Winter in Michigan

Roger,
Where do you base in Michigan? We used to live in Whitehall then
spent a couple of years in Houghton. Both places are near the Great
Lakes so snow was expected almost everyday during the winter. VFR
flying days during winter time are probably as rare as blue moons. We
have enjoyed the much milder weather in NY but it still takes quite a
bit of work to go flying in winter.
We have been up in the air only 3 times since the beginning of the
year. The first after the new year put us in unexpected freezing rain.

A week later, with 6" or more of snow, we had to rescue our plane
from it nose-up, tail-down position (along with all but one highwing,
tricyle planes on the field). The balmier weather the next few days was
even worse with wet slushy snow. We should have rushed to airport to
clean out the snow but went to the gym first. By the time we got there,
the wet snow had turned to hardened ice. It took us 2 days for the
deicing job using all the tools and tricks that we could think of
(isopropyl alcohol, hair dryer, garbage bags filled with hot water and
lots of elbow grease). A friend was also on the field deicing his
C180. The snow and ice came before he got around to put on his
wingcover. He fashioned a device to hold the hose connecting to his
propane heater over the ice while mopping up the water with rags. We
both finished up at the same time (after two days) but he was still on
the ground after both Rick and I had our flights. It turned out that
after all the hard work, he found out that his battery was dead after 3
nonflying weeks.
The big snow storm last week (probably the same one that you
experienced) brought over a foot of snow. After digging ourselves out
of the house with the handy new snowblower the next day, we rushed to
airport and could barely get through the gate zigzagging trhough piles
of snow drifts. There was no way that we could approach our plane and
there was no place to park. A glance at tiedown planes brought a sense
of relief because the high winds had blown all the snow off. We came
back two days later and could just barely get to our plane. It only
took few hours to shovel snowdrifts around the plane but there was a
huge mountain of snow right in front of the our tiedown spot (we had #1
spot next to the electrical outlet but also a great place for temporary
snow 'storage'). We did not get to fly until last Thursday. In
lowering the flaps for preflight, we discovered that the strong winds
had blown lots of snow into all the crevices. It took another hour or
two to scoop out the hard packed snow from the tailcone, under the
plane 'armpit' and inside the hinge openings in the wings.
It takes a lot of work to keep flying in the winter, cleaning out
the forst, deicing, snow removal, preheating etc. However, every hour
up is worth the 3 to 10 hours of preparation. The plane gets to
pattern altitude almost instantly, we have pretty much unlimited
visibility and can see almost from Albany to New York City. In few
minutes, we are lifted up over the snowcovered hills, crowded malls,
shopping center and are rewarded with the breathtaking view of the
Hudson river and the Catskill mountain. The air is always crisp and
calm. This beats flying in the summer haze, the spring turbulence or
the fall foggy weather.