Heavy Snow, Huron
- When
- December 27, 12:00 AM EST to 8:00 AM EST
- Where
- Huron forecast zone
- Reported by
- DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
- Coordinates
- 43.910, -82.855 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow in Michigan, December 27, 2001
After a prolonged mild spell across the region, cold air moved into the Great Lakes region during the last week of December. This cold air over the relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes caused a week-long period of lake effect snow.
Where it happened
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.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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 DTX wrote it up.
After a prolonged mild spell across the region, cold air moved into the Great Lakes region during the last week of December. This cold air over the relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes caused a week-long period of lake effect snow. While most of Southeast Michigan was blanketed by only 2 to 3 inches of snow, a portion of Huron County was harder hit. During the evening of the 26th, southwest winds allowed a band of heavy lake effect snow to develop over central Lake Huron and northern Saginaw Bay. Approximately around midnight, this band of heavy snow moved onshore in northwestern Huron County. The band remained nearly stationary along M-25 from Caseville to Port Austin until 8 am, when the band dissipated. Spotters and road crews reported 6 to 10 inches of snow had fallen by 8 am in this narrow portion of Huron County.
What forecasters said that day
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 Detroit, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 26, 9:45 PM EST, 2 hours 15 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Dec 26, 9:45 PM EST, 2 hours 15 minutes before
SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 945 PM EST WED DEC 26 2001 LIGHT SYSTEM SNOW AND LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS CONTINUE TO BE THE MAIN CONCERN FOR THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. EVENING SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS SOME COOLING CLOUD TOPS OVER THE WEST END OF LAKE SUPERIOR. THIS IS FROM A COMBINATION OF LAKE FORCING AND SYNOPTIC LIFT FROM A LOBE OF DPVA MOVING SOUTH FROM WESTERN ONTARIO. THIS LOBE IS SEPARATE FROM THE LARGER WAVE MOVING INTO THE MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY AND WILL BE THE MAIN FEATURE GOVERNING THE SYNOPTIC SCALE THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS IN OUR AREA. THE WAVE IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY WILL SLIDE TO OUR SOUTH. LIGHT RETURNS ON THE KDTX RADAR ARE DUE TO SOME WEAK DPVA MOVING THROUGH LOWER MICHIGAN THIS EVENING, AND ARE AMOUNTING TO ONLY FLURRIES ACCORDING TO SURFACE OBS. THE EXCEPTION IS IN THE SAGINAW VALLEY WHERE SOME SNOW SHOWERS ARE STILL WORKING IN FROM LAKE MICHIGAN. THE KGRR RADAR HAS SHOWN A DIMINISHING TREND OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF HOURS AS THIS FIRST WAVE OF DPVA MOVES TO THE EAST. THE LAKE EFFECT TREND WILL RAMP UP AGAIN OVERNIGHT AS THE NEXT ROUND OF LIFT MOVES IN FROM WESTERN ONTARIO. THE GOING FORECAST HAS HIGHEST POPS AND LIGHT ACCUMS IN THE SAGINAW VALLEY OVERNIGHT, THEN SHIFTING TOWARD THE FLINT AREA AFTER SUNRISE. THIS STILL LOOKS GOOD SINCE THESE WILL BE THE AREAS WHERE SYSTEM SNOW AND LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS WILL OVERLAP THE MOST. THE SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL SUPPORT A SOUTHWEST WIND AT 10 TO 20 MPH THROUGH THE NIGHT, AND HELP KEEP LOW TEMPS IN THE RANGE FROM 12 TO 17. .DTX...NONE. BT
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Heavy Snow
- Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Extreme Cold in Florida, December 27, 2001
- Heavy Snow in New York, December 27 to 28, 2001
- Extreme Cold in Florida, December 27, 2001
- Frost and Freeze in Florida, December 27, 2001
- Winter Storm in Oregon, December 27 to 28, 2001
- High Wind in California, December 27, 2001
- High Wind in Alaska, December 27, 2001
- High Wind in California, December 27, 2001
- Wildfire in California, December 27, 2001
- Heavy Snow in New York, December 27 to 28, 2001
More
Every storm in Michigan in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, December 2001
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: 5274954.