While it was just a week ago Northern Michigan was getting slammed by a winter storm, we missed out on the most recent one which passed by hundreds of miles to our south/east.
Southern Michigan did get in on snow with Detroit and suburbs picking up nearly a half foot of snow at Rochester Hills and Livonia. Grand Rapids tallied only 2.6" of snowfall Wednesday night.
The biggest snow totals buried parts of Upstate New York with 18" reported at Copenhagen in Lewis County, New York.
Another interesting note, as of early Wednesday, NOAA reports that 61.4% of the Lower 48 has snow cover on the ground, which is the highest amount of territory covered by snow this time of the year in the past decade!
By virtue of comparison, last year only 26% of the Lower 48 had snow on the ground at Christmas. We started the month of December with only 8% covered, so winter has certainly arrived.
Longer range outlooks keep things chilly well into next week and the start of the New Year.
