October 10: Measureable Snow
We’ve had a couple of measureable snow events since this past weekend in parts of the U.P. The latest occurred again in the highlands of the west into the central U.P. early today. Reports from the National Weather Service (NWS) indicated around a half-inch around the high country of Ontonagon County with 0.3 inches in far western Marquette County at Michigamme. Even Stambaugh in Iron County collected three-tenths of an inch. This is a bit early, but not at all unusual. The average date for the first measureable snow at the NWS is around October 11. However, it has happened much earlier than that. Even in the City of Marquette, there was an eye-popping 5.1 inches of snow on September 21-22, 1974.
Ironwood’s earliest measureable snow was a significant 2 inches on September 21, 1913. In the big snow of September 1995 on the west end, the Houghton County Airport received 3 inches on September 22; it’s earliest measureable snow in recent times. Farther east, Munising, exposed to the long fetch of a relatively warm Lake Superior, has only one measureable snow event in its record during September. That was a mere 0.1 inches on September 29, 1951. Its first significant accumulation was on October 2, 1989 when 1.2 inches fell.
I bring this up because it looks like a measureable snow could fall over much of the U.P. later tonight as the next strong disturbance dives in from the west-northwest. It appears that the air aloft will be cold enough for snow (Image 2 above). It also appears that the column of air from near the surface to about a mile above the ground will likely be cold enough for snow (Image 3). This will be a fast-moving system, so most of the precipitation should fall before sunrise, which at this time of the year is a plus for snow. The ground is still warm, but since the event will occur at night, some areas could have some slippery or slushy roadways for a brief period of time toward morning.
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