Sorry if this is a weather related question but......

[mattus]

What the heck happened to this winter??????

 

[old abe]

Bad luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tourguide]

Looks like too many people bought new sleds, and jinxed it!

 

[toddspolaris]

first year in 31 years of riding that I didn't get to ride, Bummer, have 4 sleds sitting there ready to go but lack of snow in the lower, maybe next year

 

[rjgoniea]

I hear you. In mid-Michigan we had close to a foot on the ground on Feb 11th. It's all gone and we've been dealing with moderate flooding the last few days. So I've written off winter here. Can't trust March to bring much if any snow around here.

 

[jd]

Not over yet, but so far, disappointing for some, but good for others. Location, location, location!

Seriously, if I was able to say what was the main driving factor in the way this winter has played out so far, then there is a great chance my seasonal outlook would be closer to what we have had so far and I would not need to go out of my way to say that no one should put too much faith into ANY seasonal outlook.

-John

 

[Bullitt69]

I'm trying to think back to how many times in the last 20 years Lake Superior has frozen over (like this year),........ Seems we got a ton of LES from about Mid Dec thru Mid / Late January, but then it shut down for the most part due to the freeze up second week of Feb.

 

[frnash]

I'm trying to think back to how many times in the last 20 years Lake Superior has frozen over (like this year),........ Seems we got a ton of LES from about Mid Dec thru Mid / Late January, but then it shut down for the most part due to the freeze up second week of Feb.

Take your choice from these:

This from LiveScience, June 27, 2017:
(click →) "Lake Superior: Facts About the Greatest Great Lake", quoted here in part:

"During most winters, the lake is 40 to 95 percent covered with ice, although it rarely completely freezes. The last time Lake Superior froze over was in 2014. Overall, the Great Lakes reached a 91 percent ice cover that year, which is the most the lakes have frozen since 1979."

See also this from the Minnesota North Shore Visitor Guide (undated):
(click →) "Lake Superior Fun Facts", quoted here in part:

"Last time Superior totally froze over was 1997. In 2003 the lake almost froze over again, except the western areas along the Minnesota shoreline."

And more here, from Accuweather, March 10, 2014,
(click →) "Harsh Winter Causes Greatest Great Lakes Ice Coverage Since 1979", quoted here in part (emphasis added):

"With an end in sight, the winter of 2014 rages on, ushering in frigid arctic air and dumping record-breaking snow and ice on much of the nation. This season, ice coverage on the Great Lakes has exceeded all other measurements since 1979.
'By a long shot, this is the most ice we've had on Lake Superior in 20 years,' Associate Professor at the Large Lakes Observatory in Duluth, Minn., Jay Austin said. "
…
"Unlike a pond, the depth of the Great Lakes prevent it from being a completely frozen sheet of ice, but instead the ice atop the lakes can actually move with the wind, according to Austin. Due to the ability of the ice to move around, the thickness of the ice across the lakes vary and therefore researchers do not know how thick the ice is in all portions of the lake. So, this makes it hard for scientists to define what freezing over entirely really means.

If you want to dig into all the gory details, it's all in this from NOAA/GLERL:
(click →) "Historical Ice Cover".

"NOAA/GLERL has been monitoring and documenting Great Lakes ice cover since the early 1970's using the ice products developed by the U.S. National Ice Center and the Canadian Ice Service."

 

[Tracker]

many moons of happiness are yet to come