An Alberta clipper system brought a combination of synoptic snow followed by lake effect snow behind it to far western lower Michigan from December 4th through the 5th. Most of the snow fell from the mid morning hours of the 4th through the very late evening hours on the 4th.
Every event with a place to put it; 10 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 episode as NWS GRR wrote it up.
An Alberta clipper system brought a combination of synoptic snow followed by lake effect snow behind it to far western lower Michigan from December 4th through the 5th. Most of the snow fell from the mid morning hours of the 4th through the very late evening hours on the 4th. The heaviest snowfall was reported from Holland to South Haven near route 31 where eleven inch snowfall reports were common.
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 Grand Rapids, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 4, 4:43 AM EST, 2 hours 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 443 AM EST MON DEC 4 2006 .SHORT TERM... ACTIVE PATTERN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF THE SHORT TERM. A SERIES OF SHORT WAVES WILL CONTINUE TO TRAVEL THE FAST NORTHWEST FLOW AND HEAD TOWARD THE GREAT LAKES. THESE WAVES WILL CARRY A CHC OF SYNOPTIC SNOW...BUT WILL ALSO SPARK ENHANCED LAKE EFFECT SNOWS. HAVE DECIDED TO GO WITH HEADLINES STARTING LATER THIS MORNING FOR THE FIRST SHORT WAVE/S ARRIVAL. A ROBUST SHORT WAVE AS SEEN ON THIS MORNING WATER VAPOR IMAGES MOVING INTO THE UPPER MIDWEST. THE RADAR SHOWS SOME RETURNS THAT ARE PIVOTING AS THE FLOW TURNS TO THE SW. THIS TURN WILL DISRUPT ANY INTENSE BANDS FROM FORMING EARLY THIS MORNING. HOWEVER TOWARD NOON DEEP SOUTHWESTERLY CYCLONIC FLOW WILL SET UP OVER THE LAKE AS INVERSION HEIGHTS RISE TO GREATER THAN 10K FT AS THE SHORT WAVE APPROACHES. THE FLOW WILL REMAIN ROUGHLY 250 IN THIS TIME PERIOD AND RIGHT INTO THE EVENING. WITH THE DURATION AND FAVORABLE SET UP THE HEADLINES WILL BE FOR THE SW FLOW COUNTIES...MASON DOWN TO ALLEGAN...AND OVER TO KENT. GENERALLY EXPECTING 2 TO 5 INCHES BY EVENING. THE WINDS WILL BE RATHER BRISK CAUSING SOME BLOWING AND DRIFTING. WITH A SECONDARY SHORT WAVE PASSING THROUGH THIS EVENING THE WINDS WILL TURN TO THE WNW WHICH IMPACT THE DIRECTION THE SNOW BANDS COME INLAND. THEREFORE THE SNOW SHOULD DIMINISH OVER THE NORTHERN COUNTIES AND KENT COUNTY DURING THE EVENING...SO THE HEADLINE THERE WILL ONLY RUN UNTIL 11 PM. DESPITE THE WIND SHIFT THE MOST INTENSE SNOWS WILL STILL IMPACT OTTAWA AND ALLEGAN COUNTIES THROUGH MUCH OF THE OVERNIGHT...AND HENCE WILL ISSUE A WARNING FOR THESE TWO COUNTIES. DUE TO THE LONGER DURATION ACCUMULATIONS SHOULD REACH THE 6 TO 10 INCH RANGE. VAN BUREN AND KALAMAZOO COUNTIES SHOULD GET INTO THE MORE INTENSE SNOW DURING THE EVENING...HOWEVER ANTICYCLONIC FLOW DEVELOPS AFTER MIDNIGHT SO THE DURATION IN THESE COUNTIES WILL ONLY BE LONG ENOUGH TO PICK UP A COUPLE INCHES OF SNOW. SOME LIGHT SNOW SHOULD OCCUR AGAIN ON TUESDAY AS WE GET INTO ISENTROPIC LIFT AHEAD OF THE NEXT WAVE. ANOTHER STRONG SHORT WAVE MOVES INTO THE REGION TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY WHICH COULD BRING A REPEAT OF TODAYS WEATHER. .LONG TERM... FOR SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN...THE CHANGE TO WARMER WEATHER STARTS FRIDAY AS THE PERSISTENT WESTERN UPPER RIDGE GETS KNOCKED DOWN BY A 200 KT JET STREAK THAT CROSSES THE CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN BY MID WEEK. THE LATEST MODELS SUGGEST THE 200 KNOT JET CORE IS FORECAST TO GET TO THE DATELINE NEARLY 2 DAYS SOONER... THAT IS TUESDAY. THIS OF COURSE WILL BRING SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN WARMER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES BY THIS COMING WEEKEND. BY EARLY NEXT WEEK IT COULD GET RATHER WET IN SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN AS A SERIES OF SOUTHERN STREAM SYSTEMS WILL BE HEADING ACROSS THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES IN THAT TIME FRAME. MEANWHILE...THE ARCTIC AIR WILL HOLD ON INTO FRIDAY. THAT IS ABOUT THE TIME THE ANTICYCLONIC SIDE OF THE POLAR JET CROSSES LOWER MICHIGAN. ONCE THAT HAPPENS THE LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS WILL COME TO AN END. BEYOND THAT THERE IS THE HINT OF ANOTHER NORTHERN STREAM SYSTEM ALLOWING A COLD FRONT THROUGH LOWER MICHIGAN LATE IN THE WEEKEND. I BELIEVE THE SOUTHERN STREAM WILL WIN OUT AND THE COLD AIR WILL STAY NORTH IN CANADA FOR A TIME. WITH THE SOUTHERN STREAM JET CORE BEING SOUTH OF MICHIGAN AND THE NORTHERN STREAM BEING NORTH OF MICHIGAN... A DRY PERIOD NOW SEEMS LIKELY OVER THIS COMING WEEKEND. THAT WILL NOT LAST THOUGH. THE MODELS SUGGEST BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK...SYSTEMS ON THE SOUTHERN STREAM WILL START TO EFFECT SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. && .GRR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING FOR OTTAWA AND ALLEGAN COUNTIES 11 AM TODAY THROUGH 5 AM TONIGHT. LAKE EFFECT SNOW ADVISORY FOR MASON...OCEANA...MUSKEGON AND KENT COUNTIES 11 AM TODAY THROUGH 11 PM TONIGHT. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR NEARSHORE WATERS FROM ST JOE TO MANISTEE THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. && JK WDM
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 537 AM EST MON DEC 4 2006 MIZ037>040-043>046-050>052-056>059-064>067-071>074-051045- MASON-LAKE-OSCEOLA-CLARE-OCEANA-NEWAYGO-MECOSTA-ISABELLA-MUSKEGON- MONTCALM-GRATIOT-OTTAWA-KENT-IONIA-CLINTON-ALLEGAN-BARRY-EATON- INGHAM-VAN BUREN-KALAMAZOO-CALHOUN-JACKSON- 537 AM EST MON DEC 4 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT LAKE ENHANCED SNOW SHOWERS WILL PREVAIL THROUGH TONIGHT. MOST OF THE SNOW SHOWER ACTIVITY WILL BE WEST OF A LINE FROM BIG RAPIDS TO BATTLE CREEK. THE HEAVIEST TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW THROUGH TONIGHT IS EXPECTED TO BE IN ALLEGAN AND OTTAWA COUNTIES. SOME PARTS OF THESE TWO COUNTIES COULD SEE AS MUCH AS 10 INCHES OF SNOW BY TUESDAY MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY MORNING BEFORE THE AIR WARMS ENOUGH TO STOP THEIR FORMATION. THE STRONGEST SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED TO BE FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON INTO THURSDAY MORNING...BEHIND YET ANOTHER STRONG COLD FRONT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD. LMZ844>849-051045- ST JOSEPH TO SOUTH HAVEN-SOUTH HAVEN TO HOLLAND- HOLLAND TO GRAND HAVEN-GRAND HAVEN TO WHITEHALL- WHITEHALL TO PENTWATER-PENTWATER TO MANISTEE- 537 AM EST MON DEC 4 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT WAVES OF 4 FEET OR HIGHER ARE EXPECTED THROUGH TONIGHT. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS WILL LOCALLY REDUCE VISIBILITY. THESE CONDITIONS ARE HAZARDOUS FOR SMALL WATER CRAFT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY WAVES OF 4 FEET OR HIGHER ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THURSDAY. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS WILL LOCALLY REDUCE VISIBILITY. THESE CONDITIONS ARE HAZARDOUS FOR SMALL WATER CRAFT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD. WDM
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
10 lake-effect snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Six to eight inches of snow was reported.
Six to eight inches of snow was reported.
Six to eight inches of snow was reported.
Six to eight inches of snow was reported.
Six to eight inches of snow was reported.
Six to eight inches of snow was reported.
Six to eight inches of snow was reported.
Six to eight inches of snow was reported.
Eight to eleven inches of snow was reported with the highest totals near the Lake Michigan shoreline near Saugatuck and route 31.
Eight to eleven inches of snow was reported with the highest totals received near the Lake Michigan shoreline near South Haven and route 31.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Michigan in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, December 2006
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: 8442, 8443, 8444, 8445, 8446, 8447, 8449, 8450, 8451, 8452.