Normally Michigan and metro-Detroit receive snow on 10 of the 31 days in January with averages over a foot or accumulation. In 2014 that number was much higher, and accordingly we filmed a lot of casualty claimants out shoveling snow and cleaning off cars. Occasionally we even get those dedicated homeowners who are filmed shoveling snow off of their roof, but not so far in January of 2015. This Michigan January brings little snow, but life here has also been unusually normal, meaning lots more people are going about life as usual and surveillance activity has been fairly normal and consistently productive in documenting “normal” activities. Even the cold seems to be a little less prevalent this year, with our surveillance investigators filming far more people dressed for moderate weather than those bundled up like Eskimos. The one exception is in west Michigan along the lake where, as usual, the snow accumulation has been consistent and surveillance of clean up activities very productive.
As we get ready for the annual super bowl Sunday celebration, we are on track to monitor a large number of claimants both Saturday, as they run errands and shop before the big game, and Detroit is reportedly going to receive over 6 inches of snow on Saturday night and throughout Sunday. With this new twist, we anticipate that many of our clients who long for the snow shoveling activity will see a payoff this weekend with overall strong surveillance results.