February 19: A Stem-winder
The storm, as expected, really wound up during the night. Last night, low pressure was situated over southeastern Wisconsin with a central pressure of 996 millibars or 29.41 inches of mercury (Image 1 above). This morning, the low was over the Straits. During the night, it deepened significantly reaching 986 millibars or 29.12 inches. The deepening process caused winds on the low’s backside to crank up significantly. Peak wind gusts included 43mph at Sawyer, 44mph at the Houghton County Airport, 49 at Munising and 52mph at Copper Harbor. The strong winds created blizzard conditions especially over open areas in the Copper Country and along the exposed lakeshore east of Marquette to Munising. While winds have eased off from their earlier peak, they are still strong. The Houghton County Airport still had gusts up to 40mph early tonight. M-28 from Marquette to Munising was closed during the afternoon and State Police expected the road to stay closed through the night.
As for snow, measurement is really difficult due to the wind. The least snow fell over the south-central U.P. where Iron River had 2.0 inches. Farther east, around 4 inches was reported at Menominee and 4.6 at Gladstone. The big snows occurred, as usual, up north. As of mid-morning, Calumet reported 10 inches and it snowed all day. Our long-time western U.P. weather watcher said from Atlantic Mine that it was the worst storm in 17 years. He estimated up to 30 inches of snow there. To the east, 17.8 inches was measured near by our observer at Van Meer in Alger County. Over a foot was reported from Munising. The snow will continue in the north, especially from Marquette to around Munising during the night. A Blizzard Warning continues for Alger County into Wednesday. Over the Copper Country, wind and snow will ease off later, so the Blizzard Warning is due to expire in the wee hours of the morning with a WInter Weather Advisory going up for late tonight into Wednesday.
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