Michigan’s Winter is Officially More Miserable Than Alaska’s

Winter in Michigan is nothing to mess with.

Read Related: Eight Things Michiganders Shouldn't Leave in the Car When It's Freezing

Sure, things can be milder at the beginning and the end of winter, but those bleak months of January and February can be rough.

You wake up and it's dark. We get pelted with snow, freezing rain, and sleet. We spend tons of time shoveling or snowblowing, and even more time getting to and from our destinations. And don't even get me started on the lack of light.

How Miserable are Michigan Winters Compared to the Rest of the US?

And that's just the beginning of why winters in Michigan can be so miserable.

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But, just how miserable are they? That's the question.

Every state in America experiences winter, but each state experiences it at varying levels. For example; you have supremely warm and sunny states like Hawaii and Florida that have warmer, milder winters.

Read Related: When Can You Legally Operate Your Snow Blower in Michigan?

Then you get states like Colorado that get pummeled with snow. But what makes it decidedly less miserable are all the outdoor winter activities that can be enjoyed.

Thrillist took a look at each state and determined just how miserable the winters are, and then ranked them from least to most miserable.

Turns out, that Michigan has an even more miserable winter than Alaska does... and it feels like winter in Alaska most of the year...

Here's what Thrillist has to say about Michigan and Alaska's winters, respectively;

If you’re taking things from a purely “how bad can things actually get, weather-wise” standpoint, Alaska would obviously claim the number one spot. Any data you want to pull on snow, wind, or cold will make most other states seem like Hawaii, not to mention the fact that the sun literally does not rise there for months at a time. But here’s the thing: Winter brings out both the best and worst of the Last Frontier. The subzero temperatures are a lot easier to swallow when you can look up at the dancing Aurora Borealis from a train or a cozy cabin or the front stoop of a quirky bar at the edge of the world—and there’s nothing quite like dog sledding across a glacier to get you to accept the cold. And hey, if that’s all too extreme, you can also literally watch ice melt and wait for a tripod to float down a river to signal the coming of spring. Depending on your sense of adventure, Alaska could sit just about anywhere on this list.

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 as deer bound in and out of the roadway. 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 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 or are willing to consider a small mound with a rope tow a mountain. 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. Meanwhile, if you're in the UP, they'll be there, along with the revving snowblowers, until at least early May.

Find out exactly where Michigan ranks when it comes to the "most miserable winter", below.