Autumn/Winter 2019-2020 Banter/Complaint Thread

[michsnowfreak]

2 hours ago, weatherbo said:

I don't recommend anyone moving here just for the snow.  There's a real sense of isolation that has to become normal.  I've heard lots of stories of people moving here to retire or whatever and only make it a winter or two.  Loving snow is one thing, loving up to seven months of it some years, is another.

 

 

 

This is so perfectly said. I always get a kick out of people acting like the Southern Great Lakes or midwest is a bad Winter climate when it really is Wintrier than most places. I think the fact that we do get snow so relatively frequently is what makes a true snowlover thirst for more, and knowing the massive amounts of snow that fall just to our North is tempting. However as someone who goes up North every year (going to Munising Feb 16 - 19), I can definitely tell you that every time I go up there I have an awesome time but I could NEVER live in that isolation. Plus much of the rural north is several decades behind the times.

[Chinook]

This is a really low heat index (72 hour forecast). I think the heat index formula may be broken.

[UMB WX]

1 hour ago, michsnowfreak said:

This is so perfectly said. I always get a kick out of people acting like the Southern Great Lakes or midwest is a bad Winter climate when it really is Wintrier than most places. I think the fact that we do get snow so relatively frequently is what makes a true snowlover thirst for more, and knowing the massive amounts of snow that fall just to our North is tempting. However as someone who goes up North every year (going to Munising Feb 16 - 19), I can definitely tell you that every time I go up there I have an awesome time but I could NEVER live in that isolation. Plus much of the rural north is several decades behind the times.

We thirst for more snow because we live in a very volatile winter climate thats highly conducive to winter suckage back of pina colada's on Christmas eve's and children hoping Santa brings them snow making gun kits.  

[Snowstorms]

Apparently the Euro weeklies look like Feb 2015. Feb 2015 was an incredibly boring month outside of the GHD storm. Just endless brutal cold. 

 

[RogueWaves]

5 hours ago, beavis1729 said:

Thank you  Yes...good for John!

It will happen soon. After many years of putting up with me, my wife is on board too. It’s not even about subzero temps and crazy winds and 3 feet of snow on the ground. Just want to wake up in the morning, relax with a cup of coffee, and know that every morning during the heart of winter you can look outside at the wintry landscape, then take part in it. You should be able to count in winter during DJF...or at least Dec 15th to Feb 15th...year after year. Just like we count on summer in JJA. 
 

All of my complaints on this board come from this passion...it’s not personal. No hard feelings to anyone. 

That's why I relocated to NMI snow belt back in Sept of '90. In my seven yrs up there, I quickly learned that it's not "if" winter is coming, just a matter of when. Normally had all my prep done by Nov 1st to be on the cautious side. 

4 hours ago, weatherbo said:

I don't recommend anyone moving here just for the snow.  There's a real sense of isolation that has to become normal.  I've heard lots of stories of people moving here to retire or whatever and only make it a winter or two.  Loving snow is one thing, loving up to seven months of it some years, is another.

 

 

 

As a SEMI native of a large population area, I can say it was a full 3 yrs before that happened for me. Even tho I was on the outskirts of Traverse in the edge of the forest, back before cells, the web, social media, casinos on every hwy, things really quieted down even there (let alone where you are now) during the cold season. Thankfully, Traverse still afforded the some semblance of "city life" like a shopping center, new cinema, etc to keep from going entirely hermit mode. My place only averaged 100" but in several good years scored 200+ but I had my choice of some nice upscale tourist destinations within a 25 mile drive as well as several nice ski resorts which I took full advantage of. Ofc, also had (3) sleds parked in the back yard and access to all the trails heading east across the Northland. Gotta love winter tho, as it was the significant season away from the immediate shoreline regions. There is a huge difference conducting daily life up there too, versus just going up for a get-away play-cation. 

[RCNYILWX]

I think that, however much one wants to ascribe CC to things, the reality of the winter climate on the west side of the lake at this latitude (Chicago area and west) is one of volatility. These forums became really popular back in the late 2000s and early 2010s. 07-08 through 10-11 happened to be the best 4 year stretch for winter enthusiasts in this area since the late 1970s. Since that stretch, it's been much more mixed. The highs of the highs (13-14 and GHD II) and the lows of the lows (11-12 and 16-17) and a lot in between. Last year was extremely cold and active just west and north of here through Feb after a break in December-early January and we had a good stretch of winter from mid January through beginning of Feb. 17-18 had fairly lengthy doldrums but also had a memorable stretch of 9 straight days of measurable snow and the bitter cold of late December-early January.

 

This really isn't unusual for our winter climo. Think back prior to the 4 year run, the 00s were not great until then. 00-01 had one great month, 01-02 was one of the worst winters until March 02 (which still sucks when you think about it), 02-03 was only good east and southeast of here and 03-04 was also not good here. 04-05 had one good month in January and 05-06 was torchy with only 26" at ORD. The 90s also were very mixed, with the best event of the decade being of course the 99 blizzard. The 80s were mixed for snow as well, 81-82 the big snow season of a decade otherwise known more for its extreme cold shots.

 

So I understand why there's a lot of complaints about this winter, it hasn't been good for winter interests after the early start. If it doesn't turn around in the snow department, then it would rightfully deserve a low grade, but it wouldn't be unusual in the context of winter climatology. Stringing together good stretches and getting things to break our way with storm tracks or not is what separates the good from the mediocre winters and often one or two events separate good/mediocre from bad. It's the winters like 13-14 and the late 70s are the exception to the rule and are once a decade or every couple decades type phenomena. Having 4 consecutive good winters like 07-08 through 10-11 is also rare on the climo spectrum, but a lot of us are constantly hoping for a stretch like that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HillsdaleMIWeather]

When I see people punting on storms this early:

 

[BuffaloWeather]

18 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

 It looks like it's averaged a bit warmer in Buffalo than here, but still it's been very mild since the 3rd week of December.  Neither December or January will show up in the all time warm lists because of the cooler start to December in what looks like a cold end to January. But I'm sure if you take an intra month 30 day period, it's up there. But i always believe the heart of Winter is mid January to mid February, I never consider mid December to mid January the "heart" of Winter. As for rarity, February 2015 is in a very elite minority group (much like march 2012), I have to say this mild stretch does not come close to it, at least here.

Yeah the intra month was toasty. Adding to it yesterday and today. Right now Buffalo is +11.5 and likely +12-13 with todays high for the month. 

[Cary67]

13 hours ago, Snowstorms said:

Apparently the Euro weeklies look like Feb 2015. Feb 2015 was an incredibly boring month outside of the GHD storm. Just endless brutal cold. 

 

Interesting if that verifies could see some significant systems when most dont want them in March to early April as cold pattern relaxes.

[Hoosier]

On 12/31/2019 at 11:44 AM, Hoosier said:

Check your barometer, cyclone 

Where'd this go?  

[Hoosier]

On 1/3/2020 at 12:55 PM, Hoosier said:

Another episode of Chicago snowfall futility, brought to you by me.

I had to get a little creative with this one since the early season snows have helped to put the ultimate low mark out of reach, and also did not want to get too far ahead of myself by writing off the entire month of January.

So, this is least snowfall from November 15 to January 15.  If less than 2" additional occurs through January 15, then a top 10 (or should we say bottom 10) mark will be achieved.  

 

1.3", 11/15/2012 to 1/15/2013

1.7", 11/15/2001 to 1/15/2002

2.0"  11/15/2019 to 1/3/2020

2.4"  11/15/1912 to 1/15/1913

2.6"  11/15/1889 to 1/15/1890

2.7"  11/15/1936 to 1/15/1937

3.5"  11/15/1923 to 1/15/1924

3.6"  11/15/1943 to 1/15/1944

3.9"  11/15/1906 to 1/15/1907

4.0"  11/15/1905 to 1/15/1906

Hey, not gonna make the list.  ORD is up to 4.8" since November 15.  

[A-L-E-K]

2 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

Where'd this go?  

 

[Snowstorms]

9 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

Where'd this go?  

Well right now it's somewhere in the Atlantic. Happened a few days ago.

75% of the sub-forum was a washout. Don't worry you didn't miss anything. 

[zinski1990]

Throw in the towel. Another crap winter

[CoalCityWxMan]

Can’t wait for rain followed by subzero temperatures 24 hours later!

[cyclone77]

This feels like an Arkansas winter.  Hopefully that means we'll get a late Jan/February tornado outbreak to top it off.

[Chambana]

With a likely miss to the north with the weekend system, I will be heading into the latter part of January with 5.4” of snow. This is brutal. 

[A-L-E-K]

1 hour ago, Chambana said:

With a likely miss to the north with the weekend system, I will be heading into the latter part of January with 5.4” of snow. This is brutal. 

Same and most came on Halloween 

[Chambana]

14 minutes ago, A-L-E-K said:

Same and most came on Halloween 

Yep same. Halloween dropped 1.5” here. So from 11/1- 1/14 just an abysmal 4”

[Snowstorms]

Literally nothing on the models after this weekends storm. 

Maybe some light snow around Jan 23, but even that has some mixing lol. 

 

[IWXwx]

We are finally going to get some typical January weather. A huge high pressure that just meanders through the subforum for several days delivering bone-chilling cold over a bare ground.

[Hoosier]

Best climo

[cyclone77]

3 hours ago, IWXwx said:

We are finally going to get some typical January weather. A huge high pressure that just meanders through the subforum for several days delivering bone-chilling cold over a bare ground.

There's gonna be a lot of frozen dog turds to kick around.

[Jonger]

On 1/13/2020 at 8:12 PM, Snowstorms said:

Apparently the Euro weeklies look like Feb 2015. Feb 2015 was an incredibly boring month outside of the GHD storm. Just endless brutal cold. 

 

That was one of the best winter months ever.

[King James]

Lol, winter.

[Hoosier]

2 minutes ago, King James said:

Lol, winter.

That looks a lot like it does here.  Well, I have a little more snow.

Still waiting on a 3" snowfall.  I don't really keep records and trying to remember your first 3" snowfall each winter is sort of an odd thing, but this has to be among the longest it has taken.  And there really isn't one in sight.  Some models are trying to tease the lake effect band this far west on Monday, but even if it does make it this far west, I'm not expecting much.  Yesterday's storm was made worse by the fact that a number of models (granted not unanimous) were suggesting 3-5" here, which of course didn't pan out.  

[Snowstorms]

13 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

That looks a lot like it does here.  Well, I have a little more snow.

Still waiting on a 3" snowfall.  I don't really keep records and trying to remember your first 3" snowfall each winter is sort of an odd thing, but this has to be among the longest it has taken.  And there really isn't one in sight.  Some models are trying to tease the lake effect band this far west on Monday, but even if it does make it this far west, I'm not expecting much.  Yesterday's storm was made worse by the fact that a number of models (granted not unanimous) were suggesting 3-5" here, which of course didn't pan out.  

Geez, how much did you get?

Next week could bring something as a ridge develops over Hudson Bay and limits how far north the next storm gets. We'll see. 

[Hoosier]

16 minutes ago, Snowstorms said:

Geez, how much did you get?

Next week could bring something as a ridge develops over Hudson Bay and limits how far north the next storm gets. We'll see. 

About 2"

It is pretty incredible.  I mean, I'm near I-80 and close to Lake Michigan, not in the south.  Even if synoptic isn't going favorably, there is a backup option in the form of a decent lake effect band making it here, but nope.

[Snowstorms]

12 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

About 2"

It is pretty incredible.  I mean, I'm near I-80 and close to Lake Michigan, not in the south.  Even if synoptic isn't going favorably, there is a backup option in the form of a decent lake effect band making it here, but nope.

Really? I'm assuming it must be related to wind direction. A W or WNW wind wouldn't really do you justice when it comes to lake effect. 

[Hoosier]

9 minutes ago, Snowstorms said:

Really? I'm assuming it must be related to wind direction. A W or WNW wind wouldn't really do you justice when it comes to lake effect. 

Yeah, I need northerly flow or at least some minor variation of that to have a shot.  So not a common occurrence but not very rare either.  Just haven't had a setup where that wind direction and good parameters and long enough residence time have come together.