Setting a record

Yes! We did it! Detroit has broken the record for the most snowfall in one year!

Though I had quite enough snow to last me to next December, last week we were two inches short of a record set back in the winter of 1881. The piles of snow had melted. The grass was turning green. Trees were beginning to show some activity. I had been out on my bike a couple times. We got a day or two with temperatures around 70F. I've even seen several robins and a daffodil or two. We had just gone through a brutal winter and we had not broken the record. That's like training for years and only getting a silver medal.

This is Detroit, however, and it is only April. And Monday night we got snow. According to the weather station at Detroit Metro Airport 3.1 inches fell. So a new record has been set at 94.8 inches in one season. That's almost eight feet! For my foreign readers, that's 2.4 meters. Fortunately, it wasn't all on the ground at once.

I didn't get all three inches at my house and because the pavement was still warm there was nothing to plow or shovel.

The snow season doesn't officially end until the end of June. We've had snow in May. So we might lengthen our lead. Thankfully, meteorologists think it is likely that was the last snow of the season.

We also had the most severe winter in a good long time (though perhaps not a record). This was measured by the low temperatures and the number of days between thaws. And many cities are posting high costs for snow removal, busting several budgets.

So I claim bragging rights: I lived through the winter of 2014!