In my previous article, I wrote that this winter would be a much warmer winter with wetter conditions in the Eastern Half of Michigan, but that was not what we experienced this past winter.

Before I compared the weather, I was curious to see what students of Berkley High School thought the weather would be like, and if they liked it.

First, Olivia Zacklan said that she hoped that there wouldn’t be too much snow this year, and that just a little would be nice. When we got this colder weather this year, she said she was excited about it.

Along with that, another student who prefers to remain anonymous said that they thought the weather would be much wetter, and not as much snow as we had. Along with that, they said they expected more chilly winds. When asked about if they liked the weather, they replied, “I was hoping for a bit more snow”.

I also interviewed Mr. Thomas, a Positive Psychology and AP Psychology teacher at Berkley High School. He said that he thought the weather in winter would be colder than it was, with a bit more snow. Along with that, Mr. Thomas talked about how weather in different locations in Michigan varies, and how that differs from Metro Detroit. “I’m a big skier, so I go up on the weekends up north and there’s plenty of snow up there… coming back here, it was a bit underwhelming.” Mr. Thomas also mentioned wanting more during the winter. “I would have liked to see a bit more [snow], but other than that I thought it was a mild, agreeable winter.”

Lastly, I also interviewed Mr. Bebeau, a French teacher at Berkley High School. He said that he expected it to be “really cold and with lots of snow.” Along with that, Mr. Bebeau said that this winter wasn’t too bad, compared to what he thought it would be like.

NOAA, or National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted a warmer winter with wetter conditions in the Eastern Half of Michigan. Wetter conditions include snow, rain, ice, sleet, etc. This year, however, seemed to be different then what was predicted. 13 ABC News said that this year, we experienced a much cooler than average temperature with average snowfall. The majority of snowfall this year came from Lake Michigan, or the lake effect.

The Lake Effect is when cold air, normally from Canada, goes across the Great Lakes. When the air passes over the unfrozen water, the warmth and moisture get transferred to the lowest place in the atmosphere. After this, the air rises and clouds form and then grow into a band that then makes around two to three inches of snow per hour. This year, we also had the most consecutive days that snow was on the ground for the 2020s so far. There were 56 days where snow was consistently on the ground, whereas in 2022-2023, there was only 13 consecutive days of snow.

However, if you compare this Winter to previous Winters it was on the lower, warmer side. According to 13 ABC News, it was the 63rd warmest Winter, and the 54th snowiest (since 1892). The sunshine was average, however, the coldest Michigan Winter was in 1934. According to The Lansing Journal, on Feb 9 Otsego County recorded the coldest temperature in Michigan, which was -51 degrees Fahrenheit. On the opposite side of weather, NOAA says the warmest winter in Michigan was just last year, with the average temperature was 33-36 degrees fahrenheit. It is important to note that meteorologists use different schedules of when winter starts and ends to track seasonal weather easier. For winter, meteorologists mark the start and end of winter as Dec 1 to Feb 28/29 depending on if there is a leap year.

Going forward, we should take into account that global warming may impact weather patterns. This means we may have to consider warmer weather, or colder weather than what was expected in previous years. Climate change is changing the world, and we must change our predictions.