Name: Heavy Snow in Michigan, March 1, 2002
Start: 2002-03-01T00:00
End: 2002-03-01T14:00
Location: Michigan

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

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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.

As a surface trough passed over Michigan's Upper Peninsula, northerly winds and arctic air moving across Lake Superior created heavy lake effect snow across the highlands of the Keweenaw Peninsula and over the higher terrain of northern Marquette and Alger counties. Phoenix reported 13 inches of snow in 24 hours, Big Bay and Wetmore reported 12 inches of snow, and Munising got 11.3 inches.

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 28, 10:03 PM EST, 1 hour 57 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 28, 10:03 PM EST, 1 hour 57 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARQUETTE MI
1002 PM EDT THU FEB 28 2002

FCST CONCERNS THIS EVENING ARE ONGOING LES AND HEADLINES.

WV IMAGERY SHOWS A BROAD TROF OVER MUCH OF THE CONUS. A SHORTWAVE
WAS MOVING E OF LWR MI WHILE A WEAKER SHORTWAVE WAS MOVING ACROSS LK
SUPERIOR...HELPING TO ENHANCE LES THIS EVENING. OUT W...A STRONG
SHORTWAVE WAS DROPPING TWD THE SRN ROCKIES. INTERESTING MODEL TRENDS
TWD A MORE NW SOLUTION WITH THIS SYSTEM WILL MAKE THIS SOMETHING TO
KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON. 18Z ETA LOOKED IDEAL FOR ANOTHER ROUND OF HVY
LK ENHANCED SNOWFALL BEGINNING SAT AFTN FOR MUCH OF LK SUPERIOR
SNOWBELTS...BUT ESPECIALLY NCNTRL WHERE FLOW WILL BE NRLY WITH
BETTER MOISTURE THAN OVER THE W.

MESOLOW WHICH MOVED ONSHORE NEAR KCMX THIS AFTN TRACKED NEAR HURON
ISLANDS AND HAS MOVED ONSHORE AGAIN ALONG PICTURED ROCKS. ALL
DAY...A STRONG ENHANCED CONVERGENCE BAND HAS EXTENDED FROM SRN SIDE
OF VORTEX W ACROSS KEWEENAW INTO WRN LK. HVY SNOWFALL RATES OF
1-3INCHES/HR HAVE BEEN OCCURRING WITHIN THIS BAND WHICH IS NOW
MAKING SWD PROGRESS THRU ONTONGON/HOUGHTON/BARAGA/MARQUETTE
COUNTIES. SLOW MOVEMENT OF ENHANCED CONVERGENT BAND ON KEWEENAW THIS
AFTN AND EVENING HAS PRODUCED SOME SNOW ACCUMULATIONS INTO OR
APPROACHING WRNG CRITERIA. EARLIER UPDATE UPGRADED ADVY TO WARNING
FOR HOUGHTON/KEWEENAW COUNTIES. EXPECT TOTAL SNOW AMOUNTS ON
KEWEENAW TO BE QUITE VARIED WITH WRNG AMOUNTS LIKELY BEING FAIRLY
LOCALIZED IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN. DESPITE DRIER AIR APPROACHING LAKE
THIS EVENING PER SATELLITE IMAGERY AND 00Z KINL/CWPL SOUDNINGS...IR
IMAGERY SHOWS CLOUD TOPS ARE COOLING YET OVER WRN LK SUPERIOR...
INDICATING THAT CONVECTION IS STILL VIGOROUS. RADAR AND SATELLITE
IMAGERY INDICATE WEAKENING REMNANTS OF ENHANCED CONVERGENT BAND
MOVING ONSHORE BTWN ROCKLAND AND PAINESDALE.

SHORT DURATION OF SIGNIFICANT SNOW FARTHER S IN GOGEBIC AND
ONTONAGON COUNTIES WILL KEEP AMOUNTS WITHIN ADVY RANGE. THERE MIGHT
BE AN ISOLATED SPOT OR TWO NORTH OF ROCKLAND OR MASS CITY THAT COULD
SEE WRNG CRITERIA ACHIEVED...BUT THIS WILL DEPEND ON HOW LONG NEARLY
STATIONARY CONVERGENT BAND REMAINS IN PLACE. WILL LEAVE ADVY IN
PLACE THERE WITH DIMINISHING TREND EVIDENT IN MAIN BAND.

SNOW IS JUST NOW BEGINNING TO PICK UP E OF MARQUETTE AS CONVERGENT
BAND PUSHES ONSHORE. LACK OF PERSISTENT STRONG CONVERGENCE/SYNOPTIC
EHNACMENT AS OCCURRED ON KEWEENAW TODAY SHOULD ALSO KEEP AMOUNTS
UNDER WRNG CRITERIA HERE. ALSO...HAVE YET TO SEE ANY
STRONG/DEFINITIVE LES STRUCTURE DEVELOPING OVER ERN LK ON SATELLITE
OR RADAR IMAGERY BEHIND MAIN BAND MOVING ONSHORE NOW. WILL STAY WITH
ADVY FOR ALGER/LUCE/SCHOOLCRAFT.

SNOWFALL THIS EVENING HERE AT THE OFFICE MAY HAVE PUSHED MONTHLY
TOTAL TO A RECORD AMOUNT FOR ANY MONTH OF THE YEAR. IF SO...RECORD
REPORT WILL BE SENT BEFORE 04Z.

.MQT...LAKE EFFECT SNOW WRNG TONIGHT MIZ001-003.
       LAKE EFFECT SNOW ADVY TONIGHT MIZ002-009.
       LAKE EFFECT SNOW ADVY INTO FRI MORNING MIZ006-007-014.

ROLFSON

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Keweenaw

When: March 1, 12:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Keweenaw forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 47.283, -88.212 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Marquette

When: March 1, 12:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Marquette forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 46.663, -87.573 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Alger

When: March 1, 4:00 AM EST to 2:00 PM 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 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Michigan, March 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: 5285935, 5285936, 5285937.