East beats West during upside-down winter; plus the Monarch population rises in Mexico

From AccuWeather.com, this is AccuWeather Daily, a brief host read article, its weather news

and a nutshell.

This episode is brought to you by Factor.

Get out of your meal run with Factor and kickstart your healthy eating journey.

Factor makes it easy with 100 rotating weekly meals designed by dietitians and crafted

by chefs.

These meals are delicious and super easy to grab and eat because they're ready in about

two minutes.

There's tons of meal options too.

From high protein to calorie smart, Mediterranean diet options, GLP1 support, ready to eat salads,

and more.

For me, I'm just looking for a little variety throughout the week.

So I recently tried Factor's queso, fundido, and ground beef.

In two minutes, it was ready and what I wasn't expecting was the flavor explosion I got.

The queso was rich and creamy.

The nicely seasoned ground beef a perfect complement.

But don't just take it from me, try Factor for yourself.

Go to FactorMeals.com slash AccuWeather50All and use code AccuWeather50All to get 50% off and

free breakfast for a year.

Eat like a pro this month with Factor.

New subscribers only varies by plan.

One free breakfast item per box for one year while subscription is active.

The winter has officially come to an end with astronomical spring beginning on Friday.

One part of the country got a blockbuster snow season while other areas ended up in

a major snow drought.

So how did winter stack up where you live?

Well, the heaviest snow this season in the east fell in the favored lake effect areas

of the upper peninsula of Michigan and western New York, as is typical.

But this season delivered near record snowfall to these areas, with some places recording

more than 100 inches above their historical average.

In Michigan, two stations where snow is officially measured have exceeded 300 inches, which

is a rare feat.

As of Thursday, the town of Herman had measured 350 and a half inches, which equates to about

a little over 29 feet of snow, roughly 120 inches above normal.

Recorded 331.3 inches or about 27 and a half feet of snow, snowfall can only officially

be measured by trained weather observers.

One of the NOAA cooperative observers says that he has never seen anything like this in

Michigan.

Herman's 347 and a half inches has been exceeded only once in the annals of weather records.

That was back in the 1996-97 season, when 384 inches fell.

The town of Herman pulled ahead of Larium, where the NOAA station is located after a mid-march

blizzard dropped nearly 4 feet of snow there last week.

Local ski resorts have also picked up a lot of snow this season, with Mount Bohemia measuring

332 inches and Mount Ripley boasting 313 inches this season.

Other parts of the eastern US, including the high 95 Corridor from, say, Wilmington,

Delaware to Boston and New York City, ended up with lower numbers than Michigan, but even

higher percentages compared to their averages.

The JPEG ski resort in Vermont picked up 347 inches, but that's a little bit less than

they got last year when they got 475 inches.

Most of the Carolinas, where snow is rare, also ranked as much as 3-4 times their average.

Thanks to a rare, major winter storm in late January.

The west, on the other hand, is in a snow drought, with most areas getting less than 50%

of their historical average snowfall.

The snow cover in the western US has been the lowest percentage in the modern record

for most of the season.

Snowwater equivalent or the amount of liquid in the snowpack is under 50% for about half

the area measured.

Salt Lake City typically measures 47 inches of snow throughout the winter.

This season only recorded 3, meanwhile in Flagstaff, Arizona.

This year's seasonal snowfall was only 26.6 inches, which is 53 inches below its historical

average of 79.6 inches.

How about those ski resorts?

You know, it's extremely unusual to see ski resorts in the northeast, beat those in

the mountains out west, but what happened this season?

Workwood ski area in California has received 264 inches, with 260 inches at all to Utah.

Both are considerably less than Jay Peak and Vermont, which again got 347 inches.

Mount Shasta's ski park in California has closed for the season, and it was a disappointing

one for the folks there after being open only 55 days, forcing them to refund unused portions

of their minimum 60-day pass holders.

Upcams there show bare ground, Dodge Ridge and other ski area in California also shut

down for the season this week.

Well, butterflies are a nice sign that spring is here, and a key monarch butterfly population

is showing some signs of improvement this year, but scientists are warning that the species

remains in long-term decline, especially in the Western United States.

No data released by World Wildlife Fund Mexico and Conservation Partners show the eastern

monarch population, which overwinteres in Central Mexico, increased by 64 percent compared

to last winter.

Monarchs occupied about seven and a quarter acres of forest during the 2025-2026 season.

That's up from about four and a half acres the year before.

The annual survey measures how much forest area the butterflies cover during hibernation,

offering a reliable indicator of population trends.

While the jump is encouraging, well, experts say it does not signal a full recovery.

Scott Black, who is director of the Zerce's Society for Invertebrate Conservation, said

that while an increase is great news, the numbers in Mexico are still well below historic

norms.

While the western monarch population that overwinteres in California is seeing its third worst

year on record, we urgently need better protections for this beloved butterfly.

The contrast between those two populations is pretty stark.

In coastal California, where western monarchs spend the winter, numbers remain dangerously

low.

The Zerce's Society's annual western monarch count recorded just 12,260 butterflies in

late November, marking the third lowest total ever observed in a dramatic drop from the

millions seen back in the 80s, which scientists consider a stable baseline.

Zerce's Society experts say year-to-year swings control attention, but the bigger concern

is a sustained long-term decline driven by habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change.

Monarchs are known for one of the most remarkable migrations in the natural world.

The eastern population travels between Canada and Mexico over multiple generations, while

the western population moves between the interior western U.S. and coastal California.

New technology is now helping scientists better understand that journey.

Last fall, researchers deployed ultra-light blue-plus transmitters on about 470 monarchs

across the eastern and central U.S. to track their migration.

One tagged butterfly has already provided a glimpse into the species' resilience.

After overwintering in Mexico, she crossed the Rio Grande de Texas on March 14th of this

year, and flew roughly 320 miles in just one day, reaching the eastern edge of the Houston

metro area by the following evening.

Even with these advances, experts are warning that monarchs remain highly vulnerable.

Dr. Ray Moran, a pollinator conservation specialist with the Circuses Society, said that with

monarch butterfly populations this low, they are at a much greater risk of extinction

if they encounter catastrophic weather events like extreme drought in the Midwest, or blizzards

at the Mexican overwintering colonies.

Scientists say recovery will depend on widespread conservation efforts across North America,

including planting native milkweed and nectar plants, reducing pesticide use, and protecting

critical overwintering habitats in both Mexico and California.

Without those efforts, the recent gains in Mexico may prove to be temporary for one of the

continents' most recognizable species.

That's all for now.

You can find more regional forecasts and science-based articles at acuether.com, and for your local forecast

at your fingertips, download the Acuether app.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, the weather aware, and I'll be back on Monday morning

with more from Acuether.

Spring break isn't what it used to be.

It's better.

This spring, stay three nights and get a $50 Best Western gift card.

Life's a trip.

Make the most of it at BestWestern.

Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions.