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Snow Continues in the Great Lakes; Above Normal Temperatures in the West

Lake effect snow will continue into the weekend as two more quick moving systems will bring widespread snow to the Upper Great Lakes. High winds are expected across portions of Montana through the weekend. Below normal temperatures will remain in place across much of the southern and eastern U.S., while the western U.S. will experience above normal temperatures. Read More >

Overview

A system tracking northeast across the Upper Great Lakes brought with it anomalously warm temperatures aloft and record breaking precipitable water values, resulting in a significant, historic ice storm for this part of the county. Many locations saw moderate to heavy freezing rain, resulting in one-quarter to around or just greater than three-quarters of an inch of ice accretions. As the depth of the cold air began to increase as the system pulled out of the region, locations that saw primarily freezing rain did see precipitation switch over to or mix with sleet for a period of time. Across far south central and eastern Upper Michigan, especially near Lake Superior precipitation remained mostly rain, but a very cold rain. Across the northwest, especially over the Keweenaw Peninsula precipitation started out as freezing rain and sleet, but then quickly switched over to Monday morning.

 

Link below to a blog about this event written by the Cooperative Institution for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA):

http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/training/visit/blog/index.php/2019/02/07/4-february-2019-significant-ice-storm-in-the-upper-great-lakes/

 

Image
WFO Marquette webcam icing up during freezing drizzle and freezing fog on Sunday night, February 3rd leading up to the ice storm early Monday morning.

 

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