost solid snow cover
  • well below normal temps.

Couldn't ask for anything else.

Everyone has their own thing. But when you put aside your personal preferences, whether snowcover is your thing, or snowstorms, or cold (be that a plus or minus to your personal grade, as some here actually look at that as knocking points OFF the grade)...when you just look at the raw numbers of everything here combined in comparison to 140 years of other raw numbers at this location...its absolutely mind numbing how unprecedented this winter was.

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As for my grade, it's a slam dunk A+. 

 

74.3" of snow, top 10 coldest winter, solid snow cover, etc etc. I could nitpick a few things, sure...but I don't know if an absolutely perfect winter is possible. Alas, if this one was the closest to perfection I ever see in the LAF...well, it was an awesome one to experience. :)

 

I suppose that I should drop my grade to an A because I couldn't catch and pass KTIM. ;):snowing:

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A, if we end up getting the last 2" then it will be A+

Was hoping fore a big bang to finish off the season and crush the all time record snowfall once and for good. This way we can go on with how much snow we got when we were younger..... and drive the next generations crazy !!!

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I suppose that I should drop my grade to an A because I couldn't catch and pass KTIM. ;):snowing:

 

Well by that criteria, we should both drop our grades because a couple of Frankfort observers beat us both (75.1" at Frankfort 4.9 ENE and 80.3" at Frankfort Disposal Plant). ;):D

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Was hoping fore a big bang to finish off the season and crush the all time record snowfall once and for good. This way we can go on with how much snow we got when we were younger..... and drive the next generations crazy !!!

Meh you have earned the right to bug the generations ahead ;) Record or not, this is already a snowier winter than anyone alive here has seen and can remember...unless you know anyone who is 145 years old or so :lmao:

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A solid A+ winter.

 

Jan 5th with 17.5" and then a few other 6+ events of which one was a LES event that brought blizzard conditions with some of the heaviest snow i have ever seen.

The cold was very impressive which helped with the consecutive days with 1+ record which got broke. Streak was December 8th till March 26th.. Snow depth record for March broken with 22" on the ground on March 2nd.. Had 18+ on the ground in Jan, Feb and the first two weeks of March which i don't believe has ever been done here.. 12+ on the ground from Jan 5th till March 13th..

Seasonal snowfall record almost broke again which is amazing when you consider it was broken in 08-09.. Only need 3.9" to nab it officially.

 

To sum up in terms of cold, snow storms, snow cover it does not get much better then this. Then when you consider how it was not localized sorta like 08-09 was it was a winter for the ages. For here this winter has set the bar.

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It was and is still my belief that the January 5 storm ranks up there with the other historical big disruptive winter storms for the state of Indiana. Granted it was no Jan 1978, not saying that...but the combo of fairly widespread 10"+ amounts (basically from Indy on north to the state line), gusty winds/and resulting drifting, and the extreme cold that followed isn't something that happens on a regular basis.  

 

 

 

No doubt.  The extreme cold in particular with how quickly it came in...there was no time to clean up. 

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A+ winter in every nook and cranny of Michigan and I have seen it all this winter too.

 

I have to disagree. Down state for sure, A+. Up around our place in northern lower MI, more like a B/B- I would say. If you live in northern lower but out of the main snow belts snowfall is at or below average for many areas including our place at Higgins Lake. If your really into cold and ice fishing I could see you giving it a A up there because of the great early ice on the lakes. Snow cover was really good this season but nothing crazy deep except near the "main" snow belt areas really. The biggest problem I had with this winter was the cold. We spend all our holidays and pretty much every weekend up there and this winter season there were a ton of days where it was just to darn cold to be outside. These are just my thoughts and I'm sure others will not agree but to each there own. Heck, I'm not even done snowmobiling yet so my final grade might change some.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Figured I'd squeeze one last complaint in now that the season is ending...

 

To fit in with the rest of the season today's event tip-toed through this area only to hit areas further east much harder.  Areas that cashed in all winter once again came out with a much better event than this area.  Just unreal how this has continued to happen time and time again. 

 

Hopefully next winter we can spread the wealth back over to the western sections of our sub in regards to the quality systems. 

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  • 1 month later...

Was just looking back on my winter log sheet for this past winter.  The heaviest single snowfall event for the whole winter was a paltry 4.5" on March 1st.  Hands down the lamest winter since I've been alive for snowstorms. 

 

You are one of the few regular posters here who have legit beef about this past winter. It had to hurt when whiners were complaining about getting "only" 7" while their neighbors were in double digits. Meanwhile, you were getting stiffed.

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  • 4 weeks later...

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
229 PM MDT TUE JUN 17 2014

 

TIMING AND SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATION OF ONE
TO TWO FEET ABOVE 6500 FEET THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING. BE
PREPARED FOR HEAVY...WET SNOW AND COLD TEMPERATURES ALONG THE
ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT...INCLUDING GLACIER NATIONAL PARK.

 

Napoleon Dynamites voice:

 

Lucky!

 

035D68D5_05CBA9B5_cam1.jpg

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  • 4 months later...

I tend to lean to the weenie side with snow and i took the under in the first winter snowfall over/under of '14-'15 ... Maybe my inner-weenie just isn't ready yet for winter

Im ready for winter now...but its just hit me within the last week. Never in my life was a new winter on the doorstep when it seemed like the last winter JUST ended.

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Im ready for winter now...but its just hit me within the last week. Never in my life was a new winter on the doorstep when it seemed like the last winter JUST ended.

 

lol....quite true...

 

and in all honesty, I think my switch just flipped....

 

seeing my little ones running around all excited this morning def percolated something inside!

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