The average March temperature in Rochester was 47.3 degrees.  This was a remarkable 13 degrees above average.

The average winter (December-January-February) temperature in Rochester was 32.4 degrees.  This placed the winter as the fifth warmest on record.  The warmest winter in Rochester history was in 1931-32 when the average temperature reached 34.5 degrees.  (The only noteworthy item to cheer if you are a winter weather fan was the above normal snowfall that was observed in February.)

Additionally, this past winter nationally also turned out to be the 5th warmest on record.

You thus might be surprised to learn that globally, this winter was the 11th coldest on record in the 34 year satellite record.

This is attributable to the fact that parts of Europe and Asia were breaking records for low temperatures and heavy snow, while we in the States were basking in the glow of a low winter sun.

Here is one metric provided by the National Weather Service relative to the snow drought in Rochester, which I think is symptomatic of much of the country:  In a normal winter, there are 76 days where the ground is covered be at least one inch of snow.  The record for the least amount of such days is 35.  So far this year there have been just 9 such days!  (BTW, the record for the least amount of snowfall is 11 inches which was set in the winter of 1932-33.  That record is safe.)

The other city we included in our analogue forecast for the Great Lakes was Chicago.  And there certainly has been a snow drought there, as well.  The total seasonal snowfall to date in Chicago stands at 13.9 inches.  The normal snowfall to date is 22.9 inches and by this time last year there had been 50.1 inches of snow.

The numbers in Rochester and Chicago are consistent with what our analogue forecast suggested.  So far, so good.