Winter Storm — Grand Traverse, Michigan

2025-11-26 to 2025-11-29 · Grand Traverse, Michigan

Event narrative

Localized snowfall totals of 7-9 inches over 48-72 hours, generally over parts of eastern Grand Traverse county, downstream of Grand Traverse Bay. Some parts of the county saw less than 4 inches through the event.

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 1298303. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.