michsnowfreak

Sister is getting accumulation in st clair shores JUST northeast of Detroit. I may have to stay up. Some of Detroits northern suburb webcams are just nuts

Snow is beginning to stick in Detroit's northern suburbs. Snow showers and flurries all day May 8th. Snow flurries midday May 9th. Rain mixing with, possibly changing to snow May 10th into May 11th. Just crazy!

That's 3 days in a row where the Southern Great Lakes have had snowflakes falling during the peak heating of a May day, when average temperatures are in the upper 60s. Just crazy as we are only 6 weeks away from the strongest sun of the entire year.

So weird. Yesterday When I saw Detroit dropped to 27 I was thinking the rural areas must have been in the upper teens to low 20s but pretty much everyone was in the mid to upper 20s.

Obviously this will change, probably this afternoon, but I just realized that through the first 9 days of May, Detroit has no measurable precipitation, but yet a trace of snow on 2 days

Flurries and snow showers fell off and on all day pretty much

Just had some more snow flurries, wasn't even expecting any today. Nothing like getting snowflakes 2 days in a row during the 2nd week.of May in the afternoon, just 6 weeks away from the strongest sun angle of the year.

The low this morning at Detroit fell to an impressive record 27°. This not only broke the record for May 9th, but its also the 2nd coldest temp this late in the season, behind only 25° on May 10, 1966. It was the 3rd coldest May temp on record 25° - May 10, 1966 26° - May 1, 1978 27° - May 9, 2020 The temp on May 8th fell to 31 just before midnight so we only missed yesterday's record by 1°, although the snowfall of a trace did tie and thus supercede the record for the day.

Thanks don! One more pic from today, during the heaviest snow shower of the day. What sights for May 8th. The wind has now died down, the skies cleared and it feels like winter.

For bo? Easy under. How low you think DTW goes tonight? Record snowfall already set today lol, I want to think a record low tonight is a lock as well.

I decided to take a little nap and I woke up to several text about how heavy it was snowing lol. Luckily I saw the snow this morning. It's funny how something you see so frequently for months turns into such a novelty and is so noticed by everyone once its May lol.

Snowfall at Detroit during the 2 winters was very close (1989-90 had 41.8" and 2019-20 had 43.2"). Although 1989-90 was quite a bit colder over all, both had out of season blasts of cold and warm weather as well as early and late snow.

Thanks!

Snow showers and flurries this morning. A first for my birthday. Snow has now fallen in 8 consecutive calendar months.

You are being generous. They pretty much shut down for a snowflake. If they get a half inch of snow they are stranded on the road for 8 hours with nothing to do but lament a war they lost 160 years ago.

Thanks!!!

The numbers are definitely going to be interesting come Saturday morning. The core of the cold is going to be further east so I think Michigan in general will be colder than Wisconsin, but this airmass as a whole is so cold the typical cold pockets throughout the midwest could really be impressive.

Oh wow. I was going by the forecast you posted lol I always assume your area is always the coldest/snowiest up there

Obviously that's a very wintry May forecast, but I am wondering if the coldest temperature in Michigan will actually be somewhere in lower Michigan in a rural area.

I did not realize you move back to Massachusetts. When did you do so?

All models continue to advertise 20s tomorrow night into Saturday morning for Detroit. It will be very interesting to see what the coldest numbers are in the rural areas, what the lowest wind chills are as there will still be a breeze, and if the low at Detroit is just a record for the day or historic for the month of May.

No torch. Let's enjoy some open window time.

People like me and beavis do not enjoy the thaws and the periods of bare ground that come with the territory of a mild Winter. But for the casual citizen who hates any cold and Winter weather, this season has to be a nightmare. After late October snow, a record heavy November snowstorm and record smashing cold hit before mid November, then a wintry April is now followed by early to mid May snow chances and more record cold. In between, the actual Winter was quite mild compared to an average Midwest and Great Lakes Winter, but of course this still included plenty of cold and snows.

GFS hints at a reinforcing shot of cold early next week too. The cold definitely looks impressive. For Detroit, the already-cold 1970s have quite a few records year-round that stand to this day from the days when DTW was a radiational cooling magnet as opposed to present-day UHI-influenced (thermometer placement also plays a role, I assume, as the south end of the airport is much colder/valleyed than the north side). But it was noted that since 1979, DTW has only seen 4 instances where the low temp in May fell to 31F or colder. 29F - May 9, 1983 30F - May 13, 2013 30F - May 3, 1986 31F - May 4, 2005 Stretching it out, some all-time late season cold may be seen. Since the cold here will be approx. May 8-13, lets look at cold records on and after May 8th. Coldest temps on and after May 8th (since 1874) 25F - May 10, 1966 (coldest May temp on record) 29F - May 9, 1983 29F - May 9, 1923 30F - May 10, 2013 30F - May 8, 1976 30F - May 13, 1971 30F - May 9, 1966 30F - May 7, 1911 So if it officially drops into the 20s, it will only be the 4th time on record this late in the season. If it drops to 28F or lower, it will be 2nd only to the May 10, 1966 all-time May record. Not to take away from the 1966 record, but that was RIGHT after the official station moved from DET to then-rural DTW (Apr 1, 1966). fwiw the low at DET was 30F that day. Wind and clouds will likely play a role in just how colds it gets.

Yes, the information was definitely not as flowing as it is now, so as a kid, I can see how you would think that was normal. The harshness of 70s winters were all encompassing, with perhaps the persistence of record cold at least as impressive as the snow itself. At the time, the much less snowy and MUCH MUCH warmer winters of the '50s should have still been in the minds of adults, and I cant imagine the contrast of where you were lucky to see a few single digits in a 50s winter whereas in the 70s, a harmless cold front seemed to still drop below zero. So aside from 200 years of gramps "when I was a kid" nonsense, a true weather observer at the time would be very intrigued by the change. The change snow-wise is similar now wrt the 1990s vs the 2010s, and as a weather observer its striking how much more snow we have gotten in the 2010s. But in the '70s you had the additional snow AND additional cold, whereas the 2010s and 1990s temp differences weren't as striking. And as an aside, while Detroit joined in on the harshness of the 70s winters that enveloped the region, and snowfall was solidly above avg, we didnt really have that "extreme" snowfall that nearby areas did. Looking at the snowiest winters, from a strictly snowfall perspective, the 2010s dominate the 1970s. 01.) 94.9" - 2013-14 02.) 93.6" - 1880-81 03.) 78.0" - 1925-26 04.) 74.0" - 1981-82 05.) 71.7" - 2007-08 06.) 69.1" - 1899-00 06.) 69.1" - 2010-11 08.) 67.2" - 1907-08 09.) 66.5" - 1929-30 10.) 65.7" - 2008-09 11.) 63.8" - 2004-05 12.) 63.1" - 1974-75 13.) 61.7" - 1977-78 14.) 61.0" - 2017-18 15.) 60.9" - 2002-03 16.) 60.8" - 1884-85 17.) 60.2" - 1898-99 18.) 59.9" - 1892-93 19.) 58.6" - 1951-52 20.) 58.0" - 1911-12