An area of low pressure over Lake Superior east of Grand Marais brought heavy snow showers to the tip of the Arrowhead. Most of the heavier snow fell during the late morning hours.
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The episode as NWS DLH wrote it up.
An area of low pressure over Lake Superior east of Grand Marais brought heavy snow showers to the tip of the Arrowhead. Most of the heavier snow fell during the late morning hours. Six to 10 inches of snow fell from Grand Marais to Hovland.
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 Duluth, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 3, 9:11 PM CST, 1 hour 49 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 911 PM CST SUN DEC 3 2006 .UPDATE... LOW TEMPS ALREADY REACHED AND UPDATED TO ADD RISING TEMPS OVERNIGHT IN STRONG WAA. SNOW FORECAST STILL ON TRACK...SNOW FROM KHCO THORUGH KFSE TO KDTL CURRENTLY. EXTRAPOLATION PUTS SNOW AREA FROM KBDE TO WALKER TO PWC AROUND 1130 PM AND INTO BRD AND NEAR GPZ BY MIDNIGHT...THEN INTO INL AROUND 1 AM. SHOULD SPREAD INTO THE TWIN PORTS AROUND 3- 4 AM. && .PREV DISCUSSION... (ISSUED 626 PM CST SUN DEC 3 2006) UPDATE... SENT UPDATE TO END LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING. WEST WINDS HAVE TURNED OFF THE SNOW MACHINE. CALLS AROUND TO SNOW SPOTTERS INDICATE ANYWHERE FROM THREE TO ABOUT 10 INCHES...WITH HIGHEST AMOUNTS IN MONTREAL/GILE/HURLEY AREA. LOOKING TO THE WEST NOW....MID-HIGH CLOUDS OVERSPREADING THE AREA...AND WITH STRONG WAA WILL SEE TEMPERATURES AOBUT BOTTOMED OUT ALREADY THIS EVENING. MAY SEE A FEW MORE DEGREE FALL YET...BUT EXPECT TEMP DROP TO SLOW CONSIDERABLY. SNOW WITH LOW EXTENDS FROM LAKE WINNIPEG DOWN THROUGH THE EASTERN DAKOTAS...AND SPREADING EAST. GOING TIMING STILL LOOKS GOOD. WILL MONITOR FOR LATER UPDATE. PREV DISCUSSION... (ISSUED 308 PM CST SUN DEC 3 2006) DISCUSSION...LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS CONTINUE OVER THE WARNED AREA OF BAYFIELD...ASHLAND AND IRON COUNTIES THIS AFTERNOON. CALLS TO SPOTTERS REVEAL SNOW SHOWERS ARE NOT AS WIDESPREAD...BUT ARE STILL HEAVY AT TIMES. WE WILL CONTINUE THE WARNING...AND THE 6 PM ENDING TIME STILL LOOKS OK. THE LOW LEVEL FLOW WILL CONTINUE TO BACK OVER THE NEXT COUPLE HOURS. SILVER BAY...PORT WING...SAXON HARBOR AND DEVILS ISLAND OBSERVATIONS ALL SHOW THE BACKING WINDS WITH MOST OF THOSE OBS WESTERLY. THERE IS STILL A LOT OF INSTABILITY PRESENT AND SHORTER FETCH IS NEEDED FOR SNOW SHOWERS. HOWEVER...INVERSION LEVELS WILL ALSO BE DROPPING OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS...AND THAT WITH BACKING LOW LEVEL FLOW WILL BRING AN END TO THE HEAVIER SNOW SHOWERS. A CLIPPER WILL MOVE IN TONIGHT...AND KBIS/KMBX RADARS SHOW SOME NICE RETURNS IN NC NORTH DAKOTA. 280-285K SURFACE SHOWS LOW PRESSURE DEFICITS OVER MUCH OF OUR CWA...BUT THE BETTER LIFT IS OVER THE SOUTH. BETTER UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE IS OVER THE SOUTH...AND NAM SHOWS A OMEGA BULLS-EYE AROUND -16C TONIGHT. WE HAVE INCREASED POPS TONIGHT...AND GONE LIKELY OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OUR CWA LATER TONIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING. THINK SNOWFALL WILL GENERALLY BE AN INCH OR LESS...BUT CHANCES ARE PRETTY GOOD. MODELS DIFFER ON THE NEXT LOW TO AFFECT THE REGION. NAM IS QUITE A BIT FASTER MOVING IT THROUGH. GFS HAS HAD MORE CONSISTENCY...AND WAS FOLLOWED. WE WILL BRING A CHANCE FOR SNOW IN ON TUESDAY...BUT THE BEST CHANCE WILL BE TUESDAY NIGHT. WE COULD SEE A COUPLE INCHES OF SNOWFALL...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR UP TO 4 INCHES IN SPOTS. A WARM UP STILL LOOKS ON TARGET FOR LATE IN THE WEEK...FRIDAY INTO THE WEEKEND. DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...NONE. WI...NONE. LS...NONE. && .DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...NONE. WI...NONE. LS...NONE. CLC
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 704 PM CST SUN DEC 3 2006 LSZ121-140>148-162-MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004- 006>009-050115- BAYFIELD TO OAK POINT WI-GRAND PORTAGE TO GRAND MARAIS MN- GRAND MARAIS TO TACONITE HARBOR MN- TACONITE HARBOR TO SILVER BAY HARBOR MN- SILVER BAY HARBOR TO TWO HARBORS MN-TWO HARBORS TO DULUTH MN- DULUTH MN TO PORT WING WI-PORT WING TO SAND ISLAND WI- SAND ISLAND TO BAYFIELD WI-OAK POINT TO SAXON HARBOR WI- OPEN WATERS OF LAKE SUPERIOR WEST OF A LINE FROM SAXON HARBOR WI TO GRAND PORTAGE MN-KOOCHICHING-NORTHERN ST. LOUIS- NORTHERN COOK/NORTHERN LAKE-NORTHERN ITASCA-CENTRAL ST. LOUIS- SOUTHERN LAKE/LAKESHORE-SOUTHERN COOK/LAKESHORE-NORTHERN CASS- SOUTHERN ITASCA-SOUTHERN CASS-CROW WING-NORTHERN AITKIN- SOUTHERN AITKIN-CARLTON/SOUTHERN ST. LOUIS-PINE-DOUGLAS-BAYFIELD- ASHLAND-IRON-BURNETT-WASHBURN-SAWYER-PRICE- 704 PM CST SUN DEC 3 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MINNESOTA... NORTHWEST WISCONSIN AND WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT LIGHT SNOW IS EXPECTED TO FALL TONIGHT OVER MUCH OF THE NORTHLAND. SNOW AMOUNTS BY MORNING WILL BE LESS THAN AN INCH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY LIGHT SNOW WILL CONTINUE AT LEAST THROUGH MONDAY MORNING. TOTAL SNOWFALL WILL BE AN INCH OR LESS. A COUPLE INCHES OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT. CLC
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Six inches of snow was reported five miles west of Grand Marais.
A band of heavy snow off of Lake Superior brought six inches of snow five miles west of Grand Marais.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, 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: 8681, 8682.