20 things to do during a weird, unpredictable Detroit winter

Winter? What winter? This season in metro Detroit has been warmer than usual with little snowfall to speak of. In fact, global temperatures reached historic highs in 2023, the warmest year on record by far. Climate scientists have long warned that greenhouse gasses are causing temperatures to warm and making weather patterns go haywire, with wildfires, severe storms, and flooding across the world. What remains to be seen is if global warming is accelerating and if these patterns will continue this year.

Given the state of the world, it feels a bit silly to be writing a winter guide, but we already committed to this, so here we are. And of course, just as we were putting this together we finally got snow — enough to make us second-guess this entire concept. As meteorologists like to remind us, you just can't predict the weather, so who knows what the rest of the season will bring. But just in case, here's our list of things to do in the Detroit area when the winter weather just won't cooperate.