A noticeable amount of snow has melted from some grassy areas yesterday/today despite temps in the mid 30s w/low dews yesterday and temps barely getting into the teens today. The sun angle monster is starting to awaken.
Recent reports from aircraft in the area have it at a lower altitude than what was originally reported.
Latest sighting was around Columbia, MO. On current course, may get to the STL/downstate IL area later this afternoon if anyone from there is interested in looking.
The January mean temp was 33.5 at DTW. Here are snowfall amounts for the Januaries that had a mean temp of at least 33 degrees, in order from warmest January
1880: 0.5"
1932: 0.9"
2006: 5.0"
1933: 0.4"
1890: 1.6"
1906: 7.3"
1990: 4.0"
2023: 11.7"
A lot of areas got lucky in January with a top 10 warmest month still managing to produce monthly snowfall amounts anywhere from just a couple inches below average to a couple inches above average. Certainly wouldn't want to roll the dice on that over and over again.
One place that stands out is Dayton, OH. Finished +8.1 and had 2" above their average January snowfall. Pretty impressive. That's not Marquette, Michigan or some other far northern location where it's easier to get away with big warmth.
CFS trended warmer on the recent run. Still a gradient look.
The fate of this month will come down to what happens in the final 2-3 weeks, because the first part is definitely kind of trainwrecky.
Here's a little bone for beavis.
GFS has 468 dm thicknesses getting into northern Maine in 3-4 days (actually has a pocket of 462 dm thicknesses in Canada!). Euro looks like it doesn't quite make it into Maine but it's very close.
Yep, south of Gary. I'm under 10"
At the end of the day it's just snow. I don't care that deeply, and it's been nice not having to drive in bad road conditions too much. But still, would be nice to at least get a good event or two.
As we close in on February, I'd have to say that this is about the most pathetic winter I've ever seen in this area up to this point. I've lived in a few different locations so let's just say the years I've been living around the I-80 corridor. Still have not had the grass fully covered yet. The December storm might have done it if there hadn't been so much blowing/drifting, but hard to say. Still haven't had a 3" snowfall. Not to go all beavis on ya but that is just ridiculous for this latitude.
Doing some quick calculating, this January looks to finish over 7 degrees above average at ORD and will probably be the 8th or 9th warmest on record. Would've been higher but these last couple days of the month are going to knock it down the list.