February 2026 General Discussion

[Stebo]

35 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

Got 1.4" of fluff here yesterday. Season to date snowfall is 36.3" imby and 35.3" at DTW. 

Deep winter continues.

With the snow today its 21 days in a row with snow here at DTW. I am tired

[SouthOaklandCtyWX]

Nice overperformer yesterday to at least freshen up the snowpack. Still looks good on radar wondering if we can get another inch today.

[Brian D]

Cold morning with -10's/-20's inland with +/- sd's along the shore. -29 the lowest I've seen at Seagull Lake up on the border. Because of the clear, calm conditions, temps did a quick sunrise drop at some locales. 

[Brian D]

Ice conditions as of Feb 2. Pretty much a variety of ice thickness now.

Here's the egg code interpretation page. Stage of development has one for sea ice, and one for lake ice. So make sure your looking at the right one. (Lake Ice)

https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/ice-forecasts-observations/publications/interpreting-charts/chapter-1.html

[cyclone77]

3 hours ago, Stebo said:

With the snow today its 21 days in a row with snow here at DTW. I am tired

Eeeeeeeeeeeeasy money! 

[Stebo]

11 minutes ago, cyclone77 said:

Eeeeeeeeeeeeasy money! 

I had 18 SPECI yesterday, that was a bit of hard money

[Chicago Storm]

1 minute ago, Stebo said:

I had 18 SPECI yesterday, that was a bit of hard money

billy madison accomplished that feat a week or so ago.

i had 25 and the swo had 27. 

[Stebo]

11 minutes ago, Chicago Storm said:

billy madison accomplished that feat a week or so ago.

i had 25 and the swo had 27. 

28 here last month during a snowstorm/squall day, the most anyone has had in the records we had going back to 2016.

[Chicago Storm]

7 minutes ago, Stebo said:

28 here last month during a snowstorm/squall day, the most anyone has had in the records we had going back to 2016.

solid.

that 27 by the swo a week or so ago is the highest anyone can recall for here.

[michsnowfreak]

4 hours ago, Stebo said:

With the snow today its 21 days in a row with snow here at DTW. I am tired

Those who dont live in the Great Lakes just cant comprehend what its like to snow all the time. Just like some here complain about the east coast big dogs, my friend on Long Island gets a kick of how theres always at least mood flakes coming down here. I always tell him, bottom line, if its cold, it will snow. Now, amounts, systems, storm track etc...thats always TBD.

[Brian D]

They finally updated weekly ice. This much ice (greater than 50%) for early Feb in the last 45 years doesn't happen often.

[roardog]

11 minutes ago, Brian D said:

They finally updated weekly ice. This much ice (greater than 50%) for early Feb in the last 45 years doesn't happen often.

I mentioned this last winter but I'm still surprised at how little ice there was at this time last year in what was not a warm winter by any means. I mean last winter at this time had less ice than 2006-2007 which is really surprising to me considering that winter was pretty much a torch from early December until mid January.

[Chinook]

7-day departures from normal were -18 to -22 in this area (ending yesterday) with a coldest 1-week period at Orlando, apparently, for these (exact) 7 calendar days

[Brian D]

38 minutes ago, roardog said:

I mentioned this last winter but I'm still surprised at how little ice there was at this time last year in what was not a warm winter by any means. I mean last winter at this time had less ice than 2006-2007 which is really surprising to me considering that winter was pretty much a torch from early December until mid January.

Water temps going into the winter would be a big factor. Hence fall temps. A little research there may bear that out. But the difference is rather small, too.

[Stebo]

6 hours ago, Chicago Storm said:

solid.

that 27 by the swo a week or so ago is the highest anyone can recall for here.

The added SPECI for snow start and stop helps fluff things up but ya, its been busy. Last month I almost had as many SPECI as METAR

[michsnowfreak]

Nice winter night. Love this pic of the library and museum in the background.

[Chicago Storm]

1 hour ago, Stebo said:

The added SPECI for snow start and stop helps fluff things up but ya, its been busy. Last month I almost had as many SPECI as METAR

yea, that really inflates things now.

i was looking back at ghd1 and ghd2 recently. neither had a single shift over 20 speci.

[nwohweather]

The added SPECI for snow start and stop helps fluff things up but ya, its been busy. Last month I almost had as many SPECI as METAR

Is it primarily from lake effect squalls?

[A-L-E-K]

10 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

Nice winter night. Love this pic of the library and museum in the background.

great old buildings, don't make 'em like this anymore

[michsnowfreak]

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

great old buildings, don't make 'em like this anymore

Yup. I live the historic old buildings. I always cringe when they tear them down. My brother that lived in Chicago for a decade always lived in old apartment buildings. He moved to Denver for 2 years before moving back to MI last year. IMO Denver had no character (too new) compared to Chicago. 

[Brian D]

Looks like a duster moving through tonight with 1-2" up around the border. At least temps are seasonable. Lows this morning +/- sd's around the area. Highs around 20 expected.

[A-L-E-K]

1 hour ago, michsnowfreak said:

Yup. I live the historic old buildings. I always cringe when they tear them down. My brother that lived in Chicago for a decade always lived in old apartment buildings. He moved to Denver for 2 years before moving back to MI last year. IMO Denver had no character (too new) compared to Chicago. 

denver is ugly but most of new america is