Snow comparison graph southern mi final.jpg
Here is a comparison of total snowfall this winter(red) to last winter(green) and average winter snowfall(blue) Most locations in the southern half of Lower Michigan had near normal snowfall this winter.
(NOAA/Mark Torregrossa)
One thing is true about Michigan's winters. Very rarely do back-to-back winters have similar weather. This certainly was the case this past winter.
It started out very snowy in November, with some locations receiving record snowfall. Then December snowfall was just the opposite. Much of southern Lower Michigan had less than one inch of snow in December. That month's lack of snow was also a record in some locations.
As far as big snowstorms go, there was really only one widespread heavy snow, coming at the beginning of February.
In the end, most locations in southern Lower Michigan had "normal" snowfall this winter.
Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint, Saginaw, Grand Rapids and Muskegon had total snowfall within 5 inches of normal.
Lansing didn't have much snowfall, totaling only 36 inches compared to 51 inches normally.
Kalamazoo was the only city in southern Lower Michigan that topped out well above normal for snowfall. Ray Hackman has been keeping weather records in Kalamazoo for 60 years. He says Kalamazoo had 95 inches of snow this winter, making it the snowiest big city in southern Lower Michigan.
What a difference a year makes
Some locations this winter had less than half the amount of snow of last winter.
Detroit had 95 inches in the winter of 2013-2014. This winter, Detroit received only 47 inches. Ann Arbor had 97 inches of snow in 2013-2014, which is 45 inches more snow than this winter. Flint had 39 inches less snow this winter.
The snowbelt cities on the west side of Lower Michigan had considerably less snow this winter compared to last year. Grand Rapids had 38 inches less snow. Muskegon shoveled 40 inches less snow, and Kalamazoo was down 30 inches.
What caused less snow?
The way this winter started, it looked like it was going to be a back-breaker. Then in December the upper air flow split into two pieces, one piece north of Michigan and the other south. This left us without any storm systems moving through in December. The "normal" winter storm track came back in the second half of January. This is when we had the only big snowstorm on the last of January and first of February. Finally, the normally stormy month of March was pretty quiet.
I think this reminds us the same season in back-to-back years can be vastly different here in Michigan. That's what makes our weather so interesting.
If you have questions or comments, please post them below.
MLive Chief Meteorologist Mark Torregrossa has been forecasting Michigan weather for more than 25 years. He's been chief meteorologist at three television news stations in Michigan, and he's an avid gardener and hunter. Email him at mtorregr@mlive.com and find him on Facebook at facebook.com/mark.torregrossa and Twitter @weathermanmark