Winter 2022/23 Banter Hangout

[A-L-E-K]

Agw imo

[Snowstorms]

23 hours ago, Hoosier said:

I disagree with this a little bit.  Whether you meant to or not, your post is implying that we ought to expect consistent winter conditions over 3-4 months.  It's just not the case where most of us live, and it really has never been.  There's almost always thaws in winter, and sometimes they have been pretty prolonged in distant years past.  

We can argue whether the thaws have become more intense/longer lasting over time.

You do have a valid point. And thaws do happen almost ever winter. But my issue revolved around the longevity of those thaws, especially of late. When you go back 30+ years ago, thaws like this were never this common or frequent. December has been a shit show lately and January no different. See below;

2023 - warm so far

2021 -  warm (came off a warm Dec)

2020 - warm

2019 - 1st half was warm (came off a warm Dec)

2018 - couple thaws in one month

2017 - warm

2013 and 2012 - warm

A couple nice cold ones from 2009 to 2011 but it doesn't undermine the warm January's from 2006 to 2008 especially Jan 2006. 

Based on the data @michsnowfreak provided, many places around the lower Great Lakes haven't warmed in the last 50-100+ years. So I guess from your perspective it may not seem like much. But for those of us further east or further north (like Wisconsin), the warmth has been more significant and pronounced, so it's easy for me to make that assumption. And that assumption is climate change. 

[michsnowfreak]

23 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Obviously there are a lot of ways to look at mild weather/thaws, but it would be interesting to run a trend analysis on the number of days with 40+ degree highs and 50+ degree highs in DJF.  I kind of suspect there would be more of an increase in December and not so much in January/February, but I'm just guessing.

 For Detroit

Avg 50F+ per DJF
...........D....J....F....DJF
1880s - 4 - 2 - 3 - 9
1890s - 3 - 2 - 1 - 6
1900s - 2 - 2 - 1 - 4
1910s - 3 - 1 - 1 - 5
1920s - 2 - 1 - 1 - 4
1930s - 3 - 2 - 3 - 8
1940s - 3 - 2 - 2 - 6
1950s - 3 - 2 - 1 - 7
1960s - 3 - 2 - 1 - 6
1970s - 2 - 1 - 2 - 5
1980s - 3 - 1 - 2 - 6
1990s - 4 - 2 - 3 - 9
2000s - 3 - 2 - 2 - 8
2010s - 4 - 3 - 2 - 10

Avg 40F+ per DJF
...........D....J....F....DJF
1880s - 12 - 07 - 10 - 29
1890s - 11 - 06 - 07 - 24
1900s - 07 - 05 - 05 - 17
1910s - 08 - 07 - 06 - 21
1920s - 10 - 06 - 06 - 21
1930s - 09 - 09 - 08 - 25
1940s - 09 - 06 - 07 - 21
1950s - 10 - 07 - 08 - 25
1960s - 09 - 06 - 07 - 23
1970s - 07 - 05 - 07 - 18
1980s - 10 - 05 - 08 - 24
1990s - 12 - 07 - 11 - 30
2000s - 10 - 07 - 08 - 25
2010s - 13 - 07 - 09 - 25

[RogueWaves]

14 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

 For Detroit

Avg 50F+ per DJF
...........D....J....F....DJF
1880s - 4 - 2 - 3 - 9
1890s - 3 - 2 - 1 - 6
1900s - 2 - 2 - 1 - 4
1910s - 3 - 1 - 1 - 5
1920s - 2 - 1 - 1 - 4
1930s - 3 - 2 - 3 - 8
1940s - 3 - 2 - 2 - 6
1950s - 3 - 2 - 1 - 7
1960s - 3 - 2 - 1 - 6
1970s - 2 - 1 - 2 - 5
1980s - 3 - 1 - 2 - 6
1990s - 4 - 2 - 3 - 9
2000s - 3 - 2 - 2 - 8
2010s - 4 - 3 - 2 - 10

Avg 40F+ per DJF
...........D....J....F....DJF
1880s - 12 - 07 - 10 - 29
1890s - 11 - 06 - 07 - 24
1900s - 07 - 05 - 05 - 17
1910s - 08 - 07 - 06 - 21
1920s - 10 - 06 - 06 - 21
1930s - 09 - 09 - 08 - 25
1940s - 09 - 06 - 07 - 21
1950s - 10 - 07 - 08 - 25
1960s - 09 - 06 - 07 - 23
1970s - 07 - 05 - 07 - 18
1980s - 10 - 05 - 08 - 24
1990s - 12 - 07 - 11 - 30
2000s - 10 - 07 - 08 - 25
2010s - 13 - 07 - 09 - 25

Funny how Detroit's biggest snowstorm happened smack-dab in the middle of the 1880's. One of the decades with the most warm temperatures. But also home to the previous harshest winter of record 1880-81 so that was quite the decade of extremes. Clearly, the 1900's and 1970's with the coldest against average temperatures produced some of the other notably historic snowstorms around here. This place does best with cold as a background state. 

[michsnowfreak]

5 minutes ago, RogueWaves said:

Funny how Detroit's biggest snowstorm happened smack-dab in the middle of the 1880's. One of the decades with the most warm temperatures. But also home to the previous harshest winter of record 1880-81 so that was quite the decade of extremes. Clearly, the 1900's and 1970's with the coldest against average temperatures produced some of the other notably historic snowstorms around here. This place does best with cold as a background state. 

The 1880s have the most extremes on record Winter wise. There were several bitterly cold winters and several absolute torch winters.  The warmest Winter on record by far is 1881-82.  The 2010s were both the snowiest and wettest decade on record.

[beavis1729]

2 hours ago, Snowstorms said:

You do have a valid point. And thaws do happen almost ever winter. But my issue revolved around the longevity of those thaws, especially of late. When you go back 30+ years ago, thaws like this were never this common or frequent. December has been a shit show lately and January no different. See below;

2023 - warm so far

2021 -  warm (came off a warm Dec)

2020 - warm

2019 - 1st half was warm (came off a warm Dec)

2018 - couple thaws in one month

2017 - warm

2013 and 2012 - warm

A couple nice cold ones from 2009 to 2011 but it doesn't undermine the warm January's from 2006 to 2008 especially Jan 2006. 

Based on the data @michsnowfreak provided, many places around the lower Great Lakes haven't warmed in the last 50-100+ years. So I guess from your perspective it may not seem like much. But for those of us further east or further north (like Wisconsin), the warmth has been more significant and pronounced, so it's easy for me to make that assumption. And that assumption is climate change. 

The 30-year normal for January at ORD is now 26F. Using 1951-1980 normals, it was 21F. So, Januarys in Chicago are 5F warmer at ORD than it was 40 years ago!! That would be laughable if it weren’t so sad. Even worse, no one in the scientific community or general public seems to care.

People can debate that it’s only a timing issue I.e., the 60s and 70s were relatively cooler decades), or some UHI…but those are the facts. Our winter climo has always had very little margin for error, so this type of warming just kills things. 

Here is a recent comment from a respected poster in the MA forum. Obviously it’s not our area, but the thought process is still similar and valid for us:

—————

Something vexes me. Over this now 7 year run of futility the one constant has been the problem a strong pacific jet has caused.  But that’s now been a constant for 7 years through 4 Nina’s, 2 neutral and 1 Nino. And we’ve seen it cause the same problem in opposite pac longwave patterns. If we have a Nina like ridge the screaming jet goes over the top and digs a trough to Mexico on the west coast pumping a huge SE ridge infused with pac puke.  If we have a Nino like trough the jet goes under and blasts sub tropical pac puke straight across the whole continent.  The issue is according to research I’ve seen referenced the enhanced jet isn’t related to enso it’s a result of the expanding Hadley cell and might be permanent. If so…what are we even looking for?  We’re failing in opposite ways because of the same underlying problem and I don’t see that going away no matter what longwave configuration we get.  I mean ya once in a blue moon we will luck into the super rare full latitude epo pna ridge combo but the other 90% of the time what’s the answer? 

[cyclone77]

Boy this winter sure is going by fast.

[Chambana]

41 minutes ago, cyclone77 said:

Boy this winter sure is going by fast.

It really is. This time next weekend we are officially 50% through met winter. Man I’m only 33 and time is just passing by in a flash. 

[WaryWarren]

Damn, I had you pegged as a Boomer.

[roardog]

I know Detroit doesn’t represent the entire Midwest but I always enjoy when a poster tries to say they remember something about a specific year or decade then michsnowfreak comes along with the actual stats which are usually nothing like that poster remembers. lol

[hardypalmguy]

That's a very valid point about snow. But also, if you're cold and not getting a lot of snow, people often still refer to it is mild. The last 2 years were not mild winters in the Midwest.
 Regarding warming over the last 100 years, it depends on location but clearly the East Coast is warming more than the lower Midwest. In fact, the lower Great Lakes show minimal warming although I suspect Chicago's cooling trend is due to location change.
Detroit warmed 0.9°
Cleveland warmed 0.6°
Toledo stayed exactly the same
Columbus warmed 0.1°
Indianapolis cooled 0.1°
Chicago cooled 1.3°
Milwaukee warmed 2.0°
Minneapolis warmed 2.6°
New york city warmed 3.2°
Boston warmed 2.6°
Buffalo warmed 1.5°
Wash DC warmed 2.8°
Burlington VT warmed 4.4°
 

Milwaukee becoming the new palm capitol.

[hardypalmguy]

when do you put your palms back out? My banana and windmill palm are inside but I was able to keep them out until mid November. 

I start putting the hardier stuff out in March and then by May the full tropics are out.

[hawkeye_wx]

It sure is looking bleak.

At first it was "maybe after the first week of January", then "it should flip mid-month".  Now, we're hoping for something the final third of the month.

[michsnowfreak]

17 hours ago, roardog said:

I know Detroit doesn’t represent the entire Midwest but I always enjoy when a poster tries to say they remember something about a specific year or decade then michsnowfreak comes along with the actual stats which are usually nothing like that poster remembers. lol

Why thank you, I enjoy it lol

[Snowstorms]

20 hours ago, beavis1729 said:

The 30-year normal for January at ORD is now 26F. Using 1951-1980 normals, it was 21F. So, Januarys in Chicago are 5F warmer at ORD than it was 40 years ago!! That would be laughable if it weren’t so sad. Even worse, no one in the scientific community or general public seems to care.

People can debate that it’s only a timing issue I.e., the 60s and 70s were relatively cooler decades), or some UHI…but those are the facts. Our winter climo has always had very little margin for error, so this type of warming just kills things. 

Here is a recent comment from a respected poster in the MA forum. Obviously it’s not our area, but the thought process is still similar and valid for us:

—————

Something vexes me. Over this now 7 year run of futility the one constant has been the problem a strong pacific jet has caused.  But that’s now been a constant for 7 years through 4 Nina’s, 2 neutral and 1 Nino. And we’ve seen it cause the same problem in opposite pac longwave patterns. If we have a Nina like ridge the screaming jet goes over the top and digs a trough to Mexico on the west coast pumping a huge SE ridge infused with pac puke.  If we have a Nino like trough the jet goes under and blasts sub tropical pac puke straight across the whole continent.  The issue is according to research I’ve seen referenced the enhanced jet isn’t related to enso it’s a result of the expanding Hadley cell and might be permanent. If so…what are we even looking for?  We’re failing in opposite ways because of the same underlying problem and I don’t see that going away no matter what longwave configuration we get.  I mean ya once in a blue moon we will luck into the super rare full latitude epo pna ridge combo but the other 90% of the time what’s the answer? 

Exactly. When you shift the baseline, the warmth doesn't seem as pronounced or almost mute. But on the grand scale of things, averages aside, if you compare current winters to previous winters, you'd notice considerable differences. Chicago and many surrounding areas have warmed considerably. I know people like to talk about the 80's and how snowless they were. But a lot of them were cold winters. The warm winters we keep seeing year after year or the prolonged thaws, did happen in the past - yes, but not as frequently as they have been right now. 

I've been reading up on some of those Hadley cell expansion theories. To my understanding, La Nina's expand the Hadley cell. And in the past, I've read a few research papers that said in a warming world, you'd likely see more La Nina's than El Nino's, which may sound counterintuitive, but when you consider the expansion theories, it could make some sense. But it's still too early to form any conclusions. I'd like to see more work on this. 

[Hoosier]

20 hours ago, beavis1729 said:

The 30-year normal for January at ORD is now 26F. Using 1951-1980 normals, it was 21F. So, Januarys in Chicago are 5F warmer at ORD than it was 40 years ago!! That would be laughable if it weren’t so sad. Even worse, no one in the scientific community or general public seems to care.

People can debate that it’s only a timing issue I.e., the 60s and 70s were relatively cooler decades), or some UHI…but those are the facts. Our winter climo has always had very little margin for error, so this type of warming just kills things. 

Here is a recent comment from a respected poster in the MA forum. Obviously it’s not our area, but the thought process is still similar and valid for us:

—————

Something vexes me. Over this now 7 year run of futility the one constant has been the problem a strong pacific jet has caused.  But that’s now been a constant for 7 years through 4 Nina’s, 2 neutral and 1 Nino. And we’ve seen it cause the same problem in opposite pac longwave patterns. If we have a Nina like ridge the screaming jet goes over the top and digs a trough to Mexico on the west coast pumping a huge SE ridge infused with pac puke.  If we have a Nino like trough the jet goes under and blasts sub tropical pac puke straight across the whole continent.  The issue is according to research I’ve seen referenced the enhanced jet isn’t related to enso it’s a result of the expanding Hadley cell and might be permanent. If so…what are we even looking for?  We’re failing in opposite ways because of the same underlying problem and I don’t see that going away no matter what longwave configuration we get.  I mean ya once in a blue moon we will luck into the super rare full latitude epo pna ridge combo but the other 90% of the time what’s the answer? 

Do you have the average highs and lows for Chicago from back then to see how each compares to now?  So in other words, 1951-1980 normal January high vs 1991-2020 normal January high, and 1951-1980 normal January low vs 1991-2020 normal January low.  

[cyclone77]

2 hours ago, hawkeye_wx said:

It sure is looking bleak.

At first it was "maybe after the first week of January", then "it should flip mid-month".  Now, we're hoping for something the final third of the month.

Next winter will be rockin'

[beavis1729]

2 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Do you have the average highs and lows for Chicago from back then to see how each compares to now?  So in other words, 1951-1980 normal January high vs 1991-2020 normal January high, and 1951-1980 normal January low vs 1991-2020 normal January low.  

Just going off memory/estimates...

I believe the Chicago January normals for 1951-1980 were 29/13, vs. 32/20 for 1991-2020.  I'm guessing the extreme increase in overnight low temps (up 7F in 40 years) is due to UHI and much less snow cover.  Further north, snow cover always exists in January, so normal lows don't change much over time even with climate change occurring in the background.  But in Chicago, January temps are extremely sensitive due to a highly variable element from year to year (snow cover).  So, with a higher frequency of low-snow Januaries recently, plus UHI and climate change added in the background, average low temps increase significantly. 

It's shocking to me how no one is talking about this.  All of this has happened in just 40 years - a mere speck in time in the grand scheme of things.

This is what drives me crazy about winters here - we're always living on the edge and nothing is certain.  We should be debating how much snow is on the ground this time of year; it shouldn't be a yes/no question.  Ideally, an average run-of-the-mill winter should have 8-12" of snow cover now, simply due to the calendar and nothing more.  Bad winters should still have 4-6", and good winters should have 15"+.

[michsnowfreak]

23 hours ago, beavis1729 said:

The 30-year normal for January at ORD is now 26F. Using 1951-1980 normals, it was 21F. So, Januarys in Chicago are 5F warmer at ORD than it was 40 years ago!! That would be laughable if it weren’t so sad. Even worse, no one in the scientific community or general public seems to care.

People can debate that it’s only a timing issue I.e., the 60s and 70s were relatively cooler decades), or some UHI…but those are the facts. Our winter climo has always had very little margin for error, so this type of warming just kills things. 

Here is a recent comment from a respected poster in the MA forum. Obviously it’s not our area, but the thought process is still similar and valid for us:

—————

Something vexes me. Over this now 7 year run of futility the one constant has been the problem a strong pacific jet has caused.  But that’s now been a constant for 7 years through 4 Nina’s, 2 neutral and 1 Nino. And we’ve seen it cause the same problem in opposite pac longwave patterns. If we have a Nina like ridge the screaming jet goes over the top and digs a trough to Mexico on the west coast pumping a huge SE ridge infused with pac puke.  If we have a Nino like trough the jet goes under and blasts sub tropical pac puke straight across the whole continent.  The issue is according to research I’ve seen referenced the enhanced jet isn’t related to enso it’s a result of the expanding Hadley cell and might be permanent. If so…what are we even looking for?  We’re failing in opposite ways because of the same underlying problem and I don’t see that going away no matter what longwave configuration we get.  I mean ya once in a blue moon we will luck into the super rare full latitude epo pna ridge combo but the other 90% of the time what’s the answer? 

This Winter more than ever is good for a good rant, but I still have to call out wrong data.  I have no idea where you are getting those figures because they are incorrect. Below are the 30 year normals for January for Chicago since records began.  Feel free to fact check them. The aberration is clearly the cold taint of the 1960s and 1970s rather than today's current normal. I don't know how you can look at these numbers and say otherwise.
1881-1910: 23.5
1891-1920: 24.4
1901-1930: 24.9
1911-1940: 25.7
1921-1950: 26.2
1931-1960: 26.3
1941-1970: 24.3
1951-1980: 22.5
1961-1990: 21.7
1971-2000: 22.2
1981-2010: 23.7
1991-2020: 24.2

And if you're gonna compare Chicago to the mid Atlantic you might as well compare them to Marquette. The difference in climate is so drastic to begin with, but in addition the last 6 years Chicago has averaged 38" of snow (which is right around normal) while Washington DC has averaged 7.8" (which is half of their normal).

[michsnowfreak]

3 hours ago, Snowstorms said:

Exactly. When you shift the baseline, the warmth doesn't seem as pronounced or almost mute. But on the grand scale of things, averages aside, if you compare current winters to previous winters, you'd notice considerable differences. Chicago and many surrounding areas have warmed considerably. I know people like to talk about the 80's and how snowless they were. But a lot of them were cold winters. The warm winters we keep seeing year after year or the prolonged thaws, did happen in the past - yes, but not as frequently as they have been right now. 

I've been reading up on some of those Hadley cell expansion theories. To my understanding, La Nina's expand the Hadley cell. And in the past, I've read a few research papers that said in a warming world, you'd likely see more La Nina's than El Nino's, which may sound counterintuitive, but when you consider the expansion theories, it could make some sense. But it's still too early to form any conclusions. I'd like to see more work on this. 

Chicago Winters have actually slightly cooled over the last 100 years. The cold winters of the 1960s and especially 1970s were such an aberration for the entire climate record for everywhere in the Great Lakes temp-wise, I just do not understand how we use that as baseline rather than the long term. Yes, Chicago winters are warmer than they were in the 1960s or 1970s.  And they are colder than they were in the 1920s. Or 1930s. Or 1940s. Or 1950s. Yes, Chicago winters are less snowy than they were in the 1960s and 1970s. But they are snowier than they were in the 1920s. Or 1930s. Or 1940. Or 1950s.

 

 And by the way all this talk of warm Januarys. 3 of the past 4 Januaries were colder than normal in the lower Great Lakes

[bowtie`]

Daylight is increasing over a minute a day now and the sun angle at meridian is at an increasing 28 degrees after a nadir of 27 degrees. Things are looking up. This is at 40N. and maybe different at your latitude.

[RogueWaves]

2 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

Chicago Winters have actually slightly cooled over the last 100 years. The cold winters of the 1960s and especially 1970s were such an aberration for the entire climate record for everywhere in the Great Lakes temp-wise, I just do not understand how we use that as baseline rather than the long term. Yes, Chicago winters are warmer than they were in the 1960s or 1970s.  And they are colder than they were in the 1920s. Or 1930s. Or 1940s. Or 1950s. Yes, Chicago winters are less snowy than they were in the 1960s and 1970s. But they are snowier than they were in the 1920s. Or 1930s. Or 1940. Or 1950s.

 

 And by the way all this talk of warm Januarys. 3 of the past 4 Januaries were colder than normal in the lower Great Lakes

Agree on the topic of using the cold 60's & 70's (and first half of 80's) as the benchmark, even though that's exactly what climate science cites for their arguments. The past (3) JAN's were cold, just fraught with BN snowfall. I hate to say it, but gimme some damned Clippers already. They were the best feature of last winter. 

[Hoosier]

So... as we will be getting to the halfway point of met winter pretty soon, how would you grade winter so far?

I'd go D+.  May seem a little generous, but that period leading into Christmas is what raises the grade for me.  If that had been timed differently, I'd be going D-. 

I couldn't go F in any circumstance because of that really cold spell that we had.  Staying below zero all day is not super rare around here, but doing it in December is pretty rare and that wins some points from me.  

[cyclone77]

I'd go D.  Seasonal total only 5.4, and biggest event so far only 1.5" but that mini ground blizzard/ extreme cold before xmas was legit.

[Torchageddon]

On 12/21/2022 at 9:22 PM, Torchageddon said:

Its about time I get some interesting wx, amazed at how stupidly boring most of the recent years have been so maybe this blizz will make up for it, unlikely but I expect an equalizer. My t-storm season started off better than other years with more in the early warm season but then became a joke by June. Not a single one was memorable, even regular t-storms were weak caliber, forget about any possible severe here. Last exciting event was tor warned storms in Sept 2021.

I wrote in one of these banter threads we haven't gotten a synoptic snow storm for Dec IMBY since 2008 so I went with the trend for another Dec shutout - jinx.

I'm not sure what I got during the 23-25th storm was even a synoptic snow storm since barely anything fell from the low itself! It was all lake-effect that gave me the 40-50 cm. Equilibrium still hasn't been met. This Jan is the classical & ultimate form of boredom. Profane.

[beavis1729]

8 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

This Winter more than ever is good for a good rant, but I still have to call out wrong data.  I have no idea where you are getting those figures because they are incorrect. Below are the 30 year normals for January for Chicago since records began.  Feel free to fact check them. The aberration is clearly the cold taint of the 1960s and 1970s rather than today's current normal. I don't know how you can look at these numbers and say otherwise.
1881-1910: 23.5
1891-1920: 24.4
1901-1930: 24.9
1911-1940: 25.7
1921-1950: 26.2
1931-1960: 26.3
1941-1970: 24.3
1951-1980: 22.5
1961-1990: 21.7
1971-2000: 22.2
1981-2010: 23.7
1991-2020: 24.2

And if you're gonna compare Chicago to the mid Atlantic you might as well compare them to Marquette. The difference in climate is so drastic to begin with, but in addition the last 6 years Chicago has averaged 38" of snow (which is right around normal) while Washington DC has averaged 7.8" (which is half of their normal).

Your data from earlier years was downtown Chicago, which used to be the official reporting location…which of course is warmer than ORD in January due to lake/UHI. It’s not an apples to apples comparison. 
 

So, maybe the 1960s-80s were a bit cooler than other decades in Chicago, but not nearly as much as your numbers above might suggest. 
 

I know for a fact that Chicago normals in January were 29/13 when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. When I was going to NIU in DeKalb (65 miles west of Chicago) in the 90s, their January normals were even colder…something like 27/9…which is close to or even a bit colder than Madison’s current January normals (!). 

Even if your point is somewhat correct, that would actually be even more depressing…as our current January normals would be expected to continue (or get even worse) going forward. For my own winter sanity, I refuse to accept that. I grew up with January normals of 29/13, so anything warmer is a disappointment. 

We can barely hold any cold in Dec and Feb these days (normal highs are in the low 40s on Dec 1 and Feb 28)…so it’s tragic to lose January too. 

I wasn’t comparing Chicago to the mid-Atlantic…I was only sharing a post from that forum that seems to capture the zeitgeist of the crappy winters that pretty much every location south of 45N and east of the Mississippi has had since 2014-15. And I’m talking snow depth days and the consistent feel of winter, not just snowfall amounts or some occasional wintry periods (which tell a very incomplete story). Either way, 38” is pathetic for an annual snowfall average. It just is.

Where are the clippers? Where are the minor-moderate snow events? Where is the cold other than 5 days in December? 5 cold days out of 40 in met winter so far isn’t what I would call winter.

My definition of a wintry day is a day with a max temp of 32 or colder AND 2”+ of snow cover. I use 2” as the threshold because a T-1” depth usually means some bare spots in exposed areas…which is unacceptable.

So far this winter, Chicago has had…you guessed it…zero wintry days. Score yet another victory for the fooking general public and media. 

 

[KokomoWX]

8 hours ago, Hoosier said:

So... as we will be getting to the halfway point of met winter pretty soon, how would you grade winter so far?

I'd go D+.  May seem a little generous, but that period leading into Christmas is what raises the grade for me.  If that had been timed differently, I'd be going D-. 

I couldn't go F in any circumstance because of that really cold spell that we had.  Staying below zero all day is not super rare around here, but doing it in December is pretty rare and that wins some points from me.  

It's a F for me.  It's obvious the snow situation has been a complete bust and the cold was meh.  It was not as cold or had staying power as advertised.  The GFS has no phantom storms to even give any false hope.  If there is anything good I can find, it would be the west coast getting some drought relief.  

[DaveNay]

9 hours ago, Hoosier said:

So... as we will be getting to the halfway point of met winter pretty soon, how would you grade winter so far?

So far I'd say it's a B+. If it wasn't for that miserable cold and wind around Christmas, It would have a shot at being an A.

(Not everyone is a winter lover, and not everyone can move someplace warmer.)

[Hoosier]

4 hours ago, DaveNay said:

So far I'd say it's a B+. If it wasn't for that miserable cold and wind around Christmas, It would have a shot at being an A.

(Not everyone is a winter lover, and not everyone can move someplace warmer.)

A "reverse" grader so to speak.  There are probably at least a few others.  

[sbnwx85]

I'd give it a B+ here. We've really only had two events (a week of lake-effect in November and the Christmas lake-effect blizzard) but they were both great events here. We're 15" above average for snowfall for this time of year. I'd give it an "A" but it's been painfully boring and cloudy between the big events. At least the sun is out today.