As colder Arctic air moved across Lake Superior, occasionally heavy lake effect snow showers developed over portions of western Upper Michigan from the 3rd into the 8th.
Every event with a place to put it; 9 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 MQT wrote it up.
As colder Arctic air moved across Lake Superior, occasionally heavy lake effect snow showers developed over portions of western Upper Michigan from the 3rd into the 8th.
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 Dec 3, 7:00 AM EST, 3 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARQUETTE MI
700 AM EST THU DEC 3 2009
UPDATED AVIATION DISCUSSION FOR 12Z TAFS
.DISCUSSION... /ISSUED AT 542 AM EST/
SIGNIFICANT WINTER WEATHER CONTINUES TO DEVELOP SLOWLY...AS IF IT
WERE EARLY TO MID NOVEMBER...INSTEAD OF EARLY DECEMBER.
HAVE CONTINUED THE LAKE EFFECT SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE WESTERN MOST
COUNTIES THROUGH THIS EVENING. THE TRAJECTORY FOR MODERATE SNOW AT
IRONWOOD HAS NOT BEEN THE BEST THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT
HOURS...SLIGHTLY WEST OF NORTH. STILL...WHILE LOOKING AT SOME OF
THE LOCAL WEBCAMS...PLACES NEAR TWIN LAKES AND BERGLAND SEEMED TO
PICK UP A ROUGHLY ESTIMATED 1 TO 3 INCHES. OF COURSE THIS WILL BE
VALIDATED ONCE COOP REPORTS COME IN LATER THIS MORNING.
THE COLDER AIR IS STILL WORKING ITS WAY ACROSS CENTRAL AND EASTERN
UPPER MICHIGAN TODAY. TO START OFF THIS MORNING...850MB TEMPERATURES
ARE HOVERING AROUND -11C WEST...TO -6C EAST. OTHER THAN THE WARMER
AIR HURTING THE POTENTIAL FOR RAPIDLY ACCUMULATING SNOW...SLIGHTLY
DRIER NNE FLOW IS ALSO HURTING.
A SLOW AND STEADY FALL TO 850MB TEMPERATURES IS EXPECTED THROUGH 12Z
SATURDAY...WHERE THEY SHOULD BE AT A MINIMUM -15C WEST AND -13C
EAST. BACK TO THE NEAR TERM...NORTHERLY WINDS WILL REMAIN IN THE
NEAR TERM...AS THE SURFACE LOW SLIDES FROM THE LOWER GREAT LAKES
INTO THE NEW ENGLAND STATES THIS AFTERNOON. OTHERWISE...A LARGE AREA
OF HIGH PRESSURE WAS SET UP ACROSS MUCH OF THE INTERMOUNTAIN
WEST...WITH NORTHERLY FLOW PINNED IN BETWEEN THESE 2 FEATURES.
AS THE SURFACE LOW JUTS INTO THE ATLANTIC TONIGHT...WINDS WILL
BECOME MORE NORTHWESTERLY...AND WESTERLY FRIDAY MORNING. MODELS HAVE
BEEN DOING PRETTY WELL WITH WIND DIRECTIONS IN THE NEAR TERM...OR
THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING. THIS REMAINS QUITE HELPFUL IN THE PLACEMENT
IN THE HIGHEST POPS WITH LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE AND BEST FETCH ACROSS
LAKE SUPERIOR. THE LAKE EFFECT SNOW WATCH HAS BEEN POSTED FOR
ONTONAGON NORTH THROUGH THE KEWEENAW PENINSULA...WITH A BAND
EXPECTED TO FORM OVER LAKE SUPERIOR...AND FLUCTUATE ACROSS THE AREA
LATE TONIGHT...AND DRIFT NORTHWARD ACROSS NORTHERN HOUGHTON AND
KEWEENAW COUNTIES AS THE WINDS TURN MORE WESTERLY. IN THIS
BAND...THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR SNOWFALL RATES UPWARDS OF 2 INCHES
AN HOUR. BUFKIT WOULD GIVE 0.25 TO 0.45 INCHES OF QPF THROUGH THE
WATCH PERIOD...WITH SNOW RATIOS INCREASING AFTER 06Z THIS EVENING
FROM 15:1 TO CLOSER TO 25 OR 30:1 BY LATE FRIDAY.
FEW CHANGES WERE MADE TO THE ONGOING TEMPERATURE...SKY...OR DEW
POINT FORECASTS...AND FEW OVERALL CHANGES WERE MADE BEYOND SATURDAY.
FOR SATURDAY...THERE WERE 2 MAIN POSSIBILITIES...THE GFS/NAM OR THE
ECMWF/UKMET. FOR CONSISTENCY SAKE...WE HEDGED THE FORECAST CLOSER TO
THE ECMWF. THIS WAS SIGNIFICANT SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY...WHERE WINDS
DIFFERED BY NEARLY 180 DEGREES AT ONE POINT. KEPT THE FORECAST WITH
MORE ONSHORE FLOW OFF LAKE SUPERIOR...WITH SLIGHT CHANCE POPS
RETURNING TO THE WESTERN CWA SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY.
&&
.AVIATION /FOR THE 12Z TAF ISSUANCE/...
VERY LITTLE IN WAY OF -SHSN THUS FAR AS AIR HAS BEEN ONLY MARGINALLY
COLD FOR LK EFFECT. THIS SHOULD CHANGE BY LATE MORNING AS BETTER
LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE AND COLDER AIR FLOWS ACROSS LK SUPERIOR. WITH A
N/NW WIND THIS MRNG...THE WORST PREDOMINANT CONDITIONS SHOULD IMPACT
SAW GIVEN LONG FETCH ACROSS THE OPEN WATERS OF CENTRAL LAKE SUPERIOR
INTO THAT SITE. THE N WIND IS LESS FAVORABLE AT CMX...SO PLAN ON
PREDOMINANT VFR VSBY/MVFR CIGS THERE INTO EARLY AFTN. AS THE WIND
BACKS TO NW THIS AFTN...PERSISTENT LK EFFECT IMPACT CMX INSTEAD OF
SAW. LOOK FOR PREDOMINANT IFR VSBYS AT CMX BY THIS EVNG...WITH
CONDITIONS AT SAW TRENDING TO VFR WITH DOWNSLOPING FLOW/LESS LAKE
MOISTENING.
&&
.MARINE... /FOR THE 4 AM LAKE SUPERIOR FORECAST ISSUANCE/
PRES GRADIENT BTWN LOW PRES LIFTING NE INTO NEW ENGLAND AND HIGH
PRES SETTLING S INTO THE WRN PLAINS WILL KEEP NRLY WINDS GENERALLY
IN THE 15-25KT RANGE ACROSS LAKE SUPERIOR TODAY WITH WINDS
DIMINISHING TONIGHT INTO FRI. WINDS OVER THE WEEKEND SHOULD BE
UNDER 20KT AS A LOW PRES TROF SLOWLY DRIFTS SE ACROSS THE UPPER
GREAT LAKES.
&&
.MQT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
UPPER MICHIGAN...
LAKE EFFECT SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL 1 AM EST /MIDNIGHT CST/ FRIDAY
FOR MIZ002-009.
LAKE EFFECT SNOW WATCH FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING
FOR MIZ002.
LAKE EFFECT SNOW WATCH FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY
MORNING FOR MIZ001-003.
LAKE SUPERIOR...
NONE.
LAKE MICHIGAN...
NONE.
&&
DISCUSSION...KF
AVIATION...JLA
MARINE...JLAHAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARQUETTE MI 518 AM EST THU DEC 3 2009 MIZ009-041200- GOGEBIC- 418 AM CST THU DEC 3 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN UPPER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SIGNIFICANT LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE THROUGH THIS EVENING. SEE THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... THE NEED FOR WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTS IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. MIZ001>003-041200- KEWEENAW-ONTONAGON-NORTHERN HOUGHTON- 518 AM EST THU DEC 3 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL UPPER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SIGNIFICANT LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS ARE POSSIBLE LATE TONIGHT. SEE THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY SIGNIFICANT LAKE EFFECT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL LIKELY CONTINUE THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING. SEE THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... THE NEED FOR WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTS IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. MIZ004>007-084-085-041200- BARAGA-MARQUETTE-ALGER-LUCE-SOUTHERN HOUGHTON- NORTHERN SCHOOLCRAFT- 518 AM EST THU DEC 3 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN UPPER MICHIGAN AND CENTRAL UPPER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SIGNIFICANT LAKE EFFECT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS MAY BE POSSIBLE TODAY BETWEEN SKANDIA AND MUNISING...AND TONIGHT FROM MUNISING TO GRAND MARAIS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... THE NEED FOR WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTS IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. MIZ010>014-041200- IRON-DICKINSON-MENOMINEE-DELTA-SOUTHERN SCHOOLCRAFT- 518 AM EST THU DEC 3 2009 /418 AM CST THU DEC 3 2009/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL UPPER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... THE NEED FOR WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTS IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. LSZ162-240>251-263>267-041200- LAKE SUPERIOR WEST OF A LINE FROM SAXON HARBOR WI TO GRAND PORTAGE MN BEYOND 5NM-SAXON HARBOR WI TO BLACK RIVER MI- BLACK RIVER TO ONTONAGON MI- ONTONAGON TO UPPER ENTRANCE OF PORTAGE CANAL MI- UPPER ENTRANCE OF PORTAGE CANAL TO EAGLE RIVER MI- EAGLE RIVER TO MANITOU ISLAND MI- MANITOU ISLAND TO POINT ISABELLE MI- POINT ISABELLE TO LOWER ENTRANCE OF PORTAGE CANAL MI- LOWER ENTRANCE OF PORTAGE CANAL TO HURON ISLANDS MI INCLUDING KEWEENAW AND HURON BAYS-HURON ISLANDS TO MARQUETTE MI- MARQUETTE TO MUNISING MI-MUNISING TO GRAND MARAIS MI- GRAND MARAIS TO WHITEFISH POINT MI- LAKE SUPERIOR FROM SAXON HARBOR WI TO UPPER ENTRANCE TO PORTAGE CANAL MI 5NM OFF SHORE TO THE US/CANADIAN BORDER INCLUDING ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK- LAKE SUPERIOR FROM UPPER ENTRANCE TO PORTAGE CANAL TO MANITOU ISLAND MI 5NM OFF SHORE TO THE US/CANADIAN BORDER- LAKE SUPERIOR WEST OF LINE FROM MANITOU ISLAND TO MARQUETTE MI BEYOND 5NM FROM SHORE- LAKE SUPERIOR EAST OF A LINE FROM MANITOU ISLAND TO MARQUETTE MI AND WEST OF A LINE FROM GRAND MARAIS MI TO THE US/CANADIAN BORDER BEYOND 5NM FROM SHORE- LAKE SUPERIOR FROM GRAND MARAIS MI TO WHITEFISH POINT MI 5NM OFF SHORE TO THE US/CANADIAN BORDER- 518 AM EST THU DEC 3 2009 /418 AM CST THU DEC 3 2009/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN LAKE SUPERIOR...CENTRAL LAKE SUPERIOR AND WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... THE NEED FOR WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTS IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. LMZ221-248-250-041200- GREEN BAY NORTH OF LINE FROM CEDAR RIVER MI TO ROCK ISLAND PASSAGE-SEUL CHOIX POINT TO POINT DETOUR MI- 5NM EAST OF A LINE FROM FAIRPORT MI TO ROCK ISLAND PASSAGE- 518 AM EST THU DEC 3 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHERN LAKE LAKE MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... THE NEED FOR WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTS IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. KF
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARQUETTE MI
820 AM EST THU DEC 03 2009
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0818 AM SNOW IRONWOOD 46.45N 90.15W
12/03/2009 M3.0 INCH GOGEBIC MI CO-OP OBSERVER
24 HOUR TOTAL ENDING 7 AM. 0.21 LIQUID EQUIVALENT. SNOW
DEPTH 4 INCHES.
&&
AJKThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 winter weather, 4 lake-effect snow. Local standard time, as filed.
A locally intense lake effect snow band resulted in one-inch per hour snowfall rates over Marquette and Harvey during the late morning into early afternoon hours of the 3rd. The snow caused numerous traffic accidents in the Marquette area.
The observer eight miles west-southwest of Ontonagon measured ten inches of snow in less than 14 hours.
More than six inches of lake effect snow fell in less than four hours at Laurium on the morning of the 4th. Eight inches of snow fell in four hours at Calumet from late morning into early afternoon.
The observer at Mohawk measured 6.5 inches of snow in 12 hours.
The Keweenaw County Sheriff reported 14 inches of snow in a 12-hour period at Eagle River.
Very heavy lake effect snow bands pummeled the Houghton-Hancock area on the 5th. The observer in Hancock measured over 13 inches of snow in six hours while a spotter eight miles west of Houghton measured a foot of snow in four hours. The observer in Freda also measured nine inches of snow in seven hours.
The Ontonagon County Sheriff reported four to five inches of snowfall in the Ontonagon area over a 10-hour period.
A spotter in Hancock measured 6.7 inches of snow in a 12-hour period.
Observer snowfall reports over a 24-hour period included 9.0 inches eight miles west of Ontonagon and 9.9 inches six miles north of Greenland.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Michigan in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, December 2009
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: 204109, 203839, 204110, 203838, 204111, 204112, 204114, 204115, 204116.