Heavy Snow in St. Clair, Michigan

A very dry and frigid air mass preceded a long-duration snowstorm that impacted Southeast Michigan on Sunday, January 25. Because much of the region already had 2 to 6 inches of snow on the ground, obtaining accurate new snowfall reports from the public proved challenging.

Southeast Michigan sat on the northern fringe of a major winter system that impacted most of the eastern half of the United States. Due to the lingering cold air, snowflake size remained small as temperatures only rose into the mid-teens by Sunday evening. Consequently, the majority of Southeast Michigan saw 2 to 5 inches of dry, powdery snow by the time the system exited on Monday morning, January 26.

Higher totals occurred in two specific areas:

The Southern Border: Better moisture near the Michigan-Ohio border allowed parts of Monroe County to see 7+ inches.

The Eastern Thumb: Northeast winds off Lake Huron added localized moisture, resulting in isolated totals of 7 to 8.5 inches near the lakeshore of St. Clair County.

Conversely, the dry air held strongest across Midland, Bay, and Saginaw counties, where totals remained largely under 2 inches.