10/28 – As mentioned in the previous post, the cold front began to form waves of low pressure along it. As they moved from south to north, they would bring more moisture. In this case, more light rain and drizzle. Temperatures remain warm enough that no snow fell during the day.
One thing to note. I’ve been using the Gaylord, Michigan Co-op observation which covers the 24 hour period of 10/28 7am (the time of the map) to 10/29 7am (EST). So the observations read one day ahead, but the observation covers the daytime and night of the 28th, into the morning of the 29th.
Observation:
High: 48° Low: 31° Precipitation: 0.22″ Snow: 0.0″
10/29 – We begin the march of the Alberta Clippers, which seems to really usher our winter. Of course, they aren’t the only lows we get, but they are the main low pressure systems that seem to affect us. So the clipper on the map, that is moving from NW Ontario, into Lake Superior helps to push the stalled front that has been over us for a couple of days east by the evening. High pressure then built into the region and cooled things off.
Gaylord Co-op Observation:
High: 39° Low: 30°
Precipitation: 0.02″ Snow: 0.0″

10/30 – For the beginning of the day, high pressure was in the region, but was being pushed back out from the low pressure in the Southern Plains. Again, waves of low pressure moved up the front, as the low near Texarkana moved to the NNE toward the Lower Great Lakes, and with another forming behind it. This put us into the coldest part of the storm, but we didn’t get cold enough for snow until late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning (10/31) and then we only got a few tenths of an inch.
Gaylord Co-op Observation:
High: 42° Low: 30°
Precipitation: 0.25″ Snow: 0.4″ Snow depth: T

10/31 – So the snow that we got by the morning remained as we stayed in the cold side of the low pressure as it moved up into Lake Erie, and on into New England. This brought snow across northern Michigan, mainly in northern lower Michigan. While the snow map on the morning of the 1st is snow depth, it was pretty much the snow we got from the night of the 10/31.
Gaylord Co-op Observations:
High: 32° Low: 29°
Precipitation: 0.15″ Snow: 1.0″ Snow depth: 1″
11/1 – As the system from the day before left, the high pressure built into the region and lake effect snow continued, in some areas. Snow, overnight, wasn’t as big of of a deal as the warmer air during the day began to melt the 3-5″ from the night before, so that there were bare patches around the region, and roads were just wet.
Gaylord Co-op Observation:
High: 35° Low: 29°
Precipitation 0.12″ Snow: 1.0″ Snow Depth: 1″
11/2 – The rain/snow mix in the morning began to quickly diminish as the colder air began to move into the region. By the afternoon, a lot of the snow on the ground had disappeared. However, the air mass began to get colder, and the fetch over the Great Lakes began to lengthen. This lead to some decent lake effect bands that produced some significant amounts in the area, that in the office we call, “the big three” (Antrim/Otsego/Charlevoix, see the link to see why). It looks like the WNW flow, however, didn’t produce much in the way of snow in Sault Ste. Marie and that portion of Chippewa County, usually another big snow region.
Gaylord Co-op Observation:
High: 36° Low: 28° Precipitation: 0.36″ Snow: 6.2″ Snow depth: 6″
11/3 -The winds began to veer through the morning from west to northwest, and we headed into our first real lake effects snow period. We did have some locations mix with rain, but overall, we got snow bands in eastern upper and northwest lower Michigan.
Gaylord Co-op Observation:
High: 34° Low: 26°
Precipitation: 0.13″ Snow: T Snow depth: 2″