January 2026 General Discussion

[Brian D]

Extreme Precip amounts

[Brian D]

Top 10 extreme precip events

[BeastFromTheEast]

Going to see some classic sublimation of the local snowpack the next few days. 
 

sunny, dry, and enough wind 

[A-L-E-K]

north dakota climo

[sbnwx85]

0.01" of precipitation recorded at South Bend today. 0.8" of snow. Just your typical 80:1 snow-to-liquid ratio.

[A-L-E-K]

The Toronto les event really banged huh

 

Class city, happy for em

[Snowstorms]

19 hours ago, A-L-E-K said:

The Toronto les event really banged huh

 

Class city, happy for em

Yeah some parts of the city got 24-28". A historic lake effect snow event. 

It is now the snowiest January on record at YYZ. 

[michsnowfreak]

0.4" of snow today. Measurable snow has fallen on 14 of the past 15 days. Deep winter continues. 

January snowfall imby 17.6" and season to date 34.9". DTW Jan is 17.1" and season to date 33.9".

[cyclone77]

15 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

0.4" of snow today. Measurable snow has fallen on 14 of the past 15 days. Deep winter continues. 

January snowfall imby 17.6" and season to date 34.9". DTW Jan is 17.1" and season to date 33.9".

Looks pretty sweet.  Looked like that here too a few months ago.

However, the current state of things..

 

[Brian D]

Pixie dust falling today. "T" day. Chilly out with -sd's/-10's this morning. Ely/Seagull Lake areas were in the -20's. Looks like the Bemidji/Park Rapids areas were as well. 

But this will be more like it, and might even get an inch of snow Sun.  

[Brian D]

Well ahead of the curve with Lake ice.

[OrdIowPitMsp]

MSP eeked out a low of -1 this morning. We’ve now had a low temperature at or below zero for 14 of the past 15 days. 

[beavis1729]

40 minutes ago, OrdIowPitMsp said:

MSP eeked out a low of -1 this morning. We’ve now had a low temperature at or below zero for 14 of the past 15 days. 

That’s very impressive, especially with the significant UHI at MSP. Of course there’s snow cover there and upstream, which helps…and the nights are still fairly long.

What’s your current snow depth, and what was the max depth this season?

[cutlew]

That’s very impressive, especially with the significant UHI at MSP. Of course there’s snow cover there and upstream, which helps…and the nights are still fairly long.
What’s your current snow depth, and what was the max depth this season?

Officially 2” otg at MSP, max was 10” back in mid December. We’ve slowly inched our way back down and flirted with bare ground a few times but got the surprise post Christmas storm and some little snows to keep us with some snow.


.

[michsnowfreak]

Sun is out today. While Chicago sees LES, this will be our first day in 17 days with no snow falling. 

[Brian D]

-sd's along the shore with -10's/-20's inland. Some -30's near the border with Seagull Lake the winner at -38. After tomorrow morning, we should be back to avg temps for a while (20's/+/-sd's). 1-2" snowfall expected Sun, so that'll be a nice change. 

[cyclone77]

-6 here this morning.  9th subzero day of the month.

[beavis1729]

26 minutes ago, cutlew said:

Officially 2” otg at MSP, max was 10” back in mid December. We’ve slowly inched our way back down and flirted with bare ground a few times but got the surprise post Christmas storm and some little snows to keep us with some snow.


.

Wow, that’s surprising how low the depth is. Sorry to hear that. I guess even MSP isn’t immune to maintaining a healthy snow cover, even during the heart of winter. The depth has actually decreased by 4” since 1/1, even with a cold January and 4.1” of snowfall during the month (that’s a very low snowfall amount, but you’d think it would have helped at least maintain the 6” depth from 1/1).

There were a few mild days earlier in the month, plus the MSP urban environment probably doesn’t help. Ugh…we need to get past this dry/chinook pattern. Obviously it has been cold recently, but the angle of the cold is all wrong. I used to laugh when Joe Bastardi would say that, but it’s true. This is why you need to build up a snow cover early in the season, to withstand the inevitable dry periods. 

[WestMichigan]

2 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

Sun is out today. While Chicago sees LES, this will be our first day in 17 days with no snow falling. 

16 straight days of snow at GRR and 24 of the first 29 have had precipitation.  Helping ease the drought conditions a little bit this month.

[dmc76]

Full Sun out today. It’s been a very VERY long time since we’ve seen a full sunny day in SEMI

[cutlew]

Wow, that’s surprising how low the depth is. Sorry to hear that. I guess even MSP isn’t immune to maintaining a healthy snow cover, even during the heart of winter. The depth has actually decreased by 4” since 1/1, even with a cold January and 4.1” of snowfall during the month (that’s a very low snowfall amount, but you’d think it would have helped at least maintain the 6” depth from 1/1).
There were a few mild days earlier in the month, plus the MSP urban environment probably doesn’t help. Ugh…we need to get past this dry/chinook pattern. Obviously it has been cold recently, but the angle of the cold is all wrong. I used to laugh when Joe Bastardi would say that, but it’s true. This is why you need to build up a snow cover early in the season, to withstand the inevitable dry periods. 

Yep we’ve done slightly better not melting outside the city, I’d eyeball 4” imby


.

[Chinook]

My loops from the previous storm. I actually saved a lot more data for making a 500mb loop, but I didn't post that.

https://great-lakes-salsite.web.app/Jan_23_2026_GFS_surface_loop.html

https://great-lakes-salsite.web.app/Jan_24_2026_radar_loop.html

[sbnwx85]

South Bend's high of 20 degrees today is the warmest in 7 days.

South Bend spent 7 consecutive days below 20 degrees, the city's 9th-longest stretch in history.

The 37.6" of snow in January (so far) is the 8th snowiest January on record. 

The official season snow total is 74.7" (north side of town).

My backyard total is 65.9" (south side of town).

By my calculations... this is the 7th snowiest winter through January on record. We'll see what the rest of the season holds!

[McHenrySnow]

January goes down as the least snowiest month of the 25-26 winter (so far) here. November was the snowiest. Damn wind drifted what little snow we had leaving large patchy areas. My backyard is protected by trees, shrubs, and a fence so it looks much nicer than the south-facing front lawn where the wind has free reign.  

[sbnwx85]

11 hours ago, sbnwx85 said:

South Bend's high of 20 degrees today is the warmest in 7 days.

South Bend spent 7 consecutive days below 20 degrees, the city's 9th-longest stretch in history.

The 37.6" of snow in January (so far) is the 8th snowiest January on record. 

The official season snow total is 74.7" (north side of town).

My backyard total is 65.9" (south side of town).

By my calculations... this is the 7th snowiest winter through January on record. We'll see what the rest of the season holds!

Added about another inch. I’ll go measure later, but this is now the 18th day in a row with snow.

[OrdIowPitMsp]

Down to 0 at MSP this morning. 

[nvck]

really need another inch or two up here, existing snow is getting pretty slushy and gray

[nvck]

-15 this am at KILN, -9 at Lunken. coldest air of the season afaik

[michsnowfreak]

On 1/30/2026 at 10:14 AM, michsnowfreak said:

Sun is out today. While Chicago sees LES, this will be our first day in 17 days with no snow falling. 

Fail. Late evening flurries developed yesterday and have continued all day today. So 18 days in a row with snow falling 

[Brian D]

-10's/-20's inland with +/- sd's along the shore this morning. Looks like 1-2" possibly 3" of snow for tomorrow across the broader region here. Forecast is for 1" here in TH. 

Stats for Jan here in TH:  max avg 16.9 (23.7), min avg 1.2 (7.4), mean avg 9.1 (15.6), precip 0.67" (1.04"), and snow 10.3" (14.7"). Since Oct, precip sits at 2.79" (ranked 10th driest). Going to need some wet months this year or else drought severity will continue to worsen.