Winter 2025-26 Medium/Long Range Discussion

[A-L-E-K]

as an all-season weather head, I just want wild weather to return

[DocATL]

We are so back.

For a day anyway!


.

[Stebo]

1 hour ago, A-L-E-K said:

as an all-season weather head, I just want wild weather to return

A quiet feb leading into an active march?

[michsnowfreak]

20 minutes ago, Stebo said:

A quiet feb leading into an active march?

Id bet on it. Whether its more snow, more thunderstorms/rain, or a mix, Id bet on it. Happens so often that a quiet month leads to a more active.

Until this week, its actually been a very "active" winter here in SE MI, just no major storms. Two moderate ones and a ton of small ones. 

[nvck]

3 hours ago, Stebo said:

A quiet feb leading into an active march?

<next month> will be rockin!

[Stebo]

1 hour ago, nvck said:

<next month> will be rockin!

It will be!

[frostfern]

6 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

Id bet on it. Whether its more snow, more thunderstorms/rain, or a mix, Id bet on it. Happens so often that a quiet month leads to a more active.

Until this week, its actually been a very "active" winter here in SE MI, just no major storms. Two moderate ones and a ton of small ones. 

It’s been a good year for lake enhanced clippers.  Just not any big 24 hour totals outside the prime like effect zones.

[DocATL]

Virginia is for snow lovers.

[roardog]

2 hours ago, frostfern said:

It’s been a good year for lake enhanced clippers.  Just not any big 24 hour totals outside the prime like effect zones.

Isn’t this winter the type of winter everyone was wondering why we didn’t get anymore? The clipper winter. 

[cyclone77]

1 hour ago, roardog said:

Isn’t this winter the type of winter everyone was wondering why we didn’t get anymore? The clipper winter. 

Problem though was that they stayed over the same areas all winter.  Nice to finally see clippers again, but maybe next time we can spread them out a little more lol.

[Harry Perry]

2 hours ago, cyclone77 said:

Problem though was that they stayed over the same areas all winter.  Nice to finally see clippers again, but maybe next time we can spread them out a little more lol.

Outside of a couple decent hitters early on, the majority of them were mood flakes to a dusting. It wasn’t all that active in Michigan despite all the talk about it, especially outside of the lake belts. 

[Chicago Storm]

What does @Chicago Storm think?

the next window of opportunity is nearing for the sub-forum. we enter this window beginning mid-next week.

some places are going to do really well in this pattern. who will it be? msp, grb, mke, ord, dtw?

[RemoteSenses]

I’m ready to be let down again.

[A-L-E-K]

3 hours ago, Chicago Storm said:

the next window of opportunity is nearing for the sub-forum. we enter this window beginning mid-next week.

some places are going to do really well in this pattern. who will it be? msp, grb, mke, ord, dtw?

Grb duh

[WestMichigan]

7 hours ago, Harry Perry said:

Outside of a couple decent hitters early on, the majority of them were mood flakes to a dusting. It wasn’t all that active in Michigan despite all the talk about it, especially outside of the lake belts. 

What is your total in the Battle Creek area so far?  I am west of Grand Rapids and we are around 80" so far.

[A-L-E-K]

100 or bust^

[Chicago916]

[michsnowfreak]

11 hours ago, Harry Perry said:

Outside of a couple decent hitters early on, the majority of them were mood flakes to a dusting. It wasn’t all that active in Michigan despite all the talk about it, especially outside of the lake belts. 

It was quite active here, just no major storms. Seemed like i was shoveling constantly at times. Here is the daily snowfall and snow depth at Detroit since Nov 29

2025-11-29	2.9	0
2025-11-30	0.7	3
2025-12-01	0.2	3
2025-12-02	0.8	4
2025-12-03	0.9	3
2025-12-04	T	4
2025-12-05	0.0	3
2025-12-06	0.0	3
2025-12-07	1.5	2
2025-12-08	0.0	4
2025-12-09	1.6	4
2025-12-10	1.4	6
2025-12-11	T	4
2025-12-12	T	4
2025-12-13	T	4
2025-12-14	T	4
2025-12-15	0.3	4
2025-12-16	0.0	4
2025-12-17	0.0	4
2025-12-18	0.0	2
2025-12-19	0.3	T
2025-12-20	0.0	T
2025-12-21	T	0
2025-12-22	T	0
2025-12-23	0.0	0
2025-12-24	0.0	0
2025-12-25	0.0	0
2025-12-26	0.0	0
2025-12-27	T	0
2025-12-28	0.0	0
2025-12-29	1.5	0
2025-12-30	0.2	1
2025-12-31	2.2	1
2026-01-01	0.5	3
2026-01-02	0.2	3
2026-01-03	0.3	3
2026-01-04	T	3
2026-01-05	T	2
2026-01-06	0.0	1
2026-01-07	0.0	0
2026-01-08	0.0	0
2026-01-09	0.0	0
2026-01-10	T	0
2026-01-11	T	0
2026-01-12	0.0	0
2026-01-13	0.0	0
2026-01-14	5.1	0
2026-01-15	1.0	6
2026-01-16	0.6	5
2026-01-17	0.2	4
2026-01-18	0.5	4
2026-01-19	0.3	4
2026-01-20	T	4
2026-01-21	2.4	5
2026-01-22	0.1	6
2026-01-23	0.2	6
2026-01-24	0.1	5
2026-01-25	4.8	6
2026-01-26	0.1	9
2026-01-27	0.3	9
2026-01-28	0.4	9
2026-01-29	T	9
2026-01-30	T	8
2026-01-31	T	8
2026-02-01	T	8
2026-02-02	1.4	7
2026-02-03	T	8
2026-02-04	T	8
2026-02-05	0.1	8
2026-02-06	0.9	8
2026-02-07	0.0	9
2026-02-08	0.0	8
2026-02-09	0.0	8
2026-02-10	0.0	8
2026-02-11	T	5
2026-02-12	T	5

[Brian D]

10 hours ago, Chicago Storm said:

the next window of opportunity is nearing for the sub-forum. we enter this window beginning mid-next week.

some places are going to do really well in this pattern. who will it be? msp, grb, mke, ord, dtw?

DLH & TH!!  

[beavis1729]

5 hours ago, WestMichigan said:

What is your total in the Battle Creek area so far?  I am west of Grand Rapids and we are around 80" so far.

This is an example of why there are so many varied opinions and grades on this winter so far. Just like real estate, everything is local.

For instance, while Rockford IL had a really good 10-day period early on (around 15”), the snow depth was 0-1” from 12/13 through the end of the month, including a brown Christmas. After the good early period, there has only been 6” of snow between 12/11 and today (nearly 9 weeks), with the highest depth 2” and most days with either bare spots or completely bare ground. That’s not good.

If the early snowfall would have stayed deep, then the tiny amounts of snow over the next several weeks would have been ok, especially given the recent cold. But it seems nearly impossible to combine snow with cold. Same theme as always - SDDs matter. And we keep getting frustrated on that metric, at least on this side of the lake. I know some areas had a few LE events, but not material enough to make an impact on SDDs and the look and feel…plus not everyone experienced good LE to begin with. The dreaded NW flow chinook pattern, where the angle of the cold is wrong and nearly everyone suffers.

It’s the persistent theme in these parts, where there have been favorable periods in recent winters, but the non-favorable periods are a disaster. It’s all or nothing. It would be nice if the non-favorable periods were at least decent (say 2-4” of snow each week at a minimum), solely due to the calendar.

Plus it hurt us this winter because the good period occurred so early in the season, that the snow melted from below because the ground was too warm. Ugh.  But it was definitely fun to take a Jeb walk in the -10F air in January. So the winter hasn’t been all bad, just feels like a missed opportunity for a really solid winter. 

[cyclone77]

45 minutes ago, Brian D said:

DLH & TH!!  

Terre Haute?

[A-L-E-K]

problematic look