michsnowfreak

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

I was born the evening of May 8, 1983. My mom remembers how cold and rainy it was. That night we had a record low for May 9th. Detroit dailies May 8th: Record low max: 38 in 1947 (May record) Record low: 30 in 1976 Record snow: T in 1947 May 9th Record low max: 39 in 1923 Record low: 29 in 1983 Record snow: 6.0" in 1923 (May record) May 10th Record low max: 42 in 1902 Record low: 25 in 1966 (May record) Record snow: 0.5" in 1902 May 11th Record low max: 43 in 1960 Record low: 30 in 1907 Record snow: 0 May 12th Record low max: 44 in 1966 Record low: 32 in 1934 Record snow: 0

While thats true that trace amounts add quite a few more years, I was really surprised how much more rare May snow is than October snow, at least at Detroit. Snow has fallen in 7 of the past 8 October's, and 10 of the last 20....but only 2 of the last 20 Mays.

Decided to start a thread as it looks like record cold may be seen in many places and the novelty May snowflakes may fall as well. Feel free to add local stats on May snow (or cold) as well, Im sure I can count on at least Chicago stats haha. Will look into the magnitude of cold once we get closer. Did some research on May snow at Detroit. Its actually quite rare, WAY more so than Oct snow. While the first flakes of the season are seen in October half the time, the last flakes are rarely in May. The frequency of May snow from 1902-1912 (7 of the 11 years) is an interesting sore-thumb type of anomaly. Percent chance of a trace or more of snow in……..Percent chance of measurable snow in… October – 50.0% (70 out of 140 yrs) October – 10.7% (15 out of 140 yrs) November – 97.9% (137 out of 140 yrs) November – 86.4% (121 out of 140 yrs) December – 99.3% (139 out of 140 yrs) December – 99.3% (139 out of 140 yrs) January – 100.0% (140 out of 140 yrs) January – 100.0% (140 out of 140 yrs) February – 100.0% (140 out of 140 yrs) February – 99.3% (139 out of 140 yrs) March – 100.0% (140 out of 140 yrs) March – 98.6% (138 out of 140 yrs) April – 95.7% (134 out of 140 yrs) April – 73.6% (123 out of 140 yrs) May – 18.7% (26 out of 139 yrs) May – 5.8% (8 out of 139 yrs) YEARS WITH MEASURABLE SNOW IN MAY (Chronologically) 1883 – 5.0” 1902 – 0.5” 1907 – 0.2” 1909 – 0.4” 1912 – 1.5” 1923 – 6.0” 1954 – 0.1” 2005 – 0.1” YEARS WITH ANY SNOWFALL IN MAY (Chronologically) 1883 – 5.0” 1900 – T 1902 – 0.5” 1906 – T 1907 – 0.2” 1908 – T 1909 – 0.4” 1910 – T 1912 – 1.5” 1923 – 6.0” 1925 – T 1929 – T 1945 – T 1947 – T 1954 – 0.1” 1960 – T 1961 – T 1963 – T 1970 – T 1973 – T 1974 – T 1976 – T 1989 – T 1994 – T 2005 – 0.1” 2016 – T SNOW SEASONS WHEN DETROIT SAW SNOW FALL IN 8 CONSECUTIVE MONTHS (OCT-MAY) 1901-02 1906-07 1907-08 1909-10 1922-23 1928-29 1959-60 1960-61 1962-63 1969-70 1972-73 1988-89 1993-94 2015-16

Yes it's those Norway maples that had lime green to the landscape. I just meant in a very general sense that may 1st is usually when you start to see a lot of green poking up, I'll be asleep the late trees like oaks will still be bare. Versus in recent years may 1st is a pretty bare landscape.

Even May of 2018 was preceded by a very cold April. One thing I have noticed the past decade, with a few certain exceptions, is that it seems that the leaves are falling a bit later in the fall and opening up a bit later in the Spring. Not by much, but the little things I used to always use were Halloween as the date when most of the trees were all bare and May 1st is when everything used to be very green with all the new lime green leaves having recently opened. Now, while we still peak in color in late October, we have the last of the color straggling on until mid November. Likewise, the buds start in April but May has been beginning with basically bare landscape, with rapidly blossoming during the first and sometimes second week of May (ongoing as we speak the last 2 days).

That's a crazy look. Could be the largest cold departures since November. Of course when we have a look in January its usually cold and dry outside of Lake effect.

UK only goes to 12z may 7th lol

April snow showers brought May flowers after all. Things beginning to rapidly blossom.