Winter Weather Awareness Week

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI
900 AM EST SUN NOV 1 2009

...MICHIGAN WINTER HAZARDS AWARENESS WEEK BEGINS TODAY...

THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 1 THROUGH 7 HAS BEEN DECLARED WINTER HAZARDS
AWARENESS WEEK IN MICHIGAN BY GOVERNOR JENNIFER GRANHOLM. ALL CITIZENS
ARE URGED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PROTECTING THEMSELVES...THEIR
FAMILIES...AND THEIR HOMES DURING THE WINTER SEASON.

Michigans temperatures for the 2008-2009 winter were below average
across the state and the coldest since the 1993-1994 winter. The
past winter ranked as the 20th coldest winter on record for Michigan...
with several locations including Marquette and Flint recording a top
ten coldest winter. The most extreme arctic cold occurred January
13 - 18. During this time period...lows dipped below zero across
most of the state on each day including the large heat island of
Metro Detroit. It was also windy during this time period which
lead to dangerous wind chills of 30 to 40 below zero. This five to
six day stretch of arctic air was the longest and coldest string of
days since January 1994.

Snowfall and precipitation were again above average...especially
across Southern Lower Michigan and the lake effect regions of the
state. Yet another year of top ten record snowfalls were reported
for many locations. The winter of 2008-09 was the second season
in a row to have significant snowfall across Southern Lower Michigan.
This lead to another unusual record for most locations in Southern
Lower Michigan: the most snowfall for two consecutive winter seasons
in recorded history.

=== HIGHLIGHTS FROM WINTER 2008-2009 ===

The winter of 2008-09 set in early in Michigan...with the first
significant lake effect snows occurring in early November. Normally...
early November snow will melt away...but additional snowstorms and
lake effect snows in the middle and end of the month resulted in a
substantial snowpack developing in many areas that would last
virtually the entire winter. The heaviest of the November snow
occurred from November 16 - 21. Snowfalls ranged from around 30 inches
in the lake effect areas of Upper Michigan to 12 - 24 inches for the
lake effect areas of Northern and Southwest Lower Michigan.

Michigan experienced the full wrath of winter during December. Lake
effect snow hit those favored areas of the state on December 4-6.
An unbelievably intense lake effect snow band developed during the
evening hours of December 4...producing record breaking snow intensities.
There was one report west of Gaylord of nearly 5 inch per hour snowfall.
People reported difficulty seeing just a few feet in front of them and
travel became extremely difficult. A potent winter storm moved across
the Southern Great Lakes region on December 19. There were many
reports of thundersnow across Southern Lower Michigan with most
locations receiving 10 - 15 inches of snow. Behind that storm arctic
air filter across the Great Lakes...leading to more lake effect snow and
blizzard conditions. The limited visibility led to a 100-vehicle crash
on I 94 in Berrien County on December 21.

A major warm-up occurred just after Christmas...with temperatures
soaring well into the 50s and 60s across Lower Michigan. The combination
of abnormally warm temperatures...heavy rain and widespread fog resulted
in many areas losing 10-15 inches of snow depth over a 24 hour period.
Some locations went from excellent skiing and snowmobiling conditions to
grass over the course of one day. The warm-up came to an abrupt end on
December 28...as an arctic cold front plowed through the area. Wind
gusts reached up to 70 mph across Lower Michigan. The winds knocked out
power to about a half million homes and business...and caused over
25 million dollars in damages. Rain changed to snow and temperatures
plunged into the 20s and with the strong winds and several hours of near
blizzard conditions were experienced across the state with numerous traffic
accidents. This wild weather lead to flooding in Ottawa County which
resulted in over 3 million dollars in damages. Seventeen other counties
in Southwest Michigan had roads washed out or closed due to flooding.
The widespread areal flooding rapidly transitioned into river flooding
across the area. Moderate River flooding occurred on the Grand River
and the Kalamazoo River...and many other rivers had minor flooding.

January and February experienced additional snowstorms and lake effect
snowfall events. On February 2 – 3...an intense lake effect event
developed across Upper Michigan. In and around the city of Houghton
in the Keweenaw Peninsula...18-24 inches of snow fell in just 7 hours.
Snowfall rates up to 5 inches per hour were observed. Snowfall amounts
of 15 - 20 inches were common elsewhere including at the National Weather
Service in Negaunee. Another warm-up graced the state in the middle
of February. Flooding occurred during this time due to backwater from
ice jams and excessive runoff from rain and snowmelt. Backwater from
ice jams caused minor flooding on the Muskegon...Looking Glass...
Maple...Chippewa...and Huron Rivers as well as the River Raisin.

Marchs most significant storm occurred on March 8 – 9 when heavy snow
hit areas of far Northern Lower and Eastern Upper Michigan. In
extreme Southern Lower Michigan...heavy rains in combination with
the last of the snowmelt resulted in the third highest crest of the
River Raisin. The last of the snow storms dropped 6 to 7 inches of
snow on Southern Lower Michigan during the Final Four NCAA Basketball
Tournament in Detroit on April 4 – 5...and dumped very wet heavy snow
over portions of west and central Upper Michigan on April 19 – 21.
Storm snow totals of 18 - 24 inches fell from Marquette westward.
The heavy wet snow brought down numerous trees and power lines.

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office