Paging David Viner: NWS reports snow so far in 2014 has far exceeded the worst winter in 1978. In Detroit, 6 of the last 14 years are in the top 20 snowiest winters on record.
You’ve probably all hear how Detroit is buried under massive debt due to mismanagement by the political party in power. Now, they are not only buried in debt, they are buried in snow. Let’s see them dig themselves out of that too. I’m betting the plowing budget is already plowed.
From the NWS office in Detroit, a stunning graph going back to 1874:
The Long Cold and Snowy Winter Continues: Updated Records and Statistics
SNOW
We have already discussed the record January snowfall in Detroit and Flint as well as the snowiest starts to the winter season through January. As we move into February, we can start looking at seasonal type of records. The past 10 to 15 years have had some active and snowy winters. In fact this winter puts 6 of the last 14 years into the top 20 snowiest winters on record.
Seasonal Snowfall Stats
| Location | Seasonal Normal | Winter 2013-14 (through February 6) | Record (Year) | Current Seasonal Ranking |
| Detroit Area | 42.5″ | 67.9″ | 93.6″ (1880-81) | 7th |
| Flint Area | 47.4″ | 62.3″ | 82.9″ (1974-75) | 13th |
| Saginaw | 45.5″ | 43.7″ | 87.2″ (1966-67) | — |
Most Consecutive Days with Snow Cover (1 inch or greater) through February 7th
There is a deep snow pack over Southeast Michigan and more below average temperatures expected through much of the upcoming month. Our current streaks are likely to reach the top five and potentially challenge higher places. (Ending Date in Parentheses)
| Detroit Area (only available back to 1948) |
Flint Area | |
| 1 | 74 days (3/15/1978) | 88 days (3/3/1963) |
| 2 | 64 (2/8/2001) | 81 (3/22/1978) |
| 3 | 54 (2/11/1976) | 67 (2/9/2001) |
| 4 | 48 (2/17/1948) | 65 (2/17/1948) |
| 5 | 45 (2/4/1984) | 63 (2/18/1930) |
| Currently | 12th longest streak at 39 days | 6th longest streak at 61 days |
COLD
December was below average for temperatures. January placed in the top 15 Januarys and now February is off to a cold start. How does the winter of 2013-14 compare to other winters.
Temperature Stats
| Location | Winter 2013-14 (through Feb. 6th) | Coldest Winter Since (through Feb 6th) | 2013-14 Ranking (through Feb 6th) | All-time Coldest (through Feb 6th) |
| Detroit Area | 21.4 | 1984 |
9th | 16.6 (1918) |
| Flint Area | 19.7 | 2009 | 8th | 14.2 (1977) |
| Saginaw | 18.9 | 1984 |
7th | 13.7 (1918) |
Source: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=dtx&storyid=100198&source=0
h/t to Steve Goddard for the NWS link.
Tanks, A. Good reporting.
Yesterday Joe Bastardi said there is more snow and cold from Alaska to come next week; Warmth for the South, but cold for the North.
See http://weatherbell.com for the weekly public forecast video
Ask Bettsy to contact his old mate Viner and let him know ‘ YOUR a T$$SSer’
Not too far from Detroit , Chicago , has had 19 days when the lows have been below zero , tying a record going back to the winter of 1872-1873. The city may [break] this record overnight. The most low days below zero was set in 1884-1885 . So we are going back 142 years in cold extremes . Annual and Winter temperatures in United States have been cooling now for 1 5 years and we have not even reached the trough of the current 30 year cool phase of the 60/70 climate cycle which is likely 2030/2040
wws says: @ur momisugly February 9, 2014 at 10:26 am
Now I heard a prominent Democrat say the real reason for Detroit’s massive indebtedness was RACISM!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That right, Clinton gave their jobs to the Chinese….. (I wish I could add a sarc tag)
I wonder how much snow is falling in the un-Happy Valley of State Penn U., aka Reprobate State?
Meanwhile in England, it’s the wettest winter “ever”. From the quote below check out the last sentence. That should leave a mark.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/09/severe-weather-cuts-off-r_n_4755483.html?utm_hp_ref=green
@John robertson –
A preview, methinks, of what the current kleptocracy in Washington intends to do to the country as a whole.
At least, when the EPA starts sabotaging power plants they will hit the DC area first. (See CFACT for Dr. Bonner Cohen’s testimony regarding the EPA’s new anti-coal regulations, terming them industrial sabotage.)
Sometimes I think we skeptics are like those Germans in 1932 who saw Hitler coming, fighting against the tidal wave of ignorance and evil intent embodied in global warming alarmism.
Grand Rapids, a fairly fiscally responsible city, blew through their “snow budget” by mid-January. Relentless lake effect and lack of warmth has made snow plowing a non-stop job. Not only is there this cost, but the streets themselves are taking a beating that will require extra $$ to repair. Not to mention the raised possibility of flooding when all this snow melts.
It’s just unbelievable, the joy being expressed as one of our greater cities gets laid low, not only by economics but a weather event.
I take no joy in the situation.
Let’s get things back into perspective.
The snowfall plot, as can be seen, is not simply the inverse of temperature variation yet somewhat related, like the least snowfall was about when it was warmest in the 1930s. (Since the plot doesn’t show modern temperatures as warmer than the 1930s and shows the double peak history typical of unadjusted data, such appears probably data not adjusted for political correctness yet).
Although a local region need not necessarily follow a similar pattern as broader averages (U.S. or world, annual instead of January), it is of mild interest to observe the plot of Detroit temperature since 1874 shows the usual general pattern superimposed on weather noise:
warming ->
with then a cooling dip a decade into the 20th century ->
followed by rise to the exceptionally warm 1930s-1950s ->
cooling during the 1960s-1970s global cooling scare (weak solar cycle 20 fizzling to its final minimum in 1976) ->
warming during the subsequent global warming scare ->
and subsequently cooling
(The graph may be compared to arctic, U.S., Northern Hemisphere, and world temperature trends and the cause for them meanwhile, like
those plotted in http://img213.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=62356_expanded_overview3_122_1094lo.jpg ).
Mike Maguire says:
February 9, 2014 at 11:42 am
The West Coast from N. CA to OR/WA will get some needed precip!!
————————————————————————————–
The rain has been light to moderate and fairly steady for the last 3 days. It was much needed. Burn restrictions had been in place for the last several months, and that was extremely unusual for a rainforest in the middle of winter.
@jim –
By any chance, was the city government in Grand Rapids told by local alarmists that they no longer needed to worry about heavy snow, and if so, did they listen, and fail to prepare adequately? (There are reports that this was the case in Atlanta, helping to leave that city unprepared.)
@u.k. (us) –
No, no joy – just sadness and anger; and foreboding, over the failure of these events to get through the thick skulls of the alarmist crowd. How much longer does this go on before the insanity stops, and how much more damage will it be allowed to do? But then as I keep saying, no amount of contrary evidence is ever even acknowledged to exist, let alone recognized as right, by the ideologue.
Snow is no more they confidently predicted. Now they tell us that more snow is caused by CATASTROPHIC ANTHROPOGENIC GLOBAL WARMING.
It’s so sad to see formally intelligent people plunging to such depths of insanity and anger.
Here are sure signs of climate change. We need to act now!
Hot=cold. Hot=hot. Cold really comes from hot. Does that make any sense? Well to some people that is how it goes.
u.k.(us) says: @ur momisugly February 9, 2014 at 2:03 pm
…. Let’s get things back into perspective.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The perspective is Mother Nature is putting a major kink in Holdren and Obama’s plans to ‘De-Develop the United States’
So yes I rejoice, not at the suffering of the people here in the USA and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere but over the fact that it is a major bucket of cold water in the face of the sheeple and just maybe they will wake-up in time to stop the insanity.
Because if we do not stop it now the entire USA will look worse than Detroit.
Since Obama took office the number of unemployed has gone from ~12% in 2007 to ~24% Already 10% of our electric @ur momisugly $16 per megawatt is slated tol be shutdown and replaced by new capacity ranging in price from $136 per megawatt to $357 per megawatt (FirstEnergy Ohio) probably by 2015. What do you think will happen in Ohio were the most coal fired plants are slated to be shut down? Do you think people are going to be happy when a $160 per month electric bill skyrockets towards $3,000 per month bill? Do you think any businesses will remain in the area? Or do you think Ohio is going to make Detroit look good?
(Coal fueled 78 percent of Ohio’s net electricity generation in 2011)
So yes, I hope the USA gets slammed good and hard with snow and cold for the next few years to give people a real appreciation of reliable cheap electric. Because if we vote any more bozos into office, I suggest you start learning Chinese.
Rare snow signs are sure signs of the next ice age. We must act now before it’s too late.
Japanese children say they now understand what snow is.
Yes, lots of snow, but I get the feeling that at the first signs of melt, the alarmist fingers will start to point at the dreaded Global Warming of the man made variety again.
@Gail Combs –
Frankly, I think Holdren and Obama are perverse enough to be delighted at the prospect of people having to pay $3,000 a month for electricity – if they can keep getting it at all. Of course only Obama’s billionaire crony capitalist buddies and other assorted reprobates like senators Feinstein and Boxer will be able to pay that kind of money for electricity, and they could care less that everyone else will lose their jobs because their employers can’t pay those rates, and maybe starve or freeze to death., These people are mean-spirited enough to quite overtly wish that on poor and middle-class folks.
What’s for dinner? I am buried in 9 inches of snow here (hey, don’t laugh, I am less than 59 inches tall!). So in honor of the snow pack building in the Blues and Wallowas, I have made a delectable dinner of sour cream cornbread, spicy broiled trout, carrot and red rice sauteed pilaf, and cole slaw. All served with an appropriate room temperature red wine to match the spicy savory food. The cornbread is done and has filled the air with corn-sweet scent. The red rice is simmering in vegetable stock. The trout is soaking up its spicy paste rub in the frig. And the cook is drinking too much sherry! Yum yum!
The downside? My potato growing man is 80 miles away and bad roads separate us.
To paraphrase former U.S. Interior Sec. James Watt, Detroit represents “the failure of socialism.” I don’t take joy in their plight, but all we can do is watch as the city slowly dissolves.
Just doing a Phd on ‘Passive Smoking’ and ‘Weather In America’,not yet sure of what Is In the smoke but It sure does ‘Open the Mind’ to a ‘Fantasy World’ of synaptic gap exchanges.
I now know the meaning of a ‘HIGHer Education’.
(Please note-this Is sarcasm).
@Chad – No. The city knows we get hit with more snow some years, less in others. In fact, this year should end up being the fourth time since 2000 that GR records more than 100 inches of snowfall . The NWS shows only 7 years total with more than 100 inches of snowfall in records dating back to 1893. Last year there was 63 inches.
The problem this year, was the snow seemed to be a constant occurrence with no thaw. No huge storms, just a bunch of minor ones. And we could not tell one storm from the next with all the lake effect we’ve had in between. Though, the beauty of a lake effect snow squall with the sun shining underneath, makes it all worth it living here.
“I’m betting the plowing budget is already plowed.”
Somebody has to say it: Budget? We don’t need no stinking budget.
No, but the bon mot is appreciated!