A tad chilly

There's still some snow here, but nothing like a normal winter in mid-March. The past 10 days or so have all been above normal temperatures (about 34°F high and 18°F low would be average mid-March temperatures here), and even most of the nights have stayed above freezing. 4 days ago the Soo tied a record high T for the date with 55°.

Snow disappears fast when even the nights don't have any re-freezing, and there wasn't all that much snow to begin with. The total snowfall for the winter thus far is a pathetic 64 inches. Normal by this date is 107 inches. Last year the official measured snow depth at the Soo on March 15 was 25 inches; yesterday it was 3 inches. And there are plenty of bare patches.

Here's the latest comparison of Lake Superior ice between this winter and last winter. Bottom ice map is from about 12 hours ago, and the top map is for the same date 1 year ago.

will it effect the agriculture?

Probably not, for 2 reasons. 1) there's not that much in the way of agriculture in the UP in the first place, and 2) in lieu of snow, we were getting rain during the early weeks of the winter. Since Nov. 1 there's been almost 13.5 inches of total precipitation, and the average for that date span is about 10.5 inches. So there's actually been above-normal precipitation, just not in solid form.

I don't know how that will affect the river and lake levels, with the precipitation going into the ground earlier instead of in the usual big surge with the spring melt. A lot of water that normally wouldn't be available as liquid until April or May soaked into the ground and was delivered into the hydrologic system last December. Some of that stuff's probably already gone over Niagara falls by now.

This spring will be tough on the wheat crop, but on the other hand, it allowed a February frost seeding of June Clover.

Good for the animal husbandmen, bad for the dirt scratchers.  Granted, I wonder how much wheat got planted last fall after the wheat fungus that nearly wiped out central Michigan's wheat crop last year.

There are 3 or 4 vendors at the Farmers Market I sell at who do maple syrup, and they all say it's looking like a sparse production year. They said they're hearing the same from downstate, where the sap run is already finished in many (most?) areas.

Two signs that spring is here, despite yesterday's snow storm: 1) not long after midnight the Roger Blough passed through the Soo Locks to open the shipping season at the locks (followed by three other ore freighters soon after), and 2) a drive-in diner in the Soo that's been around for a long time opened for the 2016 season.

But it's still a confused time of year for weather. One local store handles that by shelving sunscreen and windshield scrapers together.

That's pretty much it for Lake Superior ice this year. There's still some loose stuff floating around, but way less than usual for the end of March. In fact, the end of March usually sees large areas that are still completely iced in, not just populated by loose little bergs that drift with wind and waves. The picture below compares a year ago (top) with yesterday (bottom). White regions represent completely ice-free zones and blue indicates loose floes moving around that cover less than 10% of the surface in that zone.

Soo snowfall totals through March 31:

This year:    71.6 inches
"Normal":    114 inches
Last year:    163.3 inches

Flash flooding here yesterday.  It's been years since I've seen the creek as high as it was for about an hour yesterday.  Three bridges on my place, including the one under the road.  All the culverts were completely submerged.  A whirlpool was the only evidence of water going through on the upstream side.

None of them washed out, though.  I guess I'll be cleaning trees and various flotsam from the mouths of culverts this weekend.

Glad to hear you dodged the washout bullet. Clearing out the junk will give you a chance to see if there's any minor erosional damage that you can fill in so you come out this well again after the next big surge to come along.

Snow flurries here this afternoon and evening, and maybe an inch or so expected tomorrow. High temps should stay below freezing for the next three days.

   April 24th is coming up pretty soon.  I remember last year I was surprised when you got your last snow flurry two or three weeks after that.  Now after your "boring"  winter, it only remains to be seen how close the last snow flurry is to hitting the target date.

when i read and see of cold temps and snow at this time of year, i'm reminded of why i picked up and moved south.

i worked outdoors in that shit for many years. i also remember baseball games postponed due to snow. i remember going to a game with my dad where we were bundled up, and he drank coffee and i had hot chocolate the whole game. still froze our asses.

forgive me, but, screw that. yeah, temps were close to 90f today. it was humid and sticky. i prefer that to trying to find my gloves when temps plummet. and, i'm lucky that my wife likes warmer temps.

@ joe. winter is only boring to those that don't like it. some like the snow and temps regularly below 90f.

And I say, screw that! Any time of year, but especially when it's just barely into the second calendar quarter and you know things will just get worse for a few months yet to come.

The temps in the 30s and 40s this week were great. I did some errands around the Soo with the window down, took my Mom's pickup through the car wash (had the window up for that), you know, the usual summer stuff.

I think Joe was referencing the pathetic 72 inches of snow this year (that I'd complained about) when he spoke of the "boring" winter.

Yeah but how are you supposed to clean out the inside of the car?  Do you wait until it rains and leave the doors open?

If the inside of the vehicle needs cleaning, then I have to leave the window down when I go through the car wash. The worst part is the jet engine blow dryers at the end . . .

 The Benson Ford; used to travel the Great Lakes.

Thanks, Joseph-- I didn't know the fate of the Benson Ford. I used to see it regularly on the St. Mary's River during the 1970s. The Ford company had several ore freighters that made the regular 5-6 day runs, so each went past our house 2 to 3 times a week.

Here's a satellite view from yesterday showing the remaining snow coverage in Michigan and part of Ontario.

It's 54°F here right now but there have been quite a few snow flurries so far during April, for a total of 16.5 inches during the first 12 days. That surpasses the 10.4 inches of snow received during the entire month of December.

It's 72°F in the Soo right now! This is the first day this year above 70°F. Yesterday was the first day of the year above 60°F.

Tomorrow's high will be back down around 50°, but that will still continue to put a major dent in the remaining snow.