ZestSync

Up to two feet of snow has fallen in the hills of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula since Sunday night, in what has become a historic May snowstorm for the area.

The Weather Service office for Marquette, which is a few miles west of the city center, recorded an astonishing 19.8 inches of snowfall on Monday alone. That not only demolished the daily record of 5.4 inches, it also became the snowiest day there in May and so late in the year, as well as the 11th snowiest day on record overall.

The heavy snow led to numerous power outages and dangerous travel in the hardest hit spots.

To the southeast, the high country of West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania have also witnessed rare May snow accumulation. Tallies as high as half a foot or more have been reported thus far, with additional accumulation expected Tuesday night.

Advertisement

Winter storm warnings persist through today in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and through Wednesday in the mountains of West Virginia.

A stuck out-of-season pattern

A wintry pattern in the Northeast quadrant of the Lower 48 is primarily fueled by the massive swirling low pressure area loitering over the region. The large-scale pattern that helped it to develop has become something of a traffic jam across the Northern Hemisphere.

Configurations like that over the North American region are known as an Omega block, because it looks like the Greek letter Omega: Ω.

In the simplest terms, this Omega block is made up of stormy low pressure over the Northeast, calm high pressure over the Rockies region, and another stormy low pressure near California. Nothing has been in a hurry to move as this pattern it often rather stable.

Advertisement

In addition to big spring snowfall in some regions of the Northeast, there has also been scattered record or near-record chill with temperatures as much as 20 to 30 degrees below normal. A few examples from Monday include:

• Marquette: High of 33, beating the prior coldest May 1 high by 1 degree
• Dayton, Ohio: High of 45, beating the prior coldest May 1 high by 5 degrees
• Charleston, W.Va.: High of 50, beating the prior coldest May 1 high by 1 degree
• Jackson, Ky.: High of 56, beating the prior coldest May 1 high by 3 degrees

It’s not all cold and wintry in the Lower 48. Under the high-pressure portion of the Omega block, zones of record warmth occurred in recent days across the Pacific Northwest and into the northern Rockies. On Monday, Missoula in Montana reached 90 degrees, the earliest such instance of 90 degrees or higher since 1910 and the second earliest on record.

Historic May snow in Michigan

The 19.8 inches that plastered Marquette hurtled past the 14.2 inches set on May 10 in 1990 to become the largest snowfall of any May Day there. The 1990 event dropped just shy of 2 feet over two days.

Advertisement

This one has produced at least 25.8 inches from Sunday through Tuesday morning, with a liquid equivalent of an incredible 4.16 inches. On average, 1 inch of rain equals 10 inches of snow, making this is an extraordinarily wet snow event.

Updated storm total as of 8:40am May 2, 2023 for 1 mile NW Ishpeming is *at least* 25” @NWSMarquette. This could be considered snow depth with the compaction. In reality, actual snowfall is probably around 30”, and it’s still snowing! #miwx pic.twitter.com/yvxmv9x5uy

Crushing weight of this heavy wet snow has led to several thousand power outages across the area. In Marquette County, as many as one third of customers were without power Tuesday morning.

Through Monday, Marquette was at 258.7 inches for the prolonged winter season, about 60 inches above average, and the fourth snowiest winter on record there since 1962.

High elevations away from the Lake Superior shore generally picked up between a foot and two feet since Sunday night. In addition to the tally from the NWS office, another spotter north of Negaunee measured 26 inches. 24 inches was reported near Ishpeming. About 3 to 8 inches also fell in northern lower Michigan, to the northeast of Lansing.

Advertisement

Snowflakes in the air, up to a couple inches, was expected Tuesday across the area as the storm winds down and temperatures rise to near and above freezing.

Winter in May for the Appalachian high country

Snow that began late Monday in the high elevations of the Appalachians accumulated in earnest overnight as the strong May sun dipped below the horizon and temperatures fell into the 20s. In a snow-starved winter, an oddity as a cap.

Several reports of a half foot or more have arrived from the Alleghenies in West Virginia and Virginia, including 7 inches near Hightown, Va., and 6 inches at Snowshoe Mountain. From 2 to 5 inches is common to the north into Western Maryland and parts of Pennsylvania, with isolated lowland totals of a coating to an inch or two up toward Pittsburgh and east of Cleveland.

Magical mid-winter scenes this morning in Snowshoe, WV. Big, wet snowfall overnight.

But it's not mid winter, it's mid spring! Nearing the biggest May snowfall here in 100 years. #wvwx pic.twitter.com/lrjbPRYBl9

Meteorologist Peter Forister is chasing snow in the mountains and said in a message that measurements were tough due to wind, despite the snowfall being rather wet given that temperatures are not far from freezing. Gusts as high as 50 mph were recorded around 4,000 feet in West Virginia near Canaan Valley, leading to localized blizzard conditions overnight.

Advertisement

“Canaan Valley’s 5.9 inches of snow reported in the last 24 hours has already set all-time records for total May monthly snowfall, greatest 24-hr. May snowfall, and greatest May snow depth (5 inches),” wrote meteorologist Robert Leffler in an email. “It ain’t over yet.”

Another 6 to 12 inches was expected in the highest elevations through Wednesday, much of which falls Tuesday night. Storm totals of 20 inches or more are possible above 4,000 feet, although snow depths may not show it, as melting could occur during the day given the powerful May sun blasting through the clouds.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZMSmrdOhnKtnYmV%2FdHuPbmZpal%2BdtrTAzqugnGWdlsZuv82ormabn6GxbrnInJ%2Bin5Gjerix0q1kr6GinLavtcBo