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How would you grade this past Winter?


SpartyOn

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It's a little early, as there could be a few unexpected surprises. If I were to give it a grade at this point I give it a solid F. First inch of snow didn't happen until mid Jan, and after an active week we went over another month without an inch. Most of the winter lacked meaningful systems to track. Cold was also lacking, with only 2 days below zero and a relatively warm min seasonal temp of -1.

Today's very heavy snowfall definitely raised the overall score for the winter to above an F. Still not a good winter overall, but it could have been worse.

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D

Toss in todays snow for extra credit brings it to 2 of my much preferred post card pasting snow events in the last 8 days salvage it from a total F-----g meteorlogical fail winter.

Hardly any dec snow, no white xmas, zero sustained cold, minimal snow cover days, local snowmobile trail open 1 day, warmnista's on the news and around towns non-stop gushing about how they wish every winter was like this one was a lot crap storm on the plate to handle but I think overall on the board we all took it as well as can be expected and the warminista trolls didn't add much crap to the already full plate.

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Im with those who say its way too early to grade. I would have to give it a D/D+ so far, after an A+ last year. But again, that is certainly subject to change. Too many overproducing snowfalls, the very nice surprise snowstorm on Feb 10th, and nowhere near futility snowfall numbers to give it an F. But the disaster that was snowcover, plus the memories of what happened just a year ago and the forecasts for it to have continued this winter, and the fact Detroit saw its 6th warmest meteorological winter on record, are certainly not deserving of anything in the C (or better) category. Much more full synopsis in April!

So taking part in the storm in Grayling. Does that affect your grade?

Being part of that 18" storm in Allegan in January helps my winter score.

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So taking part in the storm in Grayling. Does that affect your grade?

Being part of that 18" storm in Allegan in January helps my winter score.

Thats a good question. The storm itself (a foot) is up there with my favorite storms all-time like Jan 2, 1999, Mar 4, 2008, and Feb 20, 2011. The 2008/2011 storms saw slightly less total fall but slightly more thundersnow (though the thundersnow I witnessed last night was AWESOME) and were more surprises for exceeding expectations. The Jan 1999 and Mar 2012 storm saw snowfall amounts pretty much right as forecasted.

BUT today is the best single winter day I can ever remember in terms of snow depth + scenery. I so do NOT want to come home. A foot of fresh cement probably has more impact than 2 feet of fluff. That HAS to have a positive impact on my grade. IMO I picked the PERFECT place to be on the perfect date, had a I picked Traverse City area Id have seen my biggest storm ever, but they had very little snowcover pre-storm. And as you know, snowcover is huge to me. And it looks AMAZING here.

BUT still cant forget the entire winters lack of snowcover. I could get an April 1886 redux and it wouldnt shot my grade up to a B or better...but I can see it being more towards a C. Still too early. Revisit in April!

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Thats a good question. The storm itself (a foot) is up there with my favorite storms all-time like Jan 2, 1999, Mar 4, 2008, and Feb 20, 2011. The 2008/2011 storms saw slightly less total fall but slightly more thundersnow (though the thundersnow I witnessed last night was AWESOME) and were more surprises for exceeding expectations. The Jan 1999 and Mar 2012 storm saw snowfall amounts pretty much right as forecasted.

BUT today is the best single winter day I can ever remember in terms of snow depth + scenery. I so do NOT want to come home. A foot of fresh cement probably has more impact than 2 feet of fluff. That HAS to have a positive impact on my grade. IMO I picked the PERFECT place to be on the perfect date, had a I picked Traverse City area Id have seen my biggest storm ever, but they had very little snowcover pre-storm. And as you know, snowcover is huge to me. And it looks AMAZING here.

BUT still cant forget the entire winters lack of snowcover. I could get an April 1886 redux and it wouldnt shot my grade up to a B or better...but I can see it being more towards a C. Still too early. Revisit in April!

I agree about the snow cover thing. Oh I wasn't expecting a massive jump in grade but a 1/2-3/4 of grade increase I think would be reasonable.

I was originally planning this weekend to be up to Boyne but a school event last night and another event today changed that. Plus I think the wife is sick. While I am bummed to miss out, there will be plenty of other storm to 'chase' :)

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I've always questioned the totals that were measured in the April 1886 snowstorm. Must have been a heck of storm though. Dec 1974 is the closest match to 1886. So it appears the city of Detroit would be due for another 18+ inch event in 2064. Can't wait!

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I'd have to go with a D or D+ here, if you would have asked yesterday it would have easily been an F. March has already had almost what the entire month of December had, which says something about how brutal this winter has been all season. Usually there's a decent stretch of cold/snow here, which hasn't been the case with this winter. Time for it to be over with.

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F and i don't see that changing. :)

So after really thinking about it i was probably a little harsh with that grade. I do admit there has been a number of days and nights like last night and now tonight again ( everything covered in white with a nice gentle snow falling ) that have helped to take the sting a little out of this winter. So with that i'll say a D for now. No higher though.

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Storms - F

-What a joke as far as storms go. Only 17" of snow here in Toledo which is a whopping 45% of the average amount of snowfall. Biggest storm was 4.5" of snow and the first time in my 20 year life that the sledding hills literally were never usable. Just a boring and terrible winter in that regard

Livability - A

-I have never seen so much sun during a winter in my life. It wasn't a brutal, snow filled winter but I was able to do yardwork outside almost daily and many times I had the window in my car cracked a little. Didn't have to brave the elements to play hockey and basketball this winter and probably saved a fortune on heating

Overall - C

-It did suck as far as snowfall and storms go but man this winter was an easy one to get through. Hopefully we get some good severe weather events this spring

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I've always questioned the totals that were measured in the April 1886 snowstorm. Must have been a heck of storm though. Dec 1974 is the closest match to 1886. So it appears the city of Detroit would be due for another 18+ inch event in 2064. Can't wait!

Every time winters comes around theres a 1.5% chance Detroit gets a 18" event.

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So after really thinking about it i was probably a little harsh with that grade. I do admit there has been a number of days and nights like last night and now tonight again ( everything covered in white with a nice gentle snow falling ) that have helped to take the sting a little out of this winter. So with that i'll say a D for now. No higher though.

Geezus you're a tough grader Harry.

Looks like according to your sig line your are close to 80% of average to date....and that's a D?

We're probably sitting around 25% of average to date.... That grade wouldn't even exist on your scale lol.

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Geezus you're a tough grader Harry.

Looks like according to your sig line your are close to 80% of average to date....and that's a D?

We're probably sitting around 25% of average to date.... That grade wouldn't even exist on your scale lol.

F-. Talk to you next winter Sept/Oct Buck. I usually only post here during winter months. Have a great spring and summer!

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I'd have to go with a D or D+ here, if you would have asked yesterday it would have easily been an F. March has already had almost what the entire month of December had, which says something about how brutal this winter has been all season. Usually there's a decent stretch of cold/snow here, which hasn't been the case with this winter. Time for it to be over with.

D+/C- it is for now, just because we managed to reach 20" for the season. Will revist by April.

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B-

positives: no extreme cold, no treacherous and icy roads to navigate, no having to dig the car out, no dirty filthy evil looking black frozen slush to look at, lower heating bills....

negatives: not one decent good old fashioned snow storm to enjoy-without at least ONE good storm/snowfall why the hell should we have to endure winter anyways?

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I agree about the snow cover thing. Oh I wasn't expecting a massive jump in grade but a 1/2-3/4 of grade increase I think would be reasonable.

I was originally planning this weekend to be up to Boyne but a school event last night and another event today changed that. Plus I think the wife is sick. While I am bummed to miss out, there will be plenty of other storm to 'chase' :)

Id lean towards C-/D+ but as said, Mar/Apr will figure into the equation.

Id probably give this winter a D in Detroit...we did have a few surprise snowstorms and many of our small snowfall events DID overperform. The arctic front on the 10th was awesome. And considering the state of winter in much of the country, SAD as it is, we fared better than many. In the grand scheme of things, we are nowhere NEAR futility for Detroit. We stand as the 22nd least snowy winter on record, and we can only improve on that number with any spring snows ma nature gives us. In other words, once we erase this winter from our memorybanks, from a snowfall standpoint it will never be looked at when recounting Detroits most futile years.

But Detroit has records to 1880. I have only been measuring imby since 1995, and at 25.4" snowfall to date and just 20 days with 1"+ snowcover (plus a slew of traces of course), it is my barest and least snowy winter since I began measuring in 1995. While it may still be very easy to surpass 1997-98 (27.2") or even 1999-00 (29.3") in the total snowfall department (will really just take one spring snowfall), it looks almost impossible to surpass my previous "barest" winter, Id need something like 9 or 10 more days with 1"+ snowcover. Thats not happening. So with that said, cant go better than a D, just cant. But throw in my weekend up north in what was the most scenic winter wonderland Ive ever seen, and I automatically bump the grade from a D to a C-/D+.

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I've always questioned the totals that were measured in the April 1886 snowstorm. Must have been a heck of storm though.

I too question the totals from the 1886 storm. But for different reasons perhaps. I think the 24.5", if anything, is a lowballed number based on everything Ive read, from the detailed descriptions both from Detroits weather records (some excerpts in Deedlers writeup on the storm) to the newspaper accounts.

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