New Englanders are used to crazy weather of every sort, but this winter was a completely different story. Over the last few years, Western Massachusetts has faced just about every type of weather, from a tornado to October blizzards to near hurricane force winds and now one of the coldest, snowiest, craziest winters on record.

This winter started out well before winter officially started on November 27 with a nice 5-8 inch snowstorm for Thanksgiving. This surprise storm kicked off what would turn out to be a very odd winter.

December added to the oddity of the winter as it was unusually warm. December’s average temperature high temperature is 34.8 degrees but this year it was an average high of 39.5 degrees. On the other side the average low is usually 19.0 degrees and this year it was 27.2 degrees. December also featured only one snowstorm on the 11th that left us with 2 inches. This was odd, as it was much warmer than usual and many people were probably hoping for these trends to continue through the whole winter.

January was where the true misery of winter hit. The temperatures became colder averaging a high of 28.7– about 3 degrees colder than usual, while the average low was 9.5 degrees, about 6 degrees colder than usual. The snow hit hard in January too with six snow storms. They started on the 4th with 2 inches, then the 9th with 3-4 inches, the 12th brought an ice storm, the 24th brought 6-7 inches of snow, the 27th gave 7-8 inches of snow, and the 30th left 2 more inches. The total snowfall for the month was about 22 inches, leaving many sick of snow.

February is where things truly went downhill. The average high temperature plummeted to 24.6 degrees about 6 degrees below average, and the average low was -.1 degrees, over 10 degrees below average! Not only was this month much colder than usual, it also left people searching for places to put their snow. February featured five snow storms. They started on the 2nd with a 12 inch storm, then the 5th left 2 more inches, and a two day storm between the 8th and 9th left another 12 inches for all, the 15th left another 4 inches. The month of snow ended on the 22nd with a 5 inch storm. The month ended with a total of about 36 inches of snow. The month of February left many sick of the cold and wondering what to do with their snow.

March, usually the light at the end of the tunnel for winter, proved to be false hope and kept on with the trend of the winter. The average high temperature again failed to get over 40 as it usually does and ended at an average high of 39.2 for the month. The low was very low for the month ending at an average of 18.8 degrees much lower then the average of 23.6. There were only two snow storms in March– a 3 inch storm on the 2nd and another 3 inch storm on the 4th. The month was very cold but only two snow storms pleased many, and the end of the month stated to warm up implying winter was on its way out.

April, long after winter officially ended, left us all with one more treat. Thursday the 9th everybody woke up to the surprise of a coating of snow on the ground. Hopefully this was winter’s goodbye to us.

The winter of 2014-2015 was truly one to remember. It left about 75 inches of snow and very cold temperatures. Everyone all winter was hoping for the end of winter and most everyone is glad to see it go. On my behalf, I hope next year yields very little snow and much warmer temperatures. Let’s all hope this winter was a double dose of what we truly deserved and winter goes much easier on us next year.