Winter Storm — Leelanau, Michigan

2025-11-08 to 2025-11-09 · Leelanau, Michigan

Event narrative

The tip of the Leelanau Peninsula near Northport received as much as 9 inches of snow as early as mid-morning, thanks to off-shore band just barely nicking the tip of the peninsula. As the band moved inland, additional snow fell, with reports of as much as 10 inches at Stony Point, northeast of Suttons Bay on the east side of the Leelanau Peninsula. Snow to liquid ratios were as high as 20 to 1.

Wider weather episode

Deep upper trough and attendant cold air settled into the eastern US to end the first full week of November, resulting in the first bout of accumulating lake effect snow of the 2025-26 winter season for northern Michigan. Light northerly winds initially led to the development of a subtle near-shore lake effect band over eastern Lake Michigan on the 8th, which just barely scraped parts of the Leelanau Peninsula at times. This congealed with a band over northern Lake Huron as a low pressure system tracked through the Ohio Valley, eventually drifting southward across the Tip of the Mitt and northwest Lower Michigan through the first part of the day on the 9th...ultimately diminishing with time by late in the evening...with a few north-flow lake effect bands across parts of Lake Michigan impacting areas generally near and south of Sleeping Bear Dunes, as well as areas downwind of Grand Traverse Bay. Highest snowfall totals ended up in the Leelanau Peninsula, where the lake effect band set up longest and had the best conditions for higher accumulations.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1298296. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.