LANSING, Mich. — Temperatures soared and broke records numerous times. Not just for the daytime highs but the warm nights were record breaking as well. Could this be a sign of things to come?
As the earth continues to warm due to human-caused climate change, our next el nino could be even warmer in Michigan.
Let's start by looking back. December clocked in at a staggering 8.8° above average for the month in Lansing. Lansing also only recorded 2.5" of snow that melted shortly after it fell. This makes the last month of 2023 the second warmest and 12th least snowiest December on record. Records go back 160 years, so even 12th least snowiest is way up there.
January was the only winter weather that even stuck around for a week or so. Even then, we ended up 2.3° above average for the month. The stretch of winter we did have packed a punch! Over 18 inches of snow fell in the capital city. Our eight days of below average temperatures got as cold as negative four degrees at times.
February was another severe lack of winter conditions. Lansing recorded a mind-blowing 9.4° departure from average for the month with only 1.9 inches of snowfall. That's the third least snowiest February on record (out of 160 years!) and second warmest on record. The first place holder was February of 2017 and we were only 0.2 degrees behind that one. On top of that, we set the all-time highest temperature ever recorded for the month at 73 degrees. The previous record hottest temperature for February was 69 degrees.
Many viewers around our neighborhoods, including myself, were reporting plants coming out of the ground. In fact, in December there were some green leaves and branches sprouting out from bushes.
As a whole, in Lansing, we were more than six degree above average for the winter months, and nearly two feet below average on snowfall.
This is a direct result of el nino combined with human-caused climate change. Temperatures around the world are surging this winter - we are not alone. The more warming that occurs, the more winters like this we can expect in Michigan.
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