michsnowfreak

quite a shelf cloud with that storm

December wasn't so much snowy but it was a cold cloudy month so snow remained on the ground. The dec 10th storm solidified a nice 6" pack that didn't budge til new years. I take back what I said earlier, that dec storm was wet snow but instantly froze in the bitter cold after the storm. omg I used to get so tired of hearing about the Ghd bust lol. We had 10" but were forecast like 15" but then 3 days later we got 4-6" when forecast partly sunny and on feb 20 we got 10" when forecast 1-3". we had a deep winter wonderland and all snow weenies were doing was complaining about a storm bust lol.

2010-11 was a cold, snowy winter but still had a few thaws. if not for a brief torch on new years and in mid feb we would have had a great pack. After a nice white Christmas season, a torch on New Year's Eve zapped the 6" pack away. Snow cover returned a few days later and we nickeled and dimed all through January. much of Januarys snowpack ranged from 3-7" (all powder so settling/compacting) The early February snowpack got up to about 16 to 18" before a mid February torch melted it. This torch was a little worse than the New Year's Eve torch naturally because there was more snow to melt. The last of the snow outside of piles and drifts melted on the 19th then on the 20th we got a 10" snowstorm. The entire winter was all powder until a few clingy March storms. The winter ended around 70" with well below average temps but those few damn torches were the black marks. very few days of bare ground that winter but the 2 torches prevented a 2013-14esque pack.

Makes sense. Not all, but most la nina winters feature above avg snowfall and precip here with lots of storniness, but usually not any amazing snowpack because of the thaws/torches thrown in there. 2007-08 was famous for that. in a week you could have 3 snowstorms, a low below zero and a high in the 50s. An even more extreme example was 1949-50, though this one had more emphasis on the warm spells than 2007-08.

isn't la nina in general known for its wild swings? That's what I always thought.

its been a beautiful fall here. The colors came early but they are hanging on longer than they do in some years. id say we've been peak for at least a week and still there.

Just took this when I went to the doctors. Even on a cloudy day its my favorite fall shot this year

hopefully its a movable jet stream like 2007-08 so the entire sub gets in an action. Although the days of the ridiculous Northwest trend are gone, that's definitely a difference from 2008. personally I want a snowy December. the last 2 years had snowy Novembers and mild Decembers. Fast starts sometimes scare me lol.

At 7.9" its definitely possible. 9.2" on November 11 was our biggest event last winter. Ninas are so active i personally don't think it'll be MSP biggest storm, however in a different winter I could absolutely see a scenario where an 8" storm on Oct 20 that melts in a few days is the biggest event, 2 months before the winter solstice, but then winter ends up being a decent clipper winter where you have lots of snow fun but just don't quite eclipse that biggest storm.

What a storm for Minneapolis. im a little jealous but not too much, winter is so long and Fall so short. It will be interesting to see how long the snow sticks around as it's so early. We had 0.7" on May 10 that melted in about 3 hours. meanwhile our 9" snowstorm last November 11th didn't fully melt for 11 days, and that was "only" 3 weeks later in the calendar year.

I always say I'm ready for snow November 1st but Id be lying if I didn't say I was a little bit jealous of Minnesota. I got to see myself snow accumulate quickly on May 10th and 11th this year. I love how even in a hot summer, the Midwest can only go 5 months accumulating snow free lol.

We were like ground 0 in 13-14 here. Almost 100" of snow, brutal cold, it had at all. Truly a class all its own. But 07-08 was a good Winter as well, not really all that cold relatively speaking, but a Winter storm parade almost nonstop from December through March. Something that sits well with many also is that Winter did not start too early nor did it linger on way into the end of April or may as has been the case in recent years (though we had a hell of a Good Friday snowstorm Mar 21). It was just extremely heavily packed for DJFM.

nina often is a roller coaster. im definitely ready for snow November 1st but after all the complaining some did last year that a cold, snowy November is a bad omen for winter, I hope all is quiet if it is a milder November lol

Kind of jealous on the snow in Iowa! We have accumulating snow here in mid may, the Midwest could only go 5 months without this year. Here it's a gray murky cold day, high in the mid 40s, but color is at peak. Few spots of green still but also lots of leaves falling & bare trees starting to show.

I still ended up with 78". in addition to that there were several rainstorms and some ice.

Another thing is no 2 winters are ever identical. As it is October 2007 was very warm with a late peak color, in contrast to this cool October with its early peak color. 2007-08 was certainly not my favorite Winter, because it did not have the constant buried in snow of 2013-14 due to its Nina-esque thaws being common. But from a storm parade standpoint you can not ask for more. Fingers crossed!

Very good point. not getting out of the 40s here today, should finish cooler than avg in Oct. Another difference is we've been at peak color this past week, 2007 was a late peak, not until late October and even early November (im sure the warmth helped). But I still can't shake that feel of 2007-08. I may be dead wrong, I just hope I am not. It was a nonstop parade of storms. It was no 2013-14 with a record snowpack because we had multiple thaws, so even 2007-08 certainly had its imperfections, but im riding the stormy bus til it crashes lol

Call me weenie, but I can't shake that 2007-08 feel. A dry Fall and as we get closer to winter its getting stormier.

I'm happily getting that 2007-08 vibe. Dry Fall to start now as we head into winter its getting stormier. The computer forecasts are always to be taken with a grain of salt, but above avg precip in winter seems to be a near unanimous signal at this early stage.

As we head closer to winter, on cue ala la nina, the weather is turning stormier!

nice pic but honestly the color here is gorgeous

pics from the park yesterday

Glad to know I am not the only one who does my weather stuff during work lol. I usually organize my week so it's busy the 1st half and then Thursday Friday I have a lot of downtime so that's when I catch up on my weather research.

frost has melted. comparison shot out upstairs window yesterday and today

33 at DTW, 30s in outlying areas. im guessing dtx will consider the growing season over