Michigan Winters are the 3rd ‘Most Miserable’ in America

We’re #3! On second thought: Is this a list we want to top?

It depends on how much you love the sub-zero, wind-whipping, snow-filled winter months! Thrillist ranked every state by how miserable its winters are, and Michigan landed at a respectable #3.

“For most Michiganders—at least in the lower, populated peninsula—this is winter: You leave work at 5 or 6 pm (the dead of night) to fight your way down some wretched stretch of highway where brown salt sludge spraying up off the road keeps you from determining whether it’s raining or snowing,” the lifestyle website observed. “Overnight, the road freezes, and when you wake up, it’s still dark. You scrape off your car, then get stuck in traffic as the cars ahead of you gawk at an SUV that has slid into a ditch.”

“You do not look forward to outdoor winter recreation because there is none, unless you pretend to enjoy cross-country skiing on very flat land. The sounds of revving snowblowers and snowmobiles will drive you to near madness. And, even when spring technically arrives, the giant piles of dirty snow will still be melting for a month. Unless you’re in the UP, in which case, they’ll be there, along with the revving snowblowers, until at least early May.”

According to the National Weather Service, Michigan’s average temperature is 29 degrees in December, 24 in January, and 26 in February. The average snowfall also tops 149 inches in Gaylord.

Where are winters worse? 

According to Thrillist: Minnesota and North Dakota, which it ranked as most miserable.

Click here to see where the rest of the states ranked.