Winter Storm — Otsego, Michigan

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

Event narrative

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 1225224. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.