textproduct: Marquette

KEY MESSAGES

- While lightening up over the west today through tonight, lake effect snowfall continues across the northwest to north- northwest wind snow belts. Some snowfall could accumulate up to 1/2 or more per hour at times. Thus, Winter Weather Advisories have been issued for most of the lakeshore counties of the west half today as recovery efforts continue.

- Strong winds and lake effect snow bands continue over the east half today. Snowfall could accumulate at 1+ inch per hour still in some of the stronger bands. Blowing snow may also reduce visibilities as well. Thus, the Blizzard Warning and Winter Storm Warnings continue over the east half today.

- Northwest to north-northwest gales up to 45 kts persist across Lake Superior this morning before dwindling to below gales Friday morning. Significant wave heights up to 21 ft are being seen this morning, with the highest waves in the east between Marquette and Munising.

- Minor lakeshore flooding and beach erosion continues over the tip of the Keweenaw and the areas east of the city of Marquette today.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 249 AM EST Thu Nov 27 2025

As the low responsible for the snow dump over the western and central U.P. yesterday into early this morning continues to move away towards Quebec today, expect the lake effect snow showers behind the low to continue as cold air advection continues to cycle into the Upper Great Lakes. Over a foot of snowfall has fallen across vast swaths of the western half of Upper MI over the past 36 hours, with the Gile, WI observer (just across the river from Ironwood) reporting a storm total up to 25 inches as of early this morning; several other spots ranging from Calumet down to Bergland Dam/northshore of Lake Gogebic and Bessemer have reported numbers of at least a foot, with some even suggesting 2 feet or more in the Ironwood/Bessemer area (unverified though). Even here at the NWS Marquette office, we've already have a storm total snowfall of 13.5 inches, and we missed out on the heaviest snow totals over here! In addition, many places in the western half of the U.P. have lost power, with the transition from rain to rapidly accumulating snowfall with high winds reportedly causing several tree branches to snap and land on/break powerlines, in addition to a few trees (supposedly) being blown down. UPPCO late last night/early this morning has urged its customers to be patient with their power returning as line workers are having to repair any downed powerlines with extra caution given the hazardous winter weather conditions. With cold, arctic air looking to stay in place for the foreseeable future, it looks like Winter has come roaring in like a lion this year, with most of the area now guaranteed to see a White Thanksgiving (and probably a White Christmas too, but that's a little too far out to predict with high confidence).

While strong troughing this morning will allow for heavy lake effect snowfall over the northwest to north-northwest snow belts, as the pressure gradient weakens over us today into Friday, expect the lake effect snowfall to lighten up with it. In addition, the winds across the area diminishes with the weakening pressure gradient too. Thus, expect any remaining blizzard conditions to end across the U.P. this morning, save for Alger County where stronger remnant troughing allows gustier winds to continue along the lakeshore, and a Lake Nipigon-connected snow band looks to keep heavy lake effect snow going throughout the daylight hours; whiteout conditions could still be realized in this snow band as snowfall rates could exceed 1 inch per hour within it and blowing/drifting snow is possible from the gusty winds. As of now, current CAMs keep this snow band mainly west of Munising and just along or east of the Marquette County line (may sneak into Skandia for a short time), with localized accumulations over a foot possible between now and Friday morning in western Alger County. Meanwhile, some stronger lake effect bands over the eastern half of the U.P. could bring 6 to 12 inches of fluffy new snowfall over the next 24 hours, with more than half of it falling before tonight. As for the west half, with a weak shortwave ridge starting to move overhead this morning, expect the lake effect snowfall to generally become light, although some banding could bring 1/2 inch or more snowfall rates at times, especially in the higher terrain away from Lake Superior where upslope flow may help to boost snowfall rates; overall, could see up to 4 new inches of fluffy snow, with most of it falling in these higher elevation areas. The Michigamme Highlands north of US-41 could receive an additional 6+ to locally even 12 inches today through tonight. However, expect most of Marquette County from Harvey to Republic to receive around 3 to 6 inches today through tonight, with areas from K.I. Sawyer and south seeing only 2 inches or less (the exception may be Skandia if they can get under the Nipigon-connected lake effect band). Overall, given the recovery efforts from the storm yesterday and the ongoing lake-effect snowfall today, decided to hoist up some Winter Weather Advisories for Gogebic, Ontonagon, Houghton, Baraga, and Marquette behind the Blizzard Warnings through this afternoon. As for the east, the Blizzard Warning and Winter Storm Warnings for Delta, Schoolcraft, and Luce counties are good to continue until at least this evening; after that, the dayshift may need to re-evaluate the forecast to see if a Winter Weather Advisory needs to be hoisted up for tonight or not.

While a subtle shortwave dropping southeast from Ontario could reinvigorate lake effect snowfall for a short bit on Friday, another weak shortwave ridge looks to bring a cessation to the LES (lake effect snow) over at least the west half by Friday night; either that, or at least reduce the LES to just flurries. There looks to be enough of a fetch to keep light lake effect snow going over the eastern half through Saturday as winds turn more westerly ahead of a shortwave low lifting from the Southern Plains through the Great Lakes region this weekend. As this does so, we could see lake effect snow showers return to the northeast wind snow belts late Saturday, with snowfall becoming lake enhanced once again as the low passes through Lower MI Sunday morning. Given that this low is not expected to be as strong as the one that just passed us (think around 1005mb), we could still see a few fluffy inches accumulate across the U.P. as SLRs look to remain high due to the polar air persisting over us. As the low races out of the St. Lawrence Seaway early next week, we could see lake effect snow showers behind it turn to the west wind snow belts and potentially even southwest wind snow belts later on as high pressure ridging dives from the Northern Plains into the Ohio River Valley. Below normal temperatures are expected to continue through the forecast period, with the European EFI even hinting at well below normal temperatures Monday through Tuesday; the NBM even has us struggling to get above 20F those days as well.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z FRIDAY/

Issued at 1234 PM EST Thu Nov 27 2025

Brisk NW flow is keeping lake effect going today, though drier air and gradually decreasing winds will work to improve restrictions somewhat. MVFR ceilings are expected at all terminals, and drops in visibility down to MVFR and even IFR remain possible in snow showers and blowing snow (with the lower restrictions more likely at CMX and SAW than at IWD). Snow showers largely end into early Friday morning with drier air working in, though MVFR ceilings may linger. Otherwise, NW winds continue to gust to around 20-30kts, possibly higher at CMX this afternoon, then winds decrease slightly into early Friday.

MARINE

Issued at 306 AM EST Thu Nov 27 2025

A low that has left Lake Superior to Quebec has brought high-end gales and storm force winds up to 50 knots across Lake Superior over the past 24-hours. As the low continues to pull away and the pressure gradient over the Upper Great Lakes loosens, expect the winds to weaken with time today through tonight; nevertheless, expect northwest to north-northwesterly gales to continue until Friday morning as the last of the storm force gusts looks to end by around sunrise this morning. Significant wave heights of over 20 feet are being seen this morning between Marquette and Munising just offshore; expect the waves to weaken in response to the winds today through Friday. In addition, some light freezing spray is possible today through Friday, before light winds of 20 knots or less return to Lake Superior Friday night.

The light winds brought about by the shortwave ridging look to eventually give way to northerly winds of 20 to 30 knots on Sunday morning as another shortwave low lifts from the Southern Plains through the Great Lakes this weekend; the NBM still has low-end gale chances at 20% for Sunday. As the shortwave low continues lifting and ejects out of the St. Lawrence Seaway early next week, expect the winds to progressively back to the northwest and eventually west Sunday afternoon into Monday as winds of 20 to 30 knots persist. Given that even colder polar air is looking to move in early next week, expect light to potentially even moderate freezing spray to make a return with this shortwave's passing and behind it.

MQT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Upper Michigan... Lakeshore Flood Advisory until 1 PM EST this afternoon for MIZ001-005.

Winter Weather Advisory until 7 PM EST /6 PM CST/ this evening for MIZ002>005-009-084.

Blizzard Warning until 7 PM EST this evening for MIZ006.

Lakeshore Flood Advisory until 1 AM EST Friday for MIZ006-007.

Winter Storm Warning until 7 PM EST this evening for MIZ007- 013-014-085.

Lake Superior... Gale Warning until 1 PM EST this afternoon for LSZ242-243-247- 263.

Gale Warning until 1 AM EST Friday for LSZ244-264-265.

Gale Warning until 11 PM EST this evening for LSZ245-246-248.

Gale Warning until 7 AM EST Friday for LSZ249>251-266-267.

Lake Michigan... Gale Warning until 7 PM EST this evening for LMZ221-248-250.