Winter Storm in Michigan, January 7 to 8, 1998

Name: Winter Storm in Michigan, January 7 to 8, 1998
Start: 1998-01-07T17:00
End: 1998-01-08T16:00
Location: Michigan

January 7 to 8, 1998 · NWS GRR · 24 events in 24 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 23 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 24

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS GRR wrote it up.

A winter storm which tracked from the Gulf coast of Louisiana north across the Ohio River Valley region, then north across Michigan's Lower Peninsula, produced a wintry mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain across the mentioned counties. Freezing rain first spread across the Holland, Grand Rapids, Ionia, and Lansing areas during the evening hours of Wednesday, January 7th, then expanded south to the Interstate-94 corridor as temperatures fell below freezing later that night. As colder air aloft moved south, freezing rain and sleet changed to snow from Berrien, Van Buren, Barry, Eaton and Ingham counties northward, resulting in storm total accumulations of around an inch in Berrien, Eaton, and Ingham counties and 2 to 6 inches elsewhere in the mentioned counties (with the exception of Cass County, where most problems were a result of freezing rain accumulation). Areas hardest hit by the sleet and freezing rain Wednesday night and Thursday morning, January 7th and 8th respectively, included Barry, Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, Gratiot, Ingham, and Kalamazoo counties. Ice accumulated up to one-quarter of an inch in these areas. Trees and power lines were downed under the weight of the glaze. Up to 4,000 customers lost power at the height of the storm. Icy roads were the cause of several serious accidents. Four fatalities were blamed on weather-related accidents. A 73 year-old male and 54 year-old female were killed in a collision which occurred near the intersection of Michigan Highway 57 and McClelland Road in Gratiot County at 12:25 PM EST on Thursday, January 8th. One other male suffered serious injuries in the same accident. In Calhoun County, a 55 year-old male Indiana truck driver was killed on Interstate-69 just south of Marshall and a 72 year-old male was killed on Michigan Highway 66 when his car was struck by an oncoming vehicle while he was pulling out of his driveway in Athens. Numerous minor accidents were reported during the Thursday morning rush hour across the Grand Rapids metropolitan area and also in Hastings in Barry County. Snowfall reports from the storm included 5-6 inches across Ottawa, Allegan, and Mason Counties, 4.3 inches in Muskegon, 3.7 inches in Grand Rapids, 3.5 inches in Sparta and Vestaburg, 2.8 inches in Big Rapids, around 2.5 inches in Lansing and Hastings, and around 2 inches in St. Johns and Ionia.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

24 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Mason

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Mason forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.956, -86.423 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Lake

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Lake forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.990, -85.802 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Osceola

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Osceola forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.990, -85.325 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Clare

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Clare forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.988, -84.848 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Oceana

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Oceana forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.682, -86.317 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Newaygo

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Newaygo forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.554, -85.801 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Mecosta

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Mecosta forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.641, -85.325 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Isabella

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Isabella forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.641, -84.847 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Muskegon

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Muskegon forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.219, -86.212 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Montcalm

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Montcalm forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.311, -85.152 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Gratiot

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Gratiot forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.293, -84.605 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Ottawa

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Ottawa forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.003, -86.179 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Kent

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Kent forecast zone
Coordinates: 43.032, -85.549 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Ionia

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Ionia forecast zone
Coordinates: 42.945, -85.075 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Clinton

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Clinton forecast zone
Coordinates: 42.944, -84.601 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Allegan

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Allegan forecast zone
Coordinates: 42.518, -85.910 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Barry

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Barry forecast zone
Coordinates: 42.595, -85.309 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eaton

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Eaton forecast zone
Coordinates: 42.596, -84.838 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Ingham

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Ingham forecast zone
Coordinates: 42.597, -84.373 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Van Buren

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Van Buren forecast zone
Coordinates: 42.285, -86.306 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Kalamazoo

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Kalamazoo forecast zone
Coordinates: 42.245, -85.531 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Calhoun

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Calhoun forecast zone
Coordinates: 42.247, -85.006 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Berrien

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Berrien forecast zone

Winter Storm, Cass

When: January 7, 5:00 PM EST to January 8, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Cass forecast zone
Coordinates: 41.915, -85.993 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Michigan in 1998 Every state in 1998 This day in weather history Warnings in Michigan, January 1998

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5650302, 5650303, 5650304, 5650305, 5650306, 5650307, 5650308, 5650360, 5650361, 5650362, 5650363, 5650364, 5650365, 5650366, 5650367, 5650368, 5650369, 5650370, 5650371, 5650372, 5650373, 5650374, 5650375, 5650376.