Heavy Snow, Ontonagon
- When
- January 16, 4:00 PM EST to January 18, 5:00 AM EST
- Where
- Ontonagon forecast zone
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 46.778, -89.305 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow in Michigan, January 16 to 18, 2002
Northwest winds behind a low pressure trough pushed cold Canadian air across Lake Superior and set up bands of lake effect snow over the western upper peninsula of Michigan. The most persistent bands were over Ontonagon and Houghton counties, but as the wind shifted to the northeast, Alger county also received heavy lake effect snow showers.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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
- 3
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.
Northwest winds behind a low pressure trough pushed cold Canadian air across Lake Superior and set up bands of lake effect snow over the western upper peninsula of Michigan. The most persistent bands were over Ontonagon and Houghton counties, but as the wind shifted to the northeast, Alger county also received heavy lake effect snow showers. Snowfall reports included 8 inches in Rockland, 10 inches in Pelkie and 8 inches in Shingleton.
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 Jan 16, 11:50 AM EST, 4 hours 10 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 16, 11:50 AM EST, 4 hours 10 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARQUETTE MI 1150 AM EST WED JAN 16 2002 UPDATE CONCERNS ARE LIGHT SNOW TODAY...THEN SIG LES EVENT TONIGHT-THURSDAY FOR WRN UPR 16Z WV/IR LOOPS SHOWING TWO PRIMARY SHRTWVS OVR UPR MIDWEST THIS MORNING WITH RADARS AND OBS POINTING TO MAIN BAND OF SNOW FM IA INTO SRN WI AND NRN IL...IN PVA REGION OF STRONGEST WAVE IN IA. ANOTHER SHRTWV NOTED OVER WRN UPR MI WITH DECENT DARKENING ON WV LOOP OVR NW WI AND WRN UPR MI. THIS SHRTWV HELPED TO MOISTEN UP THE 5-11KFT LEVELS OVR THE FA THIS AM PER THE MQT VWP...WHICH THEN PRODUCED BURST OF 1-3SM STEADY SNOWS. KGRB VWP SHOWING DRY LAYER STILL HANGING ON OVR NE WI BUT AS AFTN PROGRESSES THIS SHOULD BECOME LESS OF FACTOR FOR SRN ZONES AS PVA/WEAK ISENTROPIC LIFT FM MN SHRTWV SPREAD ACROSS FA. ENHANCEMENT FM SHRTWV PRODUCED QUICK 1 OF SNOW HERE AT NWS OFFICE ...BUT LATEST RADAR/LOOK OUT THE WINDOW SHOWING DIMINISHING TREND TO SNOW. WEAK W/SW WIND COMBINING WITH H85 TEMPS AROUND -12C TO PRODUCE A WEAK LAKE ENHANCED SETUP OVR KEWEENAW PENINSULA...AS OBS/SPOTTERS REPORTING A PICKUP TO SNOW INTENSITY WITHIN LAST 3 HOURS. THIS AFTN LGT SNOW CONTINUES BUT ONLY EXPECT GREATER THAN 1 AMOUNTS OVR WRN FOUR COUNTIES DUE TO LAKE ENHANCED SETUP OVR KEWEENAW AND INCREASING ENHANCEMENT FM PVA/ISENTROPIC LIFT FM APPROACHING SHRTWV. ELSEWHERE...UNDER INCH ACCUMS PROJECTED AS DEEPER MOISTURE TEMPORARILY EVADES. VERY FEW CHANGES MADE TO TEMPS/WINDS. LOOKING AHEAD TO TONIGHT AND THURSDAY...HOUGHTON AND KEWEENAW COUNTIES STILL FAVORED TO RECEIVE A BOUT OF HEAVIER LES...WITH H85 TEMPS FALLING TO -18C BY 12Z/THU AND A MOIST AND RATHER DEEP CONVECTIVE LAYER DEPICTED. WATCH STILL IN EFFECT HERE...AND AFTER COORDINATION WITH LONG TERM FCSTER HAVE ALSO DECIDED TO INCLUDE ONTONAGON COUNTY IN WATCH AS 12Z MODEL RUNS NOW DEPICTING MORE NW COMPONENT TO CONVECTIVE LAYER WINDS...BRINGING HIGHER TERRAIN NORTH OF BRUCE CROSING TO THE HOUGHTON COUNTY LINE INTO POSSIBILITY OF HEAVY LES. .MQT...WINTER STORM WATCH TONIGHT AND THURSDAY MIZ001>003. JLA
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
3 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy Snow, Houghton
- When
- January 16, 5:00 PM EST to January 18, 6:00 AM 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, Alger
- When
- January 17, 2:00 AM EST to January 18, 10:00 AM EST
- Where
- Alger forecast zone
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 46.451, -86.548 (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
More
Every storm in Michigan in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, January 2002
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: 5278619, 5278620, 5278621.