Winter 'misery index' ranks how bad winter has been; In beleaguered Detroit, it's the worst

Star Tribune ^ | 2-25-14 | JEFF KAROUB

[TurboZamboni]

A new winter misery index confirms what many Americans in the Midwest and East know in their all-too-chilled bones: This has been one of the harshest winters of our lifetimes. And nowhere has been hit harder, relatively, than Detroit. Sure Chicago, Indianapolis and Philadelphia and Moline, Ill., are in the midst of their third most extreme winters in more than 60 years. But Detroit, a city that is trying to crawl out of bankruptcy, is also slogging through what so far is the most extreme winter it has had since Harry Truman was president, at least, according to a winter extremity index created by a National Weather Service meteorologist Barbara Mayes Boustead. The index is based on cold temperatures and snowfall. And so far Detroit has had more than 6 1/2 feet of snow and 100 days when the thermometer plunged below the freezing mark. Of two dozen cities studied, Detroit alone is in the middle of its harshest winter since 1950.

[TurboZamboni]

Just further proof whatever nature makes bad for you , Democrats can make even worse.

thanks for the potholes, rats!

[cripplecreek]

It hasn't exactly been a picnic for those of us outside Detroit either.



Michigan legislative action thread

[2banana]

Global Warming hits women and minorities hardest!

[Squawk 8888]

Agreed. Toronto is -11C right now and the forecast calls for a drop to -25C tomorrow.

[Karl Spooner]

I sure picked the wrong year to go green and do without a car.

[gleeaikin]

I remember winter 1956-57 in Iowa City. Eight am temperatures for a week ranged from minus 24 to minus 27f, with mid day temps around 21f below 0. I also spent a summer there with daytime temps from 105 to 107, with nights at 93f, with no AC. UGG!! Has it been that bad in recent years?

[Chode]

i remember when the polar vortex was called the Canadian Clipper, and the Siberian Express before that and Arctic Air Mass before that...

[Squawk 8888]

Here in Toronto it hasn’t been this bad since 1997, when we went for about a month and a half with highs never getting above -15C (~10F). Since the new year we had one short break last week where it went above freezing for a couple of days but it looks like at least a couple of weeks before that happens again. Usually by the beginning of March it gets above freezing most days but it’s shaping up to be a late spring this year.

[cripplecreek]

Yeah I’ve got about 8 degrees right now with winds expected to gust up to 35 mph overnight and into tomorrow afternoon. I’ll see the temperatures bottom out around 6 or 7 am.

[Squawk 8888]

Sounds about right- your weather usually hits us about 12 hours later.

[Libloather]

[Ken H]

In Detroit Michigan, snow shovels you!

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

In Detroit itself many, most, side streets don't get plowed. Ever! At least for the past number of years. But this has been an issue this year. There was a deep and fluffy snow fall first then later some heavy wet snow followed by rain that all sat there frozen in the streets. I drive a truck with some clearance underneath, lower vehicles must drag there way through solid packed ice.

So I'm moving my truck out of the way for a semi truck delivery today. How many of them we've had stuck this year is another story. I'm going around the block back to my parking lot and holy-moly! It's a City of Detroit plow truck dumper with a load of salt just in front of me.

He's cruising along with the dump tilted up and the whirlie spreader going but no salt is being fed to it. Some is spilling from the dumper gate, at a rate of about one quart per house or less.

Ah Detroit. This year it's a good place to be selling rock salt. Did I mention the shortage of bagged ice melters and that we've finally been re-supplied?

What a way to make a living.

[Squawk 8888]

Did I mention the shortage of bagged ice melters and that we've finally been re-supplied? Ironic, given Detroit's proximity to one of the biggest salt mines in the world.

[grellis]

Dodging potholes is the automobile version of Frogger—lots of fun on an uncongested road but I could live without it. Apart from the craters, this has been the best winter I’ve had in a long, long time. I love the cold and snow.

[cripplecreek]

I don’t mind it for a while but I’ve had enough for 1 year.

[jimpick]

Gosh I am dieing to go camping in this snow. No need for a tent. It’s about three feet here after the big thaw we just had. Perfect for snow caves to sleep in.

[TurboZamboni]

When I lived in St.Paul years ago, we could let go of the steering wheel and the ice ruts would guide you all the way home, rubbing your oilpan on the hump all the way.

Third world plowing for G8 prices.

[stayathomemom]

I grew up in Detroit. Our street was never plowed. If you wanted it cleared you shoveled it yourself. Driveways were not that long and seriously, it wouldn't be much more work than many in the suburbs do to clear longer and wider driveways.
My sister told me a story of one bad snowfall. My dad had died the year before so he wasn't able to help. My sister had to get to work at 6 AM at her job at U Hospital in Ann Arbor. Our house was 13 houses from the corner of Grand River Ave. If she could make it to the corner, she could make it to work. So, she and my 60 something year old mom shoveled a path all the way down the block so her VW Rabbit wouldn't get hung up in the deep snow. They made it to the corner just as a snowplow plowed them in with a 4 foot pile of snow. I think she started crying but they got busy and did more shoveling. She did make it to work.

[TurboZamboni]

I need a new high efficiency natural gas furnace.

This one ain’t cuttin it any more.