Uhhh, is this thing on? We're already well into January and we've hardly had any snow in Southeast Michigan this winter. Both the Farmer's Almanac and the National Weather Service correctly predicted a warmer, rainier winter this season, thanks to El Niño winds pushing warmer Pacific Ocean winds eastward. Depending on your outlook, this could be a miracle.
If you're into skiing and winter sports, you're probably a little bummed out, or already made plans to travel to get your fix. Heck, even if, like me, you don't particularly consider yourself a winter person, you might still be finding yourself missing the weather.
Is that weird? Sure, we've had better driving commutes. I haven't spent any morning stoically scraping the ice off of my car. But a part of me feels like I'm missing out on the reason for the season. There was something oddly communal about the great Polar Vortex surge of 2013-14 — walking past the absurd piles of snow, darkly laughing at the negative double-digit temperatures, sharing the viral YouTube videos of people tossing boiling water into the air that immediately transformed into ice crystals. Is this some sort of Midwestern Stockholm syndrome?
At any rate, as they say in Michigan, if you don't like the weather, just wait a little bit. The Polar Vortex has reportedly broken up over the North Pole, which could send some of that arctic chill down into Michigan later this month. If it does, we have your guide for how to deal with it right here. In this issue, you'll find some of our picks on where and how to enjoy the outdoors, recommendations for how to stay warm in style, what to do if you want to stay in and take care of yourself, and a selection of winter events to help you make it to spring.
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