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Winter Just Not The Same Anymore??


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Is it just me or winters not the same anymore?? We use to get snow in Nov and have snow till March or sometimes April, now we get a little snow here and there, it warms up or rains and the snow is gone. It seems like the good riding weather and snow conditions are thru the week and by the weekend it warms up or rains. Seems like a lot more people are traveling a lot farther to get to good riding areas & conditions. 

How far are you willing to travel/trailer your sleds to ride for a day, weekend or a week??? 

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Since 80’s here, winter has its same ups and diwns. Pre 80’s lits of snow, lits of ski mountain building, lots if snowmobike manufacturers. Fresk amt if snowy winters did that.
 

This summer was Coldest rainiest summer on record here. Hoping continues this winter.

Edited by CFM
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2 hours ago, Jerry 976 said:

Is it just me or winters not the same anymore?? We use to get snow in Nov and have snow till March or sometimes April, now we get a little snow here and there, it warms up or rains and the snow is gone. It seems like the good riding weather and snow conditions are thru the week and by the weekend it warms up or rains. Seems like a lot more people are traveling a lot farther to get to good riding areas & conditions. 

How far are you willing to travel/trailer your sleds to ride for a day, weekend or a week??? 

 

same here in michigan , not the winters we used to have.         :thumbsdown:

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We never had consistent winter here in southern NH. It’s been years like 5-6-7 years since southern NH has had a year when the trails were open and good for more than a week or two. I use to travel every weekend 4-8hrs one way to find snow from opening day till last decent day in may sometimes. The motto was if there’s snow we go. Fast forward to now with wife and two little kids I’m lucky to go one trip up north a year. My buds still chase it all winter long even all the way to the gaspe but they are single so they still can bastards 😂 

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I think they're the same here in MN as always.  Some good years, some not so good.

I think the problem people have, is you only remember the big snow years.  A brown winter is not worth remembering so you don't.  But an October Blizzard is worth remembering so people still talk about it every single Halloween, 30 years later.  You can just look at historical data and average snowfall and temps and realize it was never as good as people think it was.  People remember the outliers.

Just recently in the 18/19 winter we had massive snow in MN.  The 19/20 year we had 2-3' around Thanksgiving, that year they cancelled Duluth snocross.  That snow carried us through the whole year, trails couldn't open for a long time because all the snow insulated swamps.  Last year was a leaner year than others, but I think we were actually still above average maybe! 

Yes I remember as a kid all these big snows.  But then if I think hard I also remember me and my buddy freaking out and obsessively watching weather for future snows because we had none to ride, or not enough.  That was early 90's.  There have been plenty of thin years since, and many big snow years also.

Heck that was why I got my high country in 19, we had a couple big snow years where you just couldn't ride a trail sled anywhere besides on a trail.  I knew going in that there'd be some seasons where it doesn't get much or any use.  I think you just have to roll with it.  I really don't think winters have changed at all, I think it's people's memory and perception.  It still gets freakishly cold, too.  Not last year but the couple years before that were crazy cold, I remember new years eve it got to near -40f that night and I hadn't planned for that and I had my diesel and it was all gelled up, that was early for those temps and those years it would be -40 for many nights!  If it ever got above zero those years it was like a warm spell.  It was usually too cold to want to go out riding.

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On 9/11/2021 at 3:42 PM, mnstang said:

I think they're the same here in MN as always.  Some good years, some not so good.

I think the problem people have, is you only remember the big snow years.  A brown winter is not worth remembering so you don't.  But an October Blizzard is worth remembering so people still talk about it every single Halloween, 30 years later.  You can just look at historical data and average snowfall and temps and realize it was never as good as people think it was.  People remember the outliers.

Just recently in the 18/19 winter we had massive snow in MN.  The 19/20 year we had 2-3' around Thanksgiving, that year they cancelled Duluth snocross.  That snow carried us through the whole year, trails couldn't open for a long time because all the snow insulated swamps.  Last year was a leaner year than others, but I think we were actually still above average maybe! 

Yes I remember as a kid all these big snows.  But then if I think hard I also remember me and my buddy freaking out and obsessively watching weather for future snows because we had none to ride, or not enough.  That was early 90's.  There have been plenty of thin years since, and many big snow years also.

Heck that was why I got my high country in 19, we had a couple big snow years where you just couldn't ride a trail sled anywhere besides on a trail.  I knew going in that there'd be some seasons where it doesn't get much or any use.  I think you just have to roll with it.  I really don't think winters have changed at all, I think it's people's memory and perception.  It still gets freakishly cold, too.  Not last year but the couple years before that were crazy cold, I remember new years eve it got to near -40f that night and I hadn't planned for that and I had my diesel and it was all gelled up, that was early for those temps and those years it would be -40 for many nights!  If it ever got above zero those years it was like a warm spell.  It was usually too cold to want to go out riding.

 

Well said. 

I'm in my mid-40s and every decade I can remember we had some good winters, some crappy winters, & some just ok winters. Take 1987 for example, we didn't get enough snow to ride down here once the entire winter. You're right, people forget all about the brown winters and just remember the good ones. Back in 07 I started buying into the hype and even considered ditching sleds for ATVs. It was the 6th crappy winter in a row, an Inconvenient Truth had just come out, and it rained on New Year's Eve - at night - up north. But just when I was ready to throw in the towel the next 4 winters in a row were awesome (08,09,10,&11). It's all cyclical and there's cycles within cycles. There's solar cycles which drive oceanic cycles which drive the climate. And even if you buy into the whole MMGW thing, a slight change in world wide average temp has jack shit to do with what kind of winter you'll have any particular year in your neck of the woods. It's all in the jet stream / luck of the draw. Every winter some parts of the globe have harsher than average winters while other regions have milder than average ones. The funny part is every time we have a heat wave the media jumps all over GW. But every time there's a cold snap you have some smart ass telling you there's a difference between weather & climate. Well, ya'll can't have it both ways...

Edited by nacapster
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I'm with @mnstang ... I don't think things have changed much since we were kids.  I remember many brown Christmas seasons growing up, but I also recall some pretty epic hunting seasons (Thanksgiving) where the snow was abundant and set the tone for the entire season.  

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I guess I don’t remember many low/no snow winters when I was younger and I’m 44. Maybe it’s because I was smaller so the snow seemed deeper? :dunno: :lol:

I do remember the first winter that I ever owned a brand new sled though. 1998. We had reservations in Seney for the first week in February. We had to drive the 30ish miles to Wetmore just to have enough snow to ride and we still hit big mud spots. Thankfully, back then, snowmobiling wasn’t as crazy and the hotel in Wetmore had two rooms for a week available. Try that shit now. :flush:

Edited by SayatodaU.P.eh?
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I’ll go as far as I need to, to find and ride good trails.  Would I like to leave from the garage more?  Sure, but that doesn’t always happen.  

I have a pic of myself and my siblings in our front house on January 24th, 1981 wearing shorts and bare foot, 54 degrees, not a spec of snow, not any frozen ground anywhere at that time.  This was the southern Twin Cities.

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I'm 63 now will be 64 in March, the winters from the 60's and early 70's were colder, longer, and had more snow, they would race cars on a lake Ariel in the late 50's through the late 60's, now many years the lake barely freezes, the 70's had some good winters some bad, the 80's few decent ones a few in the 90's and 2000 too 2010 some snow storms usually followed by rain, 2010 through 2020 1 or 2 good winters.  Last winter was best in a long time, hope this will be a good year too.  I live in NEPA only made a few midweek  day trips to ride upstate NY.

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7 hours ago, Bontz said:

I'm with @mnstang ... I don't think things have changed much since we were kids.  I remember many brown Christmas seasons growing up, but I also recall some pretty epic hunting seasons (Thanksgiving) where the snow was abundant and set the tone for the entire season.  

There was 5" of snow on the ground when I shot my deer last year November 12th.  And I was able to trap with snowmobile in December

Edited by mnstang
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  • 3 weeks later...

Judging by the amount of acorns in our yard, mild winter, a few big snow storms but also fewer light regular maintanence snows. 

What's the farmers almanac and the guys that use jars of bear fat to predict the weather have to say?

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