Time to put another log on the fire and sing along with Bing Crosby as we dream of a white Christmas which is now being suggested by long range guesses. We had a trace of snow yesterday and overnight of the snow globe variety, though nice to watch drifting to the ground not much of it to stick.
Bittersweet Sky Resort down the road from me has been making snow the past couple days and are considering opening this weekend. Last year they were open pretty much all winter with mostly man made snow.
CPC guesses are showing normal temps for Christmas week with a shot of cold air coming through the 24/25th and a NW wind coming of the lake which would mean lake effect snows, something we didn’t have much of last year. The big question is whether or not a synoptic event will pull in moisture from the gulf to make it a memorable event. All in all it is still to early to say for sure so I am not going to get excited, yet.
Short term we will hold on to our cool temps with a brief warmup to near 40° by the weekend. Nothing major to discuss at this point so if you want to see some snow you can drive down M89 west towards Allegan and look to the north to see the snow machines blowing out great plumes of snow covering the hill they call Bittersweet.
When I lived in Maine I lived near Sugarloaf mountain ski resort which is the biggest ski resort east of the Rockies, it is a nice place to visit in the summer or winter.
It has been a while since we have had a update on Mark’s condition. I hope his family are doing ok.
Slim
+1
The kids and I are improving by the day. The wife had to go in for more lab work. Something strange going on, and the docs are not sure what it is. I’d rather not go into details here. Keeping the faith, though.
We had big fluffy flakes all day. The ground is covered now. It is absolutely beautiful.
Glad to hear you are doing better. Prayers going up for your wife & drs to figure it out.
The virus can cause many strange symptoms and last a long time! Everyone please wear a mask and be vigilant!
So far this winter the snow fall has been very sparse here is SW Michigan. There has been more snow fall to the east in eastern Michigan. Here are the totals so far this winter season Grand Rapids 0.4″ Muskegon 2.1″ Lansing 0.9″ to the east Detroit 7.5″ Flint 1.7″ Saginaw 1.8″ in norther lower Michigan Alpena 18.2″ Houghton Lake 11.2″ Gaylord 18.8″ (Gaylord should have had around 40″ by this time) Traverse City 5.5″ West Branch 10.7″ Petoskey 11.2″ in the UP The Sault 16.4″ Marquette 36.2″ (Marquette should have around 52″ at this time.
Slim
+1
The CPC just updated their long range guess and it looks like it may be bad news for the winter weather fans. They new guess is for a warmer than average winter but they think it could be still wet.
The updated January guess.
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/lead14/index.php
the updated January thru March guess
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=1
and for the upcoming spring season
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=3
Slim
It actually looks like the maps still resemble a la nina pattern. Only the cold air is just too far NW for Michigan.
We will seeing plenty of cold air and tons of snow! Bring it!
CPC is off it’s rocker again …INDY
I’ll opt for any shot at a white Christmas. Remember these well known cliches…
Hope springs eternal.
Nothing is impossible.
It’s not over till the fat lady swaps out her shovel for a leaf blower.
o.k., not sure about that last one…
I will opt for any shot that includes a covid vaccine and any shot at a white Christmas!!
2 clipper systems on the way for this Saturday and Tuesday which will produce snow showers looking ahead to the biggest day of the year Christmas big changes on the way cold and snowy conditions shoveling us up for a white Christmas we definitely will start making a dent in our snowfall deficit who would of thought ??? It’s the most wonderful time of the year ..Hace a super duper day as we are one week away from Christmas Eve…INDY
In looking at the records for Grand Rapids going back to 1905 (there is a lot of missing data before 1905) but since 1905 there have been 23 years with no snow on the ground at 7am Christmas morning. 18 years with a trace and 71 years with at least 1″ of snow on the ground on Christmas morning.
Slim
Grand Rapids is now 17.1″ below average in the snow fall department. There was a period of light snow fall here yesterday but it was not much more then just flurries. No snow stayed on the ground here at my house. So I reported it as a trace. There could be some snow today but once again it does not look like much. And the upcoming cold snap looks to be short lived. The official overnight low at GRR looks to have been 23. Here at my house I had a low of 24 and with cloudy skies the current reading here is 28.
Slim