Question about snow records.

[Willh]

So I've read in multiple places that the deepest snow depth ever measured in the state of Michigan is 117" inches of snow on the ground...which lasted for 5 days. My question about this is regarding the location. This snow depth was measured in Eagle Harbor...which, to my understanding, is not even in the most snow prone region of the Keweenaw. It's relatively low in elevation and it's immediately on the coast.

Is this measurement accurate? And if so, how? Aren't there plenty of places from Phoenix to Calumet to Toivola, Twin Lakes, even Mass City and some areas of the Hurons that would have beat that measurement?

Thanks for any information, I'm just really curious about meteorology/climatology and studying the respective climatological history of places I live.

~ Will

 

[frnash]

So I've read in multiple places that the deepest snow depth ever measured in the state of Michigan is 117" inches of snow on the ground...which lasted for 5 days. My question about this is regarding the location. This snow depth was measured in Eagle Harbor...which, to my understanding, is not even in the most snow prone region of the Keweenaw. …

You must have seen this one, from The Weather Channel, I've heard of that event, I'd guess it was real, but mostly a rare fluke. I can't wait to see what John has to say about that!

 

[jd]

Hi Will.

Interesting list. Without knowing the source for all of those numbers, it is kind of hard for me to make an official comment. That is a pretty incredible snow depth, even for the UP! Almost seems unrealistic, as I have lived here for over 16 years and have been visiting the area in the winter time for an additional 10 years before moving up here and I also have data for many stations in the Keweenaw and UP going back since official reports were kept and have never seen any snow depth even close to that. I cannot rule it completely out, but am skeptical. I am also skeptical of some of the other depths that were reported in the link frnash gave. Snow loves to settle and it takes a ton of it to get the on-ground depth to exceed 3 feet.

It is possible for the immediate shoreline area in the vicinity of Eagle Harbor (as well as other areas in the LES belts of the Great Lakes) to sit under an extremely intense lake snow band and pick up feet of snow in a short period of time with just one event and I believe I have read somewhere about the largest 24 hour snowfall in MI happening either in Eagle Harbor or Copper Harbor, but question that one too, as it happened a long time ago and there is very little other info on it.

You are right though, that on average, the higher terrain generally picks up more snow than the shoreline locations in the Great Lakes snowbelts. So unless this was a highly unusual event, then my money would be on places higher in elevation for the deepest depth.

-John

 

[Willh]

Hi Will.

Interesting list. Without knowing the source for all of those numbers, it is kind of hard for me to make an official comment. That is a pretty incredible snow depth, even for the UP! Almost seems unrealistic, as I have lived here for over 16 years and have been visiting the area in the winter time for an additional 10 years before moving up here and I also have data for many stations in the Keweenaw and UP going back since official reports were kept and have never seen any snow depth even close to that. I cannot rule it completely out, but am skeptical. I am also skeptical of some of the other depths that were reported in the link frnash gave. Snow loves to settle and it takes a ton of it to get the on-ground depth to exceed 3 feet.

It is possible for the immediate shoreline area in the vicinity of Eagle Harbor (as well as other areas in the LES belts of the Great Lakes) to sit under an extremely intense lake snow band and pick up feet of snow in a short period of time with just one event and I believe I have read somewhere about the largest 24 hour snowfall in MI happening either in Eagle Harbor or Copper Harbor, but question that one too, as it happened a long time ago and there is very little other info on it.

You are right though, that on average, the higher terrain generally picks up more snow than the shoreline locations in the Great Lakes snowbelts. So unless this was a highly unusual event, then my money would be on places higher in elevation for the deepest depth.

-John

Thanks so much for the reply.

I also wondered about the veracity of some of those reports...but still was curious about the choice of Eagle Harbor over other locations.

What's the deepest snow depth on the level that you've seen/reliably heard of in the UP? (not just the Keweenaw)

Thanks again. I used to be 100% sold on the Canadian/Extreme northern Maine maritimes as the best location for snow and cold...but after following you so long I ended up here and couldn't be happier with the Keweenaw and western UP - even without snow.

Thanks so much.
I hereby declare you the Paul Kocin of Lake Effect.

~ Will

 

[kwikgren]

It is not unusual to find areas of snow cover over 75" up here in isolated areas for brief periods of time before the snow settles, and areas of drifted snow over 20' have been documented. A good read on the topic is Karl Bohnak's book, "So Cold A Sky". This provides a good introduction to Upper Peninsula weather and puts things in historical perspective. Six feet of snow on the ground doesn't seem like that much today with plowed roads, groomed trails, and powder snowmachines, but back in the day of foot travel, dogs, and horses, it was the real deal.

As far as the Eagle Harbor record goes. If you look into the Eagle Harbor Coast Guard station metadata at: http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?mi2332*, you will find more information on that year (1948) including nine daily snowfall records set totaling 107" between 1-4 and 1-19 alone. The data for that year, as well as most years at that location, is incomplete but does report 175.4" falling in November, December, and January, with data incomplete for the rest of the year. The Houghton County snowfall record shows 146" of snow falling through February 1, 1948.

Regardless of official records, there are many undocumented records in isolated locations that probably exceed them. One thing for sure is that we can get a good amount of snow up here. Enjoy!

*To locate snow depth data scroll down left column to "Period of Record tables" and click on "Daily Summary Stats".

 

[mezz]

Nice post kwikgren and spot on. There are many locations throughout the area that can and have gotten hit hard without the recognition. Simply put, life in the Keweenaw.-Mezz