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December 2020 Observations and Discussion


Tom

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5 hours ago, Tom said:

@St Paul Storm, I was literally thinking about you and your ice rink today while taking care of errands.  Glad to see its looking like Winter up there!  I remember when I was a kid we used to do the same thing at local ponds in the area.  Have fun and stay safe.  Enjoy the simple things in life.

Thanks, Tom. I really enjoy it here. Summers are nice, but there’s nothing better than snow and ice sports in winter. Watching my 4 year old getting excited about stepping onto a frozen lake and putting on ice skates for the first time is awesome! It’s the little things, for sure. 

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5 minutes ago, St Paul Storm said:

Awesome! I’m installing lights next year. Did you make any type of zamboni to smooth the ice after heavy use? 

yep. I'll get a picture of it, but just pvc with holes and a towel drag hooked up to a hose hooked to a sump pump in an auger hole with the bottom not fully punched out. works great!

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I will put this in the December discussion even though there is content for the year as a whole. 

It has not gotten below zero in Grand Rapids since February 1, 2019 and the low for this year will be +4 and that will be the 4th warmest minimum of any year in recorded history at Grand Rapids. The warmest annual minimum was +8 in 1921. The 2nd warmest was +7 in 1931 and in 3rd place is +6 in 1937 and 1939. Also, of note the last time Grand Rapids had 10” or more of snow on the ground was on February 2nd 2019. With just 3 days to go the total snow fall this year (January to December) has only been 34”. For December the mean remains at 33.0 and so far this season there has been just 1.6” of snow fall. Currently, it is clear and 19 here at my house.

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I saw an interesting stat yesterday from our local met.  Through Dec 28th, those years that only had 1" or less of snow (3 years to be exact), ended up having an avg of 40.5" of snow for the season!  How does that saying go..."It's not how you start, but how you finish"...finish strong???  Let's see if history has anything to say about it this year.

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2 minutes ago, Tom said:

I saw an interesting stat yesterday from our local met.  Through Dec 28th, those years that only had 1" or less of snow (3 years to be exact), ended up having an avg of 40.5" of snow for the season!  How does that saying go..."It's not how you start, but how you finish"...finish strong???  Let's see if history has anything to say about it this year.

Seems like its becoming the norm now. At least over this way. 

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1 minute ago, james1976 said:

Seems like its becoming the norm now. At least over this way. 

Winter hasn't started until January the last 4 years in GR.  It fakes a start in November then disappears until after Christmas.  Even then it barely has shown up.  

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Currently at 19F w sunny skies. As I was driving to get some breakfast to go, I saw some thin, high clouds beginning to arrive.

Snowfall for Winter 2023 -24 for Metro Detroit Area 

Oct 2023: 0.2" AN

Nov 2023: 2.2" AN

Dec 2023: 0.5" BN Insane!

Jan 2024: 17.0" AN

Feb 2024: 1.9"  BN

Mar 2024: 4.9" BN

April 2024:

Season So Far: 26.7"

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1 hour ago, Stacsh said:

Winter hasn't started until January the last 4 years in GR.  It fakes a start in November then disappears until after Christmas.  Even then it barely has shown up.  

No complaints here for December in SEMI. So far running AN snowfall and will add more as more snow is coming later tanite. The last 2 though were a disaster!

Snowfall for Winter 2023 -24 for Metro Detroit Area 

Oct 2023: 0.2" AN

Nov 2023: 2.2" AN

Dec 2023: 0.5" BN Insane!

Jan 2024: 17.0" AN

Feb 2024: 1.9"  BN

Mar 2024: 4.9" BN

April 2024:

Season So Far: 26.7"

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Just now, Niko said:

No complaints here for December in SEMI. So far running AN snowfall and will add more as more snow is coming later tanite. The last 2 though were a disaster!

Yeah, you've been in a nice spot this year so far.  All to be washed away for the New year with a soaking rain.  

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2 minutes ago, Stacsh said:

Yeah, you've been in a nice spot this year so far.  All to be washed away for the New year with a soaking rain.  

UGH!

Snowfall for Winter 2023 -24 for Metro Detroit Area 

Oct 2023: 0.2" AN

Nov 2023: 2.2" AN

Dec 2023: 0.5" BN Insane!

Jan 2024: 17.0" AN

Feb 2024: 1.9"  BN

Mar 2024: 4.9" BN

April 2024:

Season So Far: 26.7"

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1 hour ago, Tom said:

Wow, it dipped down to -25F in Eveleth, MN this morning!  I think we have a member up in the Northwoods of MN.

Me?

I am about 150 miles NW of Eveleth.  I had WAA overnight with a south wind from the high pressure to the east, started the evening below zero and woke up to single digits.  The Iron Range and Arrowhead had the high sitting perfectly over them timed perfect, looks like a few places had -20s this morning.  Shows how shallow the cold air was with such a difference over 150 miles.    

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2 hours ago, Stacsh said:

Winter hasn't started until January the last 4 years in GR.  It fakes a start in November then disappears until after Christmas.  Even then it barely has shown up.  

I casually follow avalanche forecasts, primarily Montana and Wyoming, sometimes Utah and Colorado as well, its amazing to see how much snow they get versus the mid-west.  I was thinking about this fake start to winter in November then not coming back until after Christmas.  This same thing has been prevalent and affecting them out west I think.  It manifests itself in different form out there.  The extended dry periods from thanksgiving to new years leaves their shallow early season snow pack in a terrible weak condition that doesn't bond with new snowfall creating dangerous avalanche conditions for the rest of year when normal winter and snowfall amounts do eventually show up.  Colorado made news with some massive avalanches across highways a couple years ago, and the source of the large avalanches was a weak base of snow due to an early season extended snow drought.   

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2 hours ago, Niko said:

No complaints here for December in SEMI. So far running AN snowfall and will add more as more snow is coming later tanite. The last 2 though were a disaster!

Only 2014 @ 1.2" will be worse than this one. Unless we get a last-minute surprise Thurs.

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Winter 2023-24 Snow Total = 52.8" (89% Normal Season)  Largest Storm: 12" (1/12-13)   Oct: 0.1 Nov: 2.9 Dec: 7.5 Jan: 31.7 Feb: 6.0 Mar: 4.1 Apr: 0.0

Avg = 59.2"  (Harrison): 2023-24 = xx.x" 

Avg = 45.0"  (KDTW): 2022-23 = 33.5"   2021-22 = 35.6"    

Avg = 49.7"  (KRMY): 2020-21 = 36.2"   2019-20 = 48.0"   2018-19 = 56.1"   2017-18 = 68.3"    2016-17 = 52"    2015-16 = 57.4"    2014-15 = 55.3"    2013-14 = 100.6" (coldest & snowiest in the modern record!)  2012-13 = 47.2"    2011-12 = 43.7"

Legit Blizzards (high winds and dbl digit snows): Feb 2011, Dec 2009, Jan 2005, Dec 2000, Jan 1999, Mar 1998, Nov 1989, Jan 1982, Jan 1978, Jan 1977, Apr 1975, Mar 1973, Jan 1967, Feb 1965, Jan 1918

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8 minutes ago, jaster220 said:

Only 2014 @ 1.2" will be worse than this one. Unless we get a last-minute surprise Thurs.

Wouldnt that be something amigo.....

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Snowfall for Winter 2023 -24 for Metro Detroit Area 

Oct 2023: 0.2" AN

Nov 2023: 2.2" AN

Dec 2023: 0.5" BN Insane!

Jan 2024: 17.0" AN

Feb 2024: 1.9"  BN

Mar 2024: 4.9" BN

April 2024:

Season So Far: 26.7"

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Glad KC got some rain.  Can't believe how dry they had gotten.

The 1.19" of precipitation we received at KC yesterday was a record for the date breaking the old record of 0.65" set in 1971. It was also the most rain we received in one day in exactly 5 months to the date! The last time we had more was 7/29 when we received 1.88" #drought

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Got back to Lincoln a little bit ago. Some of my car was still caked in ice at the KC airport. Just north of KC to St. Joe looked to have pretty significant icing, lots of sagging trees. If Friday’s storm is ice there it might be trouble. Not much snow until about 10 miles from the IA border, and there was literally a noticeable increase right around the state line. I don’t think the sun did too much damage today, most areas still look to have 5-6”.

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Snowfall in Lincoln, NE:

2017-18: 21.4"   2018-19: 55.5"   2019-20: 17.6"   2020-21: 49.4"   2021-22: 5.1" 🤮

Average: 26"

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DSM is very likely going end up 10th all time for snowiest Dec's with 17.1" - a full 8.1" above normal. That's the good news here. The bad is I went and compared years with rather snowy OCT's , boring NOV and snowy DEC's  and tried to get a crude idea of what the rest of the winter offered. Not good. Nearly 75% of the years were below normal snowfall. But it's just a crude comparison - time will tell. image.thumb.png.0b893f631ee927690c9662a31b7a61e6.png

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The two loudest sounds known to man: a gun that goes bang when it is supposed to go click and a gun that goes click when it is supposed to go bang.

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I got a real good work out last night. Around 7 PM the snowplow, plowed my road and left a huge pile of hard pack snow at the end of my driveway. I mean they were huge boulders of almost ice. I had to break them up and then try to move them out of the way. It sure was not fun for a old guy like me. I would have much rather they did not plow the road at all.  At this time it is cloudy and 29 here at my house.

Even with yesterday’s wet heavy snow fall of around 4” or so Grand Rapids will go into January with the 3rd lowest amount of snow fall for this late in the season. At this point there has been a total seasonal snow fall here at Grand Rapids of 5.3” Looking back only 1913/14 with 3.6” and 2011/12 with 5.2” have had less. As for December (unless we get some today) will end up at 4.9” and that will be good for the 11th least amount for any December.

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-5 at KLNK this morning. Already recovered to 32. I decided to look at some wunderground stations and one in the middle of downtown only got down to 9! That's 14 degrees warmer than the airport. I would think my house a few miles NE of the airport would be similar, I wish I had a PWS. The closest station only recorded a low of 0, but I would still think it would be representative of my neighborhood. That airport is something else. 

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Snowfall in Lincoln, NE:

2017-18: 21.4"   2018-19: 55.5"   2019-20: 17.6"   2020-21: 49.4"   2021-22: 5.1" 🤮

Average: 26"

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  • Tom unpinned this topic

I’m a little late, but here are some of my 2020 stats....

My December snowfall total is 11.8” and this month’s total liquid precipitation is 3.50”. Actually on the wet and snowy side at my location.

 I ended 2020 with a total of 36.39” of precip. 
My wettest month was September with 6.42” , mostly ending the drought. 
Driest month was February with 0.40”. August wasn’t much better with 0.59”.

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