Friday Snow Makes Small Dent in Regional Averages, More Expected Overnight

After Birmingham residents woke up to chilly temperatures in the mid-20's and a light covering of snow Friday morning, you may be wondering: where has all the snow been this year, anyway?

Since the 2011-12 snowfall season began in July, Birmingham and Metro Detroit has seen 6.7 inches of snow. 

Normally, Metro Detroit receives 15.7 total inches of snow by this time of year, said Debra Elliott, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in White Lake. In January alone, 4.5 inches of snow usually falls.

Last year at this time, Metro Detroit had seen 17.6 inches of snow, 8.3 inches of which fell from Jan. 1 through Jan. 12. The average annual snowfall in Detroit is 43 inches.

Still, area meteorologists are predicting the weather will soon normalize and snowfall totals could start to climb throughout Michigan.

"The driving factor is an eastward extension of the jet stream over the Western Pacific, said Joseph Clark, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in White Lake. "It looks like it won’t be enough to totally change this warm weather pattern, but it looks to change things quite a bit."

"We’re experiencing a pattern change, which is going to bring us closer to normal," Elliott added.

Still, Craig Bryson, spokesperson for the Road Commission for Oakland County, said the county has spent less money on road salt this year, though it's still too early to tell what the rest of the season will be like.

"It's still faily early in the winter and we're not ready to assume there will be the kind of savings for the year," Bryson said. "We're not taking a huge amount of savings that would allow us to do additional projects. If that were the case, we would put that money into probably purchasing some new equipment which we desperately need."

"A couple of bad storms in February and we could be right back to average."

According to the National Weather Service, the snow, mixed with blowing snow, will continue until 4 p.m. Friday. Wind gusts could reach as high as 28 miles per hour. The total daytime accumulation is expected to total an inch or less. If you're going out Friday night, the snow will continue through 1 a.m. with wind gusts up to 22 miles per hour.