Winter Storm — Crawford, Michigan

2025-11-26 to 2025-11-29 · Crawford, Michigan

Event narrative

Snowfall totals by mid-morning on the 27th were as high as 20 inches. Highest storm total snowfall report near May Lake, southwest of the town of Frederic, was 23.3 inches. Reports continued to vary across the county depending on where the most intense band stayed persistent longest; areas closer to Lovells, only 15miles ENE of May Lake, reported a storm total of 11.5 inches. The cooperative observer in Grayling, MI measured a total of 17 inches by the morning of the 29th. NWS employee traveling south on Old 27 between Waters and Grayling during the morning of the 27th estimated at least 14 inches on the ground and whiteout conditions near Frederic.

Wider weather episode

Low pressure crossed the Upper Midwest Wednesday and Wednesday night. Rain changed to light snow through the day Wednesday as temperatures fell behind the initial cold front. Northwesterly winds strengthened dramatically behind the front, gusting into the 40-50mph range Wednesday night. Strong winds continued into Thanksgiving day, exacerbating impacts from intense northwest flow lake effect snow bands across northwest Lower Michigan in particular. The most prominent band stretched largely from the Norwood/Charlevoix area down through Mancelona/Lakes of the North into the Frederic area in Crawford county...occasionally stretching as far southeast as Arenac county due to the strong winds aloft. Reports of 14 to 15 inches began filtering in as early as 10-11am on Thanksgiving morning, with some reports of over 20 inches near Frederic by 1pm. This band continued to persist in the same general area through most of the day, only slowly shifting around into Thursday night. Additional lake effect snow fell during the day Friday, though intensity tapered off through the morning as the excessively favorable environment began to wane.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1298301. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.