Blizzard — Keweenaw, Michigan

2025-03-01 · Keweenaw, Michigan

Event narrative

Moderate to heavy snow and high winds resulted in blizzard conditions during the afternoon and evening of February 28th, with snow winding down on March 1. Winds gusted as high as 58 mph at Copper Harbor, and several inches of snow occurred. Key impacts: transportation delays, traffic accidents, road closures, scattered power outages, school and event cancellations.

Wider weather episode

A strong low pressure tracking from northwest Ontario to the eastern UP through the day on February 28th resulted in high winds, brief moderate to heavy snow, and whiteout conditions over portions of the UP. This was a long duration event that impacted the Friday morning commute with widespread 1-3 inches. During the day, rain mixed in with snow in some locations. By the afternoon and evening commute, plummeting temperatures resulted in a flash freeze while very strong winds and moderate to heavy snow resulted in very low visibilities. Highest snow amounts for the event spanned most of Upper Michigan's west, central, and east with amounts ranging from 3 to 11 inches. The same areas observed widespread 40 to 60 mph winds in the afternoon and evening hours. These conditions resulted impassable road conditions in the city of Houghton, occasional white outs in Negaunee, icy road conditions in Marquette, an 11 hour closure of M-28 between Munising and Harvey, multiple school delays and early releases, afternoon and evening sporting event postponements, and power outages in Keweenaw and Dickinson County. The event continued into the morning hours of March 1.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1248248. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.