Winter started with a bang for the 2016-2107 Winter Season. Heavy wet snow fell in the weeks leading up to Christmas. We reached half of the seasonal average of snowfall for the Grand Rapids area before Christmas. Even though that was here for a solid three weeks, by the time we reached Christmas, it was rainy and warm, with a big thaw. Then the week after Christmas was uneventful.
To start the new year, arctic air was followed by a rain and snow mixture then warmer air again. A lot of rain fell through the average coldest part of the year, which is mid-January. However again, mother nature flipped a switch and it was back to winter at the end January and the start of February.
But, let us not stop there. This is because this roller coaster ride that mother nature had us on did not end. We received even more rainy weather in February with very warm weather follow. There were some ups and downs with the temperatures, but overall it was relatively mild month with minimal snow. Nearing the end of February, we were approaching some record high temperatures for the Grand Rapids area.
To start the month of March, we had some colder weather and some snow, but not enough to cause much trouble. Ice on the pavement was the issue, but not any snow accumulations. However, mother nature was not done just yet. In mid-March, we received enough cold weather and snow to cover the pavement. The cold weather stayed around for a while. By the latter half of the month, it was starting to look like we were out of the woods for winter and heading into spring.
Overall, besides a very wintry start to the season, it was like riding a roller coaster. If you were to look at each month, as a generality, the first half of the month had active weather, then the second half was a little more tame. We did however end with just about an average number of times plowed for the winter. It may not feel like that because more than half of those came in December, but it was close to average for the season. The saying “If you do not like the weather in Michigan, just wait five minutes” was not too far from the truth. I know it took longer than five minutes for different weather to come in, but most of the time is was just a few days and we had something different.