Michigan, 2000

Winter Storm in Michigan, March 9, 2000

March 9, 2000 · NWS MQT · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

After a week of record high temperatures, winter made a dramatic come back. A storm system that developed over the plains tracked from Iowa across Wisconsin and Lower Michigan Wednesday night and Thursday.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 5 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

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
5

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 MQT wrote it up.

After a week of record high temperatures, winter made a dramatic come back. A storm system that developed over the plains tracked from Iowa across Wisconsin and Lower Michigan Wednesday night and Thursday. As the low moved south of the Upper Peninsula, light rain on Wednesday night quickly turned to freezing rain and sleet and then to snow as cold air swept in on strong northeast winds behind the low. From a record high of 71 degrees on Wednesday, temperatures at Marquette's National Weather Service Office fell into the teens on Thursday with wind chill readings dropping as low as 20 below zero. Periods of heavy snow Thursday morning left up to a foot of new snow on the ground before diminishing to scattered flurries Thursday afternoon. Snowfall reports included 12 inches at Ironwood, 9 inches in Bruce Crossing, Kenton, Three Lakes and Ishpeming, and 8 inches in Negaunee and Gwinn. Wind gusts to 45 mph created near blizzard conditions at times in blowing and drifting snow with visibilities near zero. Many schools and businesses across west and central Upper Michigan were closed or delayed opening because of the storm.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Gogebic

When
March 9, 1:00 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST
Where
Gogebic forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
46.496, -89.796 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Ontonagon

When
March 9, 1:00 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST
Where
Ontonagon forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
46.778, -89.305 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Houghton

When
March 9, 2:00 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST
Where
Houghton forecast zone
Reported by
DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
Coordinates
46.992, -88.652 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Baraga

When
March 9, 2:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where
Baraga forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
46.700, -88.352 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Marquette

When
March 9, 2:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where
Marquette forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
46.663, -87.573 (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

More

Every storm in Michigan in 2000Every state in 2000This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, March 2000

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: 5136944, 5136945, 5136946, 5136947, 5136948.