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Current Snow Pack and Depths


TugHillMatt

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25 minutes ago, (((Will))) said:

Picked up a surprise 6-7 inches of snow overnight and still coming down. I guess the lakes are open for business again. Got ~50 inches on the ground again - only lost like 4-5 inches total during the week long warm up.

Just under 13" here. I lost 5" during the thaw last week.  2 days it was in the mid-40's even.  

Amazing what happens when the ice breaks up.

IMG_4573.thumb.JPG.827f526ba020a957822598ef3fbcde1b.JPG

 

 

 

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I was poking around to look for past winters with above-normal snow depths in the UP.  

1978-79 saw 390" at Delaware Mine.  That was a very cold winter, so I imagine much of this fell in Dec/Jan before the lakes froze...with maybe some good synoptic snow in Mar/Apr. Couldn't find any snow depth #'s from that winter, though...but you'd think the typical spots like Calumet and Twin Lakes peaked at 6 feet+...with snow staying on the ground until May.

1995-96 and 1996-97 were two consecutive great winters for the UP. Marquette NWS record snow depth is 63", set on 3/15/1997. And on 5/1/1996 (!), Marquette NWS had a 15" snow depth.  

 

 

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2 minutes ago, (((Will))) said:

Nicee.

 

When did actual accumulating snow start for you? I don't mean flurries, etc.

We had flurries and light accumulating snow all day yday but it only really picked up around 5pm last evening.

started snowing around noon and by 5pm I had 2", then it really kicked in.  Several times I got up during the night to look outside and it was pounding.  I wouldn't be surprised to see another heavier round again tonight, although not a foot... but ya never know up here.

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6 hours ago, beavis1729 said:

I was poking around to look for past winters with above-normal snow depths in the UP.  

1978-79 saw 390" at Delaware Mine.  That was a very cold winter, so I imagine much of this fell in Dec/Jan before the lakes froze...with maybe some good synoptic snow in Mar/Apr. Couldn't find any snow depth #'s from that winter, though...but you'd think the typical spots like Calumet and Twin Lakes peaked at 6 feet+...with snow staying on the ground until May.

1995-96 and 1996-97 were two consecutive great winters for the UP. Marquette NWS record snow depth is 63", set on 3/15/1997. And on 5/1/1996 (!), Marquette NWS had a 15" snow depth.  

 

 

If you add up monthly totals for the calendar year of 2013 (Jan-Dec) John Dee measured 382" according to his historical weather page.  Not sure it means much except I found that interesting.  Add in the rest of the 2013-2014 winter and the 18 months of Jan 2013-May 2014 were very snowy for the UP and I know the same can be said for Northern Minnesota (compared to averages).

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On 3/5/2018 at 9:49 AM, (((Will))) said:

Do people live there?

I was at Cooke City MT 2 weeks ago. The snotel site at Fischer Creek was at 142". The actually town is about 5 miles from the Snotel. They were struggling to find places to put the snow in town. Its in a small and steep canyon.

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1 hour ago, XfireLOW said:

If you add up monthly totals for the calendar year of 2013 (Jan-Dec) John Dee measured 382" according to his historical weather page.  Not sure it means much except I found that interesting.  Add in the rest of the 2013-2014 winter and the 18 months of Jan 2013-May 2014 were very snowy for the UP and I know the same can be said for Northern Minnesota (compared to averages).

Good point! Yeah, Winter 2012-13 had a good finish in the Upper Midwest and UP, and Winter 2013-14 had a good start.

Even down here in the tropics, Winter 2013-14 was decent.  ORD had about 82", and the intense tundra day on 1/6/14 was wonderful.  I remember at 7AM, it was -17F with 25 mph sustained winds and over a foot of wind-whipped powder on the ground.  Like winter should be - beautiful! But, as always, there were way too many thaws. Temps were below normal for DJF overall, but that doesn't say much.  During D and J, nearly half the days (28/62) had less than 2" of snow cover...which is not good. The last 10 days of December were essentially bare ground...which is unacceptable if one wants to label a winter as "good".  And there were too many days (24) during DJF with high temps 35+. A decent winter with a reasonable amount of total snowfall...but not consistently wintry in terms of look and feel. Compared to climo, it was a good winter...but climo isn't the benchmark.

Of course, after the last 3 crappy winters, 2013-14 would seem really good.  Everything is relative. :)

 

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7 minutes ago, Angrysummons said:

13-14 was a once a decade, maybe once a generation winter on the large scale it was. If people are going to use that as a benchmark, you will be disappointed in future winters.

Agree - not disputing that at all. I've come to accept the truth that 95%+ of winters here are horrible...and in fact this is the case anywhere south of 44N. No getting around it.

Winter is defined by absolute metrics - not climo. Example - if Atlanta GA has a record-breaking DJF that is 10 degrees below normal with 20" of snow, you could say it's a "great" winter for them relative to normal...but in reality, it's still not winter, because it still means most days have highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s.

People seem to have difficulty understanding this - not sure why. :)

Nice pics Will.

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1 hour ago, (((Will))) said:

Took these in downtown Calumet today:

 

 

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Wow, they really packed those old mining houses close together up there!  I've only driven through Calumet and never really explored it.
 

Pretty cool how both of those houses have dumped their roofs in between the two... wonder when that'll be gone? Kinda wanted a metal roof when I had mine replaced last Summer, but it'd dump right in front of my garage door... then it's like avalanche snow to move if you don't catch it right away.

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31 minutes ago, Stebo said:

Calling 2013-14's winter decent in any metric should immediately discount said opinion. You are literally talking about a historic winter for the entire region. It isn't just merely "decent".

And winter is still winter even tho there isn't a foot of snow on the ground... not all climates are idyllic Charlie Brown, Christmas postcards for months on end and never will be as a general rule, and staying stuck in that mindset is awfully aggravating when you live in IL... No offense to Beavis, I'm a fan.  

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1 minute ago, weatherbo said:

And winter is still winter... not all climates are idyllic Charlie Brown, Christmas postcards for months out of the year and never will be as a general rule, and staying stuck in that mindset is awfully aggravating when you live in IL... No offense Beavis, I'm a fan.  

To be completely honest, Beavis needs to move to your area or much further north. Being in IL isn't going to ever fulfill a winter quota of that magnitude.

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Just now, weatherbo said:

Considering '13-14 was historic and only rated as decent, I'd have to agree with you.

I'd love to experience a winter up there, just for one year to see how great it is. That is all I would need to fill my amusement. Having been to NMU in April and seeing 4' of snow on the ground, I know it can be lit up there for winters. That alone shocked me.

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Just now, Stebo said:

I'd love to experience a winter up there, just for one year to see how great it is. That is all I would need to fill my amusement. Having been to NMU in April and seeing 4' of snow on the ground, I know it can be lit up there for winters. That alone shocked me.

For the most part, if you're a lakeshore county in the UP, even a light winter is still a decent winter but that's climo here. I've had snow on the ground at this location in spots in Mid-May before, and I'll be honest, that's hard to take (at times) when after  nearly 7 months of snow all you want is some warmth and green.  I have been known to shovel and haul snow from shaded piles to sunny locations on my driveway to melt it quicker.  

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Just now, weatherbo said:

For the most part, if you're a lakeshore county in the UP, even a light winter is still a decent winter but that's climo here. I've had snow on the ground at this location in spots in Mid-May before, and I'll be honest, that's hard to take (at times) when after  nearly 7 months of snow all you want is some warmth and green.  I have been known to shovel and haul snow from shaded piles to sunny locations on my driveway to melt it quicker.  

Yeah that is a bit extreme :lmao:

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To say 2013-14 was not consistently wintry feeling and looking. :huh:

 

Granted Detroit had it more severe than Chicago, but I can't even fathom calling the most severe Winter on record for much of the lower lakes as decent. Detroit and Toledo set all time seasonal snowfall records, but the stats that weren't really talked about in the media where the actual snow depth stats. Detroit absolutely obliterated all previous records for deep snow. There was not a day with 0 snow depth from December 8th until March 30th. Also the entire month of February had double digit depth, a feat never before seen (then remarkably seen again the following Feb).

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3 hours ago, beavis1729 said:

Agree - not disputing that at all. I've come to accept the truth that 95%+ of winters here are horrible...and in fact this is the case anywhere south of 44N. No getting around it.

Winter is defined by absolute metrics - not climo. Example - if Atlanta GA has a record-breaking DJF that is 10 degrees below normal with 20" of snow, you could say it's a "great" winter for them relative to normal...but in reality, it's still not winter, because it still means most days have highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s.

People seem to have difficulty understanding this - not sure why. :)

Nice pics Will.

You really gotta get out of Chicago metro lol.  I'm pretty sure you will never see a winter that satisfies all of your criteria for "good" as long as you're around here.

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13 hours ago, weatherbo said:

May 1, 2014 had 20-30" of glacier pack here and by the 10th, still had measurable snow on the property in places.

ssm_depth.2014050106.0_600_450._13293_4819._12957_5268_dem.shading_ik.m.1.0.0.1.0.0.png.a5155057f8ef3bbf0927d04bcdb30675.png

Pic taken on May 8th... Only one around that time I could find.

2013-14 is likely a winter that will not be repeated for a long long time, the magnitude of snowfall and cold over the northern plains, upper midwest and central canada will likely never be seen in our lifetime again.  Remember in the same time frame the huge ridge over eastern pacific left the pretty much the entire west coast of North America and Alaska high and dry the entire winter. 

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1 hour ago, (((Will))) said:

@weatherbo - How much did you end up with from the lake effect?

Got a few more inches yesterday over here, I think the storm total is around 9-10 inches. Still pretty good considering they were only calling for 1-3 inches....

Another 1.5" last night for a storm total between 13-14"... looks like another quiet stretch coming up tho.

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Right now I have about 2-3" on the ground here. The snowpack though is almost certainly going to melt though over the weekend with highs in the lower 40's and the march sun angle. I got a feeling that this is the last snowpack of the winter. After the 15th it gets really hard to keep a snowpack especially for this long.

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