Meteorologist: Michiganders Weather the Weather, Bostonians 'Wimps'

Michigan was one of the coldest places in the United States – and that includes Alaska – in February 2015. (Photo via Creative Commons)

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Before closing the door completely on February, a little retrospect that may make Saturday’s 53-degree forecast all the more delicious:

The abnormal February cold metro Detroiters weathered was more abnormal than anywhere else that it was abnormally cold last month, except in northern Ohio, which is practically Michigan anyway.

MLive Chief Meteorologist Mark Torregrossa says the average February temperature was 14.5 degrees below normal in metro Detroit, which is a very dark blue – perchance to represent lips, hands and feet and all the other extremities that turn blue in extreme cold? – on the National Weather Service’s color-coded map.

“Boston was in the news with such terrible winter weather,” Torregrossa wrote. “Well, Bostonians are winter weather wimps compared to Michiganders.”

Oh, it’s on. Is it ever on.

In comparison to frigid Detroit, Boston was only 12.7 degrees below normal during February despite all that shovel wielding and worry about what to do with all that snow. Chicago was 13.1 degrees below normal, and New York City was 11 degrees below normal during the mon

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Perhaps coincidentally, the average daily temperature in February was also 14.5 degrees in metro Detroit, where it was much colder than in Alaska, where winter thumbed its nose and caught a polar express to the lower 48 states.

On Feb. 21, the coastal fishing town of Homer, located southwest of Anchorage, reached a high of 53 in on Feb. 21.

The Detroit area hasn’t seen 53 degrees since Nov. 30, when the temperature was 60 degrees, but that could change Saturday.

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• Amazing Video of Paddleboarding Along Ice-Encrusted Lake Michigan Lighthouse