Lake-Effect Snow in Michigan, January 18 to 21, 2008

Name: Lake-Effect Snow in Michigan, January 18 to 21, 2008
Start: 2008-01-18T08:00
End: 2008-01-21T02:00
Location: Michigan

January 18 to 21, 2008 · NWS APX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The coldest air of the winter so far invaded Northern Michigan from the 18th to the 21st. In most of the area, the air was too cold to support heavy lake effect snow.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 APX wrote it up.

The coldest air of the winter so far invaded Northern Michigan from the 18th to the 21st. In most of the area, the air was too cold to support heavy lake effect snow. But in Eastern Upper Michigan, the longer upstream fetch over Lake Superior allowed heavy snow to develop. Paradise, Whitefish Point, and Tahquamenon Falls saw up to a foot of snow during the night of the 18th into the morning of the 19th. And the snow kept on coming, with local six inch accumulations per twenty-four hours continuing through the night of the 20th.

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 Gaylord, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 18, 6:34 AM EST, 1 hour 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 18, 6:34 AM EST, 1 hour 26 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 18, 4:38 AM EST, 3 hours 22 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, Jan 18, 6:20 AM EST, 1 hour 40 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jan 18, 7:26 AM EST, 34 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jan 18, 7:31 AM EST, 29 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jan 18, 7:48 AM EST, 12 minutes before

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Event by event

1 lake-effect snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Lake-Effect Snow, Chippewa

When: January 18, 8:00 AM EST to January 21, 2:00 AM EST
Where: Chippewa forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter

What these are

Lake-Effect Snow: Heavy snow in bands downwind of a large lake as cold air crosses warmer water.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Michigan in 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings in Michigan, January 2008

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 78012.