In some areas, there were snow drifts high enough to bury houses. Much of lower Michigan closed down for days due to impassable roads. Clemens, MI, the atmospheric pressure fell to the third lowest ever recorded in the United States, outside of a tropical storm. There were several inches of snow on the ground before the storm began this just compounded the problem with the blowing snow. The severe blizzard caused whiteouts and zero visibility for hours. Wind gusts were between 50 and 70 mph and windchills were as cold as 30 below. Again falling on January 26 and 27, the lower peninsula was hit with 10 to 30 inches of snow depending on location. Dairy farmers had to dump milk that couldn’t be delivered, and state troopers relied on the National Guard for transportation through the deep snow to respond to emergency calls.Īccording to The National Weather Service, The Blizzard of ‘78 was the worst winter storm to hit Michigan since record keeping began. Eyewitnesses say the storm brought the state to a standstill for two days. Kalamazoo took the brunt of the storm with 30 inches of snow falling.
MICHIGAN SNOWFALL DRIVERS
An eight-mile long traffic backup occurred between Grand Rapids and Jackson, with drivers abandoning their cars and walking to a nearby farmhouse to spend the night. Then suddenly, winter temperatures returned, and with them came several feet of snow. The days prior to January 26 were unseasonably warm with temperatures in the 50s and 60s in some parts of Michigan. Areas near Lansing and Flint were buried in a foot of snow! Temperatures didn’t rise out of the 30s for two days. The following day, a low-pressure system joined up with the cold front, leaving six to nine inches of snow over most of the area, despite the ground already warming up from spring.
While that was unusual, Michigan was in for an even more rare occurrence. Temperatures across Michigan fell from 62 degrees to just 34 between noon and six that evening as a strong cold front approached. That’s exactly what happened on May 8, 1923. Imagine, it’s a warm spring day, then suddenly the mercury plunges.
While this storm caused little damage and only dropped about a foot of snow in some of the hardest hit locations, it was still considered a significant storm because it caught everyone off guard. Snowdrifts from the strong winds reached more than four feet.Ĭan it really snow in Michigan in May? Yes it can! An awful lot in fact.
Snowfalls of almost two feet crippled cities and towns across Michigan and other Great Lakes states. About 235 mariners lost their lives on Lake Huron during the horrific storm. Lake Huron took the worst hit, losing several ships that were in the area en-route to and from the St. Waves ripped apart breakwaters, and the wind smashed telephone poles and powerlines. Sustained winds across the entire state of Michigan are believed to have reached 60 to 70 mph. Typically these storms are called November Gales, but in 1913 wind gusts reached hurricane speeds of up to 90 mph, producing 35 foot waves on the big lakes. Two powerful low fronts, one from Alberta and one from Colorado, converged over the Great Lakes, picking up energy from the still-warm lake water. It left a path of devastation in its wake, toppling ships on the Great Lakes, killing 250 people. This blizzard with hurricane-force winds blew across Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas and into Ohio, New York and Ontario, Canada, for four days. But anyone who lived through the Great Lakes storm of November 1913 would probably disagree.Ĭalled the White Hurricane, it’s considered one of the worst snowstorms to hit the region in recorded history. Technically, Michigan doesn’t have hurricanes. Here are five of Michigan’s biggest snowstorms in recent history. With all that snow, you can bet Michigan has seen its share of big snowstorms. The “Snow Thermometer” near Calumet displays snowfall totals for Michigan’s snowiest location.
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