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2 Michigan Cities Top List Of Snowiest In The U.S. This Winter

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - It's a one-two finish for Michigan in the race to be the snowiest "non-mountainous" city across the U.S. this past winter.

The Washington Post, combing through data from National Weather Service stations, reported Sault Ste. Marie recorded 158.7 inches of snow — more than 13 feet — edging out Marquette by less than two inches. The rest of the top ten cities, according to NWS records, were in New England states.

Even when mountainous cities were factored in, only Mount Rainier topped the U.P. for snow — with more than 14 and a half feet of it this winter.

None of this came as a shock to CBS 62 Chief Meteorologist Jim Madaus.

"I'm not surprised. The entire northern Michigan region is in that snow belt area that just gets hit every year no matter what, with that lake-effect snow," Madaus said.

"All it takes is a very cold batch of continental polar air coming down from Canada, across the warmer water of Lake Superior, to turn on the snow machine," he said. "It happens every year up there."

[Wild Michigan Weather On Tap This Week]

So, after two crazy winters in a row, should Michiganders accept that this is just the way it will be going forward? Or was it a fluke?

"I wouldn't call it a fluke. This is just the way weather patterns work," Madaus said. "You're gonna get two or three wild winters, then you're gonna get two or three mild winters. We could be in for another bad one again next year...obviously, time will tell."

While, Madaus said, Michigan could see a little bit more snow yet in the coming weeks (as some of the worse snow the state's ever seen has hit in April), it's "pretty safe" to say the worst is over until next winter.

That bad news: Although some warmer days might be a tease (it could get up to 60 degrees on Wednesday), for the most part, Madaus said, metro Detroiters should expect below-average temperatures to hang around well into April.

Know before you go. Keep it tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest forecast during traffic and weather, every 10 minutes on the 8s. Get complete weather information now at this link.

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