Winter Storm — Otsego, Michigan

2024-11-28 to 2024-11-30 · Otsego, Michigan

Event narrative

Snowfall intensity began to increase at NWS Gaylord, MI overnight on the 28th-29th, reaching 9 inches by 0700EST. High snow-to-liquid ratios and intense, generally persistent bands with consistent 1 inch per hour snowfall rates resulted in the accumulation of 24.8 inches of snow by midnight on the 30th...setting a new calendar day record for the Gaylord area. Most intense snowfall occurred on the 29th into the morning of the 30th, with much less impressive snowfall rates for the remainder of the weekend in the immediate area of the office...with a 60-hr snowfall total of 33.8 inches ending 1900EST on the 30th. Highest snow depth during this period was 21 inches on the 30th...with an event total of 45.4inches by 1900EST December 2nd. Travel impacts were somewhat widespread, particularly focused beneath the snow bands, where whiteout conditions and significant snow accumulations on roadways made travel difficult to nearly impossible. A COOP observer at Pigeon River State Forest Headquarters reported a 24 hour total of 12.5 inches of snow ending the morning of the 30th.

Wider weather episode

A prolonged period of cyclonic flow settled into the Upper Great Lakes starting on Thanksgiving night as the first in a series of disturbances moved into the region. Upper level troughing then settled in for the weekend, spanning the last couple days of November and the first couple days of December, bringing an unseasonably cold air mass over the unseasonably warm Great Lakes, resulting in an extended period of significant lake effect snow. Despite wind shifts that shifted the position of the most intense snow bands through the weekend, 1-3inch per hour snowfall rates within these bands resulted in 12hour totals of 12inches or more. The NWS Gaylord, MI office, located 9miles SSW of Gaylord, set an all-time calendar-day snowfall record of 24.8inches for the calendar date of 11-29-2024, with more to come through the next 3 days into December 2. Some areas of Otsego County received as much as 4feet of snow through the entire event.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1225008. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.