Winter Storm — Grand Traverse, Michigan

2025-11-09 · Grand Traverse, Michigan

Event narrative

As much as 9.5 inches of snow fell over parts of west-central Grand Traverse county thanks to passage of a mesovortex during the early afternoon, followed by north-northeasterly flow lake effect in the late afternoon and evening hours on the 9th.

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 1298297. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.