After unseasonably warm weather for Christmas, winter returned with an ice storm, Monday.
The Clarkston area was under a Winter Weather Advisory in the afternoon starting about 1:30 p.m., with state offices closing early. About half an inch of freezing rain and sleet fell, and winds whipped throughout the night, with gusts of up to 38 miles an hour Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Salt trucks hit the streets in the early afternoon, Monday, with rain and temperatures in the high 30s by 5 a.m. Tuesday morning. Temperatures were forecast for 36 for the high on Wednesday, to a low of 28 on New Year’s Day.
The Olde Farmer’s Almanac, which boasts forecast accuracy rates of 80 percent since it began forecasting in 1892, predicted a colder than normal winter this season.
This week’s storm was one of few winter events so far this season, according to the National Weather Service in White Lake data.
On Nov. 22, the area’s first winter storm dropped 15 inches of snow on Clarkston. On Dec. 18, a quick ice storm brought traffic throughout Oakland County to a standstill for hours.
On Dec. 23, Michigan broke a record high temperature of 56 degrees, set in 1893.
The average temperatures for December is 34 degrees with about 24 degrees, low. Average snowfall is about 9.7 inches, according to the NWS.
The 2013/14 winter brought a record 93.6 inches of snow, breaking a record set in 1881.