Heavy Snow, Cass
- When
- December 23, 10:00 PM EST to December 24, 10:00 PM EST
- Where
- Cass forecast zone
- Reported by
- EMERGENCY MANAGER
- Coordinates
- 41.915, -85.993 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
2 heavy snow, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Northern Indiana wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 23, 9:30 PM EST, 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
930 PM EST SUN DEC 23 2001
NO CHANGES PLANNED THIS EVE TO GOING FCST/HEADLINES. 00Z UPR AIR
ANLYSIS SHOWING DEEP MOISTURE REMAINING OVR GRTLKS REGION. S/WV
WHICH MOVED THRU THIS AFTN PRODUCED A BAND OF SNOW SHOWERS WITH
BRIEF HEAVY SNOW RESULTING IN MINOR ACCUM. ANOTHER S/WV MOVG INTO
THE MID MS VLY WAS CAUSING AN AREA OF LIGHT SNOW OVER SE WI, NE IL,
AND NW IN WHICH WILL MOVE ACRS OUR CWA OVRNGT. NRN BERRIEN COUNTY
SHD RECEIVE A LTL MORE SNOW WITH THIS TROF THAN REST OF AREA DUE TO
LAKE ENHANCEMENT WITH 250DEG LOW LVL FLOW. LOW LVL WINDS BEHIND THE
TROF WL VEER FM WSW TO WNW SHIFTING MULTIPLE BANDS OF LES SOUTH THRU
BERRIEN, AND INTO CASS MI, NRN ST JOSEPH IN, AND NE LAPORTE COUNTIES
BY MON MORNING. ACARS SHOWING INVERSION OVR SRN LM 4-5KFT THIS
EVE...A LTL LWR THAN FCST, BUT, STILL SUFFICIENT FOR DECENT LAKE
EFFECT SNOW ACCUM.
.IWX...WINTER STORM WARNING MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT MIZ077-078
WINTER STORM WATCH MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT INZ003-004.
JTThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy lake effect snow began falling across Cass and Berrien counties the evening of December 23rd and continued throughout the day and night of the 24th. Snow accumulations in 24 hrs averaged one foot across the region. Niles in Berrien county reported 8 inches, with 14 inches in Dowagiac the greatest 24 hour total reported. This event was the first major lake effect snow of the season.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Michigan in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, December 2001
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: 5274727, 5274728.