Winter wanted to start a little bit early in West Michigan. We saw a few inches of snow fall the weekend before Thanksgiving, but that snow only stuck to the grassy areas. It took a few days to melt.
Then December, it is the first month of winter, but the month of December was anything but. During the middle of the month, we hit record high temperatures. Christmas was green as the small amount of snow that did fall the week before all melted as the temperatures went above average again.
However, before 2015 was over, we received some very heavy sleet, which acted like a very wet and heavy snow. That stuck around, with more snow adding to it in the weeks that followed. By the middle of the month, it snowed quite a bit. There were multiple stretches with two or more days in a row that we received a measurable amount of snow.
By the time we got to the end of January, the temperatures moderated a little bit and we received some rain as well as some snow. At the beginning of February, all that was left was the snow piles as warmer weather and a good amount of rain melted the snow. But the cold air was not done yet. By the time we got into the second week of February, colder air came back in with lake effect snow showers.
Around Valentine’s Day, we had some very cold air move in, but within a week, we were back above 40 degrees. However, the roller coaster was not over yet. We had a couple of heavier snow events for the season. And the temperature coaster continued with warmer and rainy weather shortly after those snow events. Near the end of March, we had a large storm that brought rain to some areas, snow to others, and a mix of rain, snow and ice to even other areas.
This 2015-2016 winter season brought a bit below average on snow, but it still brought snow. Up and down is a good way to describe the winter in terms of snow and cold. The biggest bummer about this winter was the fact that the ground never froze for a long duration which led to a lot of sod damage from snow plowing, but any damage that was done will be repaired once we are able to.