It might be cold but where is the snow!

**Strong** · January-24-13, 05:16 PM

This weather for the past few years in nothing like it was when i was young, 60's, 70's. Back in those days it would be cold for weeks and the snow would last for months.You couldn't get out of your driveway and driving down the neighborhood street was nearly impossible.Maybe this climate change global warming is for real.

**Hermod** · January-24-13, 07:32 PM

When I lived in Detroit in the 40s and 50s, we would have a really big snow between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We wouldn't see the ground again till sometime in March. You shoveled your own driveway and the city made you shovel your walk. The city, however, did not plow the side streets and they were pretty much a mixture hard-packed snow and ice till March. People just negotiated them with their 4X2 standard US autos.

**JBMcB** · January-24-13, 07:34 PM

When it's too cold it can't snow. Last year was very light but the year before that there was tons of snow on the ground for months.

Growing up in the 80's, I remember years with tons of snow and years with almost none. That's how it always is. You just don't remember when there is no snow, 'cause there isn't anything to remember.

**Gistok** · January-24-13, 07:43 PM

You're absolutely right about the weather changes. This month it appears that the precipitation has mainly occurred when the temperature went above freezing, as it's forecast to do again next week. I don't mind the weather change for many reasons.

The last big winter that I recall we had was 1998-99. That was the one where we got hit with one snow storm after another. It was the one that former Mayor Archer got a lot of people mad at him because many of the residential streets were virtually impassible.

Personally, I'm hoping for another winter like last year. Those 2 weeks of weather in the 70's in March will be in our memory for a lifetime... that's when Europe got socked with some wicked weather, even many parts of Italy had over a foot of snow.

Keeping the jet stream to our north is to the liking of all except those who earn extra money with their snowplows and salt companies. All cities in metro Detroit are also likely looking forward to a snow free winter, what with all the tight municipal budgets.

Lets hope the snow does come... but stays north of 32 Mile Rd.... to help refill our lakes. Plus if it rains when the temps rise above freezing... that's OK too.

**canuck** · January-24-13, 10:12 PM

Cold bitch up here in Montreal; -2˚F today. Yesterday was -9F and a low of
-17F. It hasnt snowed in a while and the good thing about the extreme cold is the sunshine, it's always sunny when it is that cold and it is also dry cold which is better than the damp cold we have when it is less frigid.

**Downriviera** · January-24-13, 10:25 PM

Originally Posted by canuck

Cold bitch up here in Montreal; -2˚F today. Yesterday was -9F and a low of
-17F. It hasnt snowed in a while and the good thing about the extreme cold is the sunshine, it's always sunny when it is that cold and it is also dry cold which is better than the damp cold we have when it is less frigid.

Agreed, I hate the damp cold. I've been riding my mountain bike late at night here and its great. Nice and quiet with nobody out on the streets. My cold weather gear works really good. Montreal has amazing snow removal equipment. When I was there years ago they got 14 inches the day I arrived. I thought it was going to be impossible to walk around downtown the next day, but they had all the snow removed from the streets and sidewalks.

**canuck** · January-25-13, 12:01 AM

Originally Posted by Downriviera

Agreed, I hate the damp cold. I've been riding my mountain bike late at night here and its great. Nice and quiet with nobody out on the streets. My cold weather gear works really good. Montreal has amazing snow removal equipment. When I was there years ago they got 14 inches the day I arrived. I thought it was going to be impossible to walk around downtown the next day, but they had all the snow removed from the streets and sidewalks.

Yeah, it's fun to watch them clear the snow especially at night with the flashing lights and all. I used to love it as a kid and I am still impressed.

**gnome** · January-25-13, 04:01 AM

With all the cold we have had, the river hasn't frozen at all.

**DetroitPlanner** · January-25-13, 08:38 AM

More snow coming today. Forecasters are saying between 1-3 inches so expect between a light dusting and 1.5 inches!

**Pam** · January-25-13, 08:39 AM

It's coming down pretty hard right now where I am.

**sturge** · January-25-13, 09:50 AM

Weird. The weather radar says it should be snowing, but I see none at all outside.

**EastsideAl** · January-25-13, 10:13 AM

The snow is in our past.

A snowy day in Grand Circus Park:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/14500?size=_original#caption

Back in the '60s and '70s I remember generally having at least a couple of big snows a winter, and temperatures consistently below freezing for a few months. Now we seem to occasionally get a deep cold snap like this one, where it's too cold and dry to snow very much, followed by temps in the high 30s and 40s with nothing but cold rain.

No surer evidence of our warmer climate can be found than the lack of ice.

The Skating Pavilion on Belle Isle is unused now, in part because the lagoon it's built on so rarely freezes completely these days. But that nice skating pavilion was built there for good reason. When I was a kid - and when my parents and grandparents were growing up too - that stretch of water froze solid by Christmas and usually remained frozen well into March. This was predictable enough that we played scheduled rec league hockey games on that ice.

My grandfather described making whiskey runs to Canada during prohibition in cars over the ice when the river would freeze over. That's completely unthinkable now, and, if we didn't have photographs of people doing it, would seem like some sort of fanciful apocryphal tale.

**Gistok** · January-25-13, 10:28 AM

Al... as a very young child, I remember my father once driving onto the ice at the edge of Lake St. Clair at Jefferson Beach. I was terrified... but that ice was THICK.

**JBMcB** · January-25-13, 10:32 PM

When compared to all the historical data collected, so far in 2013, we're having a slightly above average amount of snowfall.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/cms.php?n=DTWyeardate

Also, after eyeballing the last decade or so of historical data, it's been warmer than average before the new year, but colder after January. Also, the amount of precipitation fluctuates quite a bit - much less than average one year, then much more than average the next. Which is to be expected, of course - there is no such thing as "average" weather.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/cms.php?n=annualplots