Heavy Snow in Michigan, February 1 to 2, 2001

Name: Heavy Snow in Michigan, February 1 to 2, 2001
Start: 2001-02-01T13:00
End: 2001-02-02T14:00
Location: Michigan

February 1 to 2, 2001 · NWS MQT · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

A low pressure center and its attendant cold front moving across the northern Great Lakes brought significant snow to the Lake Effect Snowbelt of northwest Upper Michigan. 5 inches of snowfall from late in the afternoon on the 1st to early in the morning on the 2nd.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 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: 4

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.

A low pressure center and its attendant cold front moving across the northern Great Lakes brought significant snow to the Lake Effect Snowbelt of northwest Upper Michigan. Nine inches of snow accumulated in Wakefield overnight, Ontonagon and Calumet reported 8 inches, and in the highlands of the Keweenaw Peninsula, Laurium had 10 inches and Phoenix received 10.5 inches of snowfall from late in the afternoon on the 1st to early in the morning on the 2nd.

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 Marquette, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 1, 11:30 AM EST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 1, 11:30 AM EST, 1 hour 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARQUETTE MI
1130 AM EST THU FEB 1 2001

UPDATE CONCERN IS WITH SNOW TIMING AND TEMPERATURES.

WATER VAPOR LOOP/RUC ANALYSIS SHOWS UPPER TROUGH OVER WESTERN LAKE
SUPERIOR WITH A SHORTWAVE OVER NORTHERN WISCONSIN ROTATING AROUND
IT. SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS OVER CENTRAL LAKE SUPERIOR WITH A COLD
FRONT BETWEEN IWD AND IMT. IWD HAS DROPPED TO ZERO WITH A WSW WIND
STILL OFF THE LAND...BY FAR THE COLD SPOT IN THE CWA BUT A BIT
WARMER THAN STATIONS ACROSS NORTHERN WISCONSIN. TEMPERATURES WILL
REMAIN STEADY OR SLOWLY FALL AS THE FRONT MOVES EAST...BUT THE
COLDEST AIR HAS WRAPPED INTO WISCONSIN REMAINING TO THE SOUTH OF THE
CWA. EXCEPTION WILL BE IWD WHERE WINDS SHIFTING NORTHWEST OFF OF
LAKE SUPERIOR WILL RAISE TEMPERATURES A BIT.

KMQT/KDLH RADAR SHOWS AN AREA OF SNOW SHOWERS ALONG AND BEHIND THE
FRONT. KMQT/VISIBLE SATELLITE/CANADIAN RADARS SHOW ADDITIONAL SNOW
SHOWERS/SQUALLS OVER LAKE SUPERIOR IN TWO DISTINCT AREAS. ONE AREA
OVER EASTERN LAKE SUPERIOR AND ONE DEVELOPING OVER THE WESTERN
LAKE...BOTH ALIGN WITH THE TWO AREAS OF 950MB CONVERGENCE SHOWN BY
THE 12Z ETA. EASTERN SNOW BANDS SHOWN TO STAY NORTH OF THE
CWA...WITH THE WESTERN BANDS TO PUSH INTO THE KEWEENAW PENINSULA.
CURRENT TIMING AND SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS GENERALLY OKAY. TWEAKED A
BIT BASED ON RECENT SPOTTER REPORTS. VISIBLE SATELLITE SHOW CLOUDS
ARE A BIT THIN ACROSS PARTS OF THE SOUTHERN CWA SO WILL ADD WORDING
OF CLOUDING OVER WITH LIGHT SNOW DEVELOPING.

.MQT...WINTER STORM WARNING THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT MIZ001-003
       WINTER STORM WARNING LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT MIZ009
       SNOW AND BuLOWING SNOW ADVISORY TONIGHT AND FRIDAY MIZ004-005.

JHB

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Gogebic

When: February 1, 1:00 PM EST to February 2, 1:00 PM EST
Where: Gogebic forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 46.496, -89.796 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Houghton

When: February 1, 1:00 PM EST to February 2, 1:00 PM EST
Where: Houghton forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 46.992, -88.652 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Ontonagon

When: February 1, 1:00 PM EST to February 2, 1:00 PM EST
Where: Ontonagon forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 46.778, -89.305 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Keweenaw

When: February 1, 2:00 PM EST to February 2, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Keweenaw forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 47.283, -88.212 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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

Every storm in Michigan in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Michigan, February 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: 5232092, 5232093, 5232094, 5232095.