The coldest air of the season dropped into the midwest on the 20th behind a vigorous low pressure system which developed across the central plains on the 19th. The system tracked across central Indiana the night of the 19th dropping 4-6 inches of synoptic induced snowfall.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS IWX wrote it up.
...Synoptic and mesoscale conditions on the 20th/21st...The coldest air of the season dropped into the midwest on the 20th behind a vigorous low pressure system which developed across the central plains on the 19th. The system tracked across central Indiana the night of the 19th dropping 4-6 inches of synoptic induced snowfall. As the system pulled east... deep northerly cyclonic flow developed in its wake as very cold air poured into the region. With the northerly fetch down along the long axis of Lake Michigan... a tremendous shore parallel snow band developed in the early morning hours of the 20th. Many locations under this snow band reported snowfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour with whiteout conditions. This band broke up by late afternoon on the 20th with the eventual development of multiple and not as intense lake effect snow bands which developed in response to even colder air spilling south out of Canada. General lake effect snowfall ranged from 6 to 10 inches with Baroda Michigan reporting the heaviest amount of 15 inches.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Storm total snow amounts across Berrien county ranged from 8 to 15 inches with 15 inches reported at Baroda. Storm total snow amounts ranged from 6 to 9 inches across Cass county with the heaviest snow falling along the Cass/Berrien county line on the 20th.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Michigan in 2000Every state in 2000This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, January 2000
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5127026, 5127027.