December 2016 General Discussion

[Chambana]

This really is worst case scenario not only is our 1" of snow and ice going to melt literally hours before Christmas, we then torch hard and get a free salt rinser, and wipe away a portion of the negative anomalies we have built up, AND it's looking very likely we finish third straight December with <2" of snow. 

[weatherbo]

4.4" in the past 3 hours.  An unexpected treat.

 

EDIT:  Ending up with a quick 5.5".... with the wind and mild temps, the snow depth has compacted to a fairly dense 21".

[cyclone77]

Melted off/compacted a good inch of snow today.  Still a dense 4" or so left.  Temp made it to 36.

[josh_4184]

15 hours ago, weatherbo said:

4.4" in the past 3 hours.  An unexpected treat.

 

EDIT:  Ending up with a quick 5.5".... with the wind and mild temps, the snow depth has compacted to a fairly dense 21".

Im at a really dense 18" right now, will probably lose at least half by Monday night .

[Jackstraw]

On 12/20/2016 at 7:08 PM, michsnowfreak said:

I had the same experience! 29 degrees and it felt balmy. A few short weeks ago I was bundled up at 40.

 

Regardless what the grinch storm does, it has been nice to have so much snow around while doing numerous christmas activities.

Thought this made a nice Christmas scene today.

 

Nice old Indiana house there.   One good thing about not getting s&#t so far this December, I don't have to worry about being disappointed if it melts!  Yes it was a balmy 36 today.  I was outside clearing some brush for a couple of hours in short sleeves (I like to do it in the winter when it's dry and brittle).  I actually feel colder if it's 20 and the humidity is high than 0 and very dry air.  That moisture in the cold air does a number on me.

[IWXwx]

1 hour ago, Jackstraw said:

Nice old Indiana house there.   One good thing about not getting s&#t so far this December, I don't have to worry about being disappointed if it melts!  Yes it was a balmy 36 today.  I was outside clearing some brush for a couple of hours in short sleeves (I like to do it in the winter when it's dry and brittle).  I actually feel colder if it's 20 and the humidity is high than 0 and very dry air.  That moisture in the cold air does a number on me.

I had to do a double take when you said that you don't anything to melt. I've had a 3 1/2" glacier for a week. Even with temps above freezing, almost no melting or compaction. It's going to take Sunday and Monday temps to destroy it.

[michsnowfreak]

A gray first day of Winter. Steel sky and white snow...my favorite kind of winter day (when snow is not falling lol).

 

 

[michsnowfreak]

1 hour ago, Jackstraw said:

Nice old Indiana house there.   One good thing about not getting s&#t so far this December, I don't have to worry about being disappointed if it melts!  Yes it was a balmy 36 today.  I was outside clearing some brush for a couple of hours in short sleeves (I like to do it in the winter when it's dry and brittle).  I actually feel colder if it's 20 and the humidity is high than 0 and very dry air.  That moisture in the cold air does a number on me.

Thanks haha, but its a Michigan house

 

Meh, id rather be disappointed at a melt than have had no fun in the snow at all. Regardless, winter is just starting for us all.

 

 

[TugHillMatt]

The thing that really bums me out is that my nieces and nephew who moved to Tennessee last year were all excited to come up next week for their visit and play in the snow. We have a great snowpack for December standards..and now I don't think there will be any snow left for them when they come to visit. Grrr

[cyclone77]

Temps have stayed warmer tonight than expected.  Still 36.  Snow continues to slowly melt.

[josh_4184]

8 hours ago, blackrock said:

The thing that really bums me out is that my nieces and nephew who moved to Tennessee last year were all excited to come up next week for their visit and play in the snow. We have a great snowpack for December standards..and now I don't think there will be any snow left for them when they come to visit. Grrr

Yea that's the way it goes unfortunately we cant control the weather, and many of us LES belts are going to take this one on the chin for sure. Certainly not unexpected, the last few years have not been very kind around X-Mas in the northwoods areas.

[michsnowfreak]

9 hours ago, blackrock said:

The thing that really bums me out is that my nieces and nephew who moved to Tennessee last year were all excited to come up next week for their visit and play in the snow. We have a great snowpack for December standards..and now I don't think there will be any snow left for them when they come to visit. Grrr

That's a shame. We have all winter; they have a week with perfect timing needed. My mom's 2nd cousin came up from Florida and his two young kids have wanted to do nothing but play in the snow all the timr since they arrived 3 days ago. When they arrived at their grandmas they ran to the backyard to jump in snow rather than in the house to see everyone lol. Really makes you realize how fortunate we are to have 4 seasons.

[weatherbo]

14 hours ago, josh_4184 said:

Im at a really dense 18" right now, will probably lose at least half by Monday night .

I don't think the melt will be too bad... either way, it's still early and I can't really complain with a season snow total of 70".  Parts of the Keweenaw are already at 100".  West belts have done great, but as a whole, I think snowfall is average to date for most areas.  MQT forecast office has only had 50" which is -10" on the season.  It's been a good month overall.

[josh_4184]

57 minutes ago, weatherbo said:

I don't think the melt will be too bad... either way, it's still early and I can't really complain with a season snow total of 70".  Parts of the Keweenaw are already at 100".  West belts have done great, but as a whole, I think snowfall is average to date for most areas.  MQT forecast office has only had 50" which is -10" on the season.  It's been a good month overall.

True, I am at about 60" for the year so far, places over near Kalkaska close to 75-80" in some spots already.  Meltdowns happen part of the game my only gripe is that it could of waited another week so businesses could have a decent to good X-Mas - New Years week. Perhaps we get some decent LES later in the week. 

[TugHillMatt]

2 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

That's a shame. We have all winter; they have a week with perfect timing needed. My mom's 2nd cousin came up from Florida and his two young kids have wanted to do nothing but play in the snow all the timr since they arrived 3 days ago. When they arrived at their grandmas they ran to the backyard to jump in snow rather than in the house to see everyone lol. Really makes you realize how fortunate we are to have 4 seasons.

Lol...yes, exactly. My wife says she wouldn't mind living down south at all, as she hates the cold. It is funny how people are created to look at things so differently, as I can't comprehend being fine living somewhere where there are not four seasons. The monotony of it all would get to me. I for sure need to see snow every year. My sis-in-law has been struggling to adjust to the lack of winter in TN, as she likes real 4 seasons, and misses snow. They have only been here one other time in the winter, and that was a disappointing pattern when they came then too. We were in such a great pattern, and I was excited to be able to share it with them. And then....

3 hours ago, josh_4184 said:

Yea that's the way it goes unfortunately we cant control the weather, and many of us LES belts are going to take this one on the chin for sure. Certainly not unexpected, the last few years have not been very kind around X-Mas in the northwoods areas.

Thanks for the sympathy, Josh. I may just have to take them to the mall to sled down some piles...or come to Gaylord! Lol

[michsnowfreak]

Certainly no gripes here either...just crummy timing. We are over 18" on the season ane have had 7-10" depth for the last almost 2 weeks, and just today have compacted to 6" as its 38F. Will certainly see an official white Christmas here (which is 1"+ depth 7am christmas morning) but not the currier and ives scene lol.

 

As depressing as the melt is another dynamic system rolling through the midwest so looks like there's probably a lot more fun (and disappointment too) in store for the winter.

[cyclone77]

Lost another inch or so last night/today.  Down to about 3".  Snow already looks pretty mangy.  Tomorrow's inch or two will be a nice refresher.  

[Hoosier]

Temps really went down after sunset.  Have already cooled about 10 degrees.

[cyclone77]

Just now, Hoosier said:

Temps really went down after sunset.  Have already cooled about 10 degrees.

Same here.  Black ice became an issue pretty quickly around sunset from the freezing of the snow melt runoff.  

[cyclone77]

Euro has us at 60/58 around midnight Sun night.  That's an amazing turnaround compared to the exact same time a week before.  We were at -12/-16 at the same time this past Sun night.

[Hoosier]

6 minutes ago, cyclone77 said:

Euro has us at 60/58 around midnight Sun night.  That's an amazing turnaround compared to the exact same time a week before.  We were at -12/-16 at the same time this past Sun night.

Records for MLI are 59 and 56 for the 25th and 26th.  Certainly looks like there is a shot.

[Hoosier]

Total whiplash weather this weekend.  Not totally crazy to think that there could be some areas snowing at an inch or two per hour and then pushing 60 degrees not much more than 48 hours later. 

[cyclone77]

Yeah kind of makes it hard for me to root for too much snow tomorrow.  Would love for tomorrow's event to over-perform, but the more snow we get the less likely we make a legit run at 60 Sun night lol.  A couple things that should help though will be the lack of snow cover to the south, and the strong southerly winds Sun eve.  Euro was showing 30-40mph gust potential Sun evening, and it will be coming in from bare ground immediately south of I-80 by then.

[cyclone77]

4 hours ago, cyclone77 said:

Same here.  Black ice became an issue pretty quickly around sunset from the freezing of the snow melt runoff.  

After dropping down to 24 around 8pm, we're back up to 30 again.  

[Spartman]

A prolonged period of wall-to-wall overcast skies begins today. Another crappy weekend is ahead. Despite TWC's forecast over the next 10 days and knowing the current pattern, I can see the weekend after this one being the same as well.

[Chicago Storm]

A prolonged period of wall-to-wall overcast skies begins today. Another crappy weekend is ahead. Despite TWC's forecast over the next 10 days and knowing the current pattern, I can see the weekend after this one being the same as well.

You keep bringing overcast issues up, but I think you forget the fact that it's winter.

[michsnowfreak]

We lost about 1-1.5" yesterday to compaction, depth averages 6" now. Frozen at the moment with temps in the 20s.

 

I did go to Greenfield Village Holiday Nights yesterday (an annual event at the Henry Ford estate) so it was nice for snow to be present for that. Santa's watching

 

[michsnowfreak]

6 minutes ago, Chicago Storm said:

You keep bringing overcast issues up, but I think you forget the fact that it's winter.

[cyclone77]

This is just utterly amazing how impressive this is.  Complete opposite end of the spectrum for the time of the day, and the time of the year.  Nearly 60 degrees at midnight, when a week earlier at the same exact time it was -12.  The difference in temp anomalies is 70 degrees on the nose.

 

[michsnowfreak]

Merry Christmas to all. Its not exactly the postcard scene that much of December was, but it still IS a White Christmas. Lets get through this crummy melt and hope the good times continue once the calendar turns to 2017.

 

Since records began, Detroit has a 48% chance of a White Christmas. Despite the record snowfall that has occurred over the last 15 years, White Christmases are not increasing, rather they are holding steady (9 of the last 20 have been White). If Christmas were on Jan 25th instead of Dec 25th, then it was jump to 70% probability.

 

Funny how this far north the chance of a White Christmas is just shy of 50%, and the odds only go down as you head south, yet every movie or TV show about Christmas that doesnt take place in FL seems to ALWAYS have snow

 

Christmas morning 7am snow depth at Detroit the last 100 years. 46 of the 100 years had an official White Christmas. Though 54 of the last 100 Christmases were bare, 20 of those 54 did have a T of snow depth.

Since 1892 (when snow depth records began to my knowledge), 60 of the 125 Christmases have been white (48%).

2016- 3

2015- -

2014- -

2013- T

2012- 1

2011- -

2010- 5

2009- T

2008- 7

2007- T

2006- -

2005- 1

2004- 6

2003- 1

2002- 6

2001- T

2000- 6

1999- -

1998- -

1997- -

1996- T

1995- T

1994- -

1993- T

1992- -

1991- -

1990- 5

1989- 2

1988- -

1987- -

1986- -

1985- 3

1984- 1

1983- 2

1982- -

1981- 7

1980- 3

1979- -

1978- 1

1977- T

1976- T

1975- 2

1974- 6

1973- 7

1972- -

1971- -

1970- T

1969- 3

1968- T

1967- T

1966- 4

1965- T

1964- -

1963- 3

1962- 2

1961- 1

1960- 3

1959- 1

1958- 2

1957- -

1956- T

1955- -

1954- -

1953- T

1952- -

1951- 13

1950- T

1949- -

1948- T

1947- 2

1946- 1

1945- 2

1944- 5

1943- T

1942- 1

1941- -

1940- -

1939- -

1938- 1

1937- 1

1936- -

1935- 3

1934- 3

1933- -

1932- -

1931- -

1930- 3

1929- 12

1928- T

1927- -

1926- -

1925- 5

1924- 4

1923- 1

1922- 2

1921- 2

1920- T

1919- 1

1918- -

1917- -