By Jim Bloch
December delivered some kooky weather to metropolitan Detroit and the state of Michigan in terms of snow, frigid temperatures and wind, according to the National Weather Service’s Monthly Weather Summary.
Paradise in the Upper Peninsula lived up to its name – if you’re an Inuit or a snow owl – with 74.1 inches of snow. That’s enough to bury Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill, who is 6’ 2”.
Detroit had it a bit easier, with 10.9 inches of snowfall, significantly less than its 1974 record of 24.9 inches.
Temps in Marquette, also in the UP, plunged to -14 Fahrenheit Dec. 8. Detroit dropped to five degrees on Dec. 5, 16 degrees above its -11-record low set Dec. 29, 1880.
To close out the year, a bomb cyclone unleased gale force winds around the state, with Sault Ste. Marie getting brushed back with a gust of 72 mph on Dec. 29. In Detroit, you may have been able to stand your ground, with the most powerful gust topping out at 55 mph.
Dramatic fluctuations in daily weather are commonplace. Climate fluctuations, on the other hand, paint a longer-range picture of what’s happening.
Warming climate, warming Decembers
· “Since 1970, December temperatures in Detroit have gotten 5.7°F hotter, reflecting an overall warming trend,” said Abbie Vietch, a media associate at Climate Central, a nonprofit organization that studies climate change, in a Jan. 7 email. “The average temperature of 27.7°F (in December 2025) was -3.6° below normal, and the 2.1 inches of precipitation was 94% of the normal amount,” with normal determined by the averages 1991-2020.
· The burning of fossil fuels, which took off with intensive industrialization in the late 1800s, has generated growing levels of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, warming the planet 2.2 degrees. The last decade has seen the 10 hottest years on record. 2024 was the hottest year on record, 2.3 degrees above the late 19th Century average, according to NASA.
· Looking at December 2025 temps in 194 U.S. cities, Climate Central found an overall increase of .4 degrees F. Ninety-five cities were cooler than average and 95 were warmer than average, with four about the same.
· The west and southwest tended to be hotter than normal. The upper Midwest, Ohio Valley, Northeast and Southeast tended to be cooler than average.
· Twelve cities set all time high temperatures in December, topped by Casper, Wyoming, which was 12.1 degrees hotter than its average. Wheeling, West Virginia, saw a December 2.9 degrees chillier than normal, even though it’s the city that’s warmed the most since 1970 at 10.7 degrees.
“Despite the mixed conditions this December, long-term December warming trends show that nearly all cities analyzed have warmed since 1970,” according to Climate Central.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
