3/15-3/16 Winter Storm

[Chicago Storm]

Flipped to ice pellets here a bit ago.

Probably 0.1” of accumulation or so.

Flipping between snow and ice pellets since then.

[michsnowfreak]

1 hour ago, RogueWaves said:

I'd say yes to the 3+ question. Stations in NMI use number of days with 6+ as their standard. The nearest station reporting such is about 20 miles due east of me. All NMI stations are AN season to date, even non-LES locales such as my own. Big storms (warning level) and deep snow are my key winter likes. Deep cold that may excite you and others, I actually deduct points for, lol. Lake has been iced since early December. I haven't had a daily high at or below freezing since March 1st yet somehow I have solid snow cover here from back to back storms. Meanwhile, DTW hit 70F today. It's pretty wild.

What do you mean they use 6+ as standard? Id say its subjective. Woth xmacis, you can see a locations avg 1+, 3+, 6+ etc. This winter DTW had 21 days of depth 6"+

[cyclone77]

8 minutes ago, McHenrySnow said:

This is your storm. I was going to pull an all-nighter, but the radar is telling me not to bother so I'll probably go to bed after the heavier returns between here and Ottawa swing through. 

I was very skeptical for the majority of the leadup to this storm, as it seems pretty unusual to get one of these to time out just right to hit a given location.  Looks like this one timed up pretty well for this area, and points northeast.  

[sbnwx85]

Trying not to get HRRR’d but I think many places in the lake snow belts get 6+” of LES tomorrow through tomorrow night. Combined with the winds gusting 40 to 45 mph we may see an upgrade to WSW with 4-7”.

[Radtechwxman]

21 minutes ago, cyclone77 said:

I was very skeptical for the majority of the leadup to this storm, as it seems pretty unusual to get one of these to time out just right to hit a given location.  Looks like this one timed up pretty well for this area, and points northeast.  

Rooting for you man! I know you're long overdue. You had a nice weenie band earlier. Pivoting bands look to be setting up over your area. 

[McHenrySnow]

The biggest issue here is that it’s still very much a snow and sleet combo. 

[Chicago Storm]

29 minutes ago, Chicago Storm said:

Flipping between snow and ice pellets since then.

Flipped fully over to snow now, with about a 1/2" down.

[McHenrySnow]

13 minutes ago, Chicago Storm said:

Flipped fully over to snow now, with about a 1/2" down.

Aren’t you SE of me? 

[josh_4184]

1 hour ago, RogueWaves said:

I'm likely getting a "storm day" off of work tomorrow. Grayling may be taking it hard again in the ice storm dept.

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Gaylord MI
1051 PM EDT Sun Mar 15 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1040 PM     Freezing Rain    Houghton Lake           44.30N 84.76W
03/15/2026  U0.00 Inch       Roscommon          MI   Amateur Radio

            Trees and large limbs are being downed by
            ice.

Yea the warm layer didnt fully make it to my area as forcasted, lucky for us bad for m72 - m55 they are getting hit hard. I know the pain all to well from last year almost exactly a year ago.

[Chicago Storm]

1 hour ago, McHenrySnow said:

Aren’t you SE of me? 

due south of you, but well south, along i-88.

[HillsdaleMIWeather]

Being in the warm sector this time locally really sucked, got a severe warning but the winds stayed subsevere 

[Sciascia]

Just took my dogs outside. It is nasty out there. The wind’s blowing in such a way where the deck door was almost snowed in; and the gusts are whipping up little brief “snownados” all over.

Good luck to anyone measuring & traveling out here. I’m typically a big snow guy, but this on March 16th may be a little…more than I need? 

[A-L-E-K]

Nice defo

[Baum]

Just now, A-L-E-K said:

Nice defo

Yup. Sweet radar look. Rare, it looks as modeled.

[Baum]

Wind seems far less than expected.

[A-L-E-K]

tons of deep standing water around the northside making things messy for the am commute 

spring leaf out set to be lush af again

blessed

[Baum]

This was fun one to track:

 

WHEN LOOKING AT   REGIONAL PRESSURE TRACES OVER THE PAST 24 HOURS, THE PATH OF THE   CENTER OF THE LOW HAS BEEN ON THE VERY SOUTHERN END OF ENSEMBLE   CLUSTER PATHS WITH A NOTABLE SOUTHERN TREND ESTABLISHED IN EACH   SUCCESSIVE ENSEMBLE MEAN FORECAST OVER THE PAST FOUR SUCCESSIVE   RUNS. AS A RESULT, THE DEFORMATION "COMMA HEAD" REGION IS   VERIFYING SOUTHEAST OF ENSEMBLE GUIDANCE, AND IS LARGELY   CENTERED FROM THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER TO INTERSTATE 39. AN   INTERESTING NOTE THIS MORNING IS THE CLEAR PASSAGE OF SEVERAL   MESOSCALE GRAVITY WAVES THROUGH THE DEFORMATION SHIELD, WHICH   WAS WELL ADVERTISED BY CAM GUIDANCE 24 HOURS AGO. EACH WAVE WAS   MARKED BY A LOCAL INCREASE IN SNOWFALL RATES AND WAKE   SUBSIDENCE, AS WELL AS LOCALLY HIGHER WINDS (OVER 60 MPH IN   SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN).  

[cmillzz]

On 3/13/2026 at 5:12 PM, cmillzz said:

I’ll go 2” for ORD. Was gonna go with DAB earlier, but that seems unrealistic now that I think about it.

Not a bad call it appears

[A-L-E-K]

On 3/15/2026 at 4:49 AM, A-L-E-K said:

Ready for 1.5 to 2 inches (of rain) and an exciting dab

$

[kevlon62]

A wintry look at daybreak.

Township plow off the road. Second unit just arrived.

[cyclone77]

Still ripping pretty nicely with this final band rotating though.  Vis is pretty low with the 45+mph winds.  

[A-L-E-K]

green bay death banding 

[Chicago WX]

Ripping right now. What a last week of weather. I need a break. 

[WestMichigan]

8 hours ago, sbnwx85 said:

Trying not to get HRRR’d but I think many places in the lake snow belts get 6+” of LES tomorrow through tomorrow night. Combined with the winds gusting 40 to 45 mph we may see an upgrade to WSW with 4-7”.

WWA for 4-6" here which was a surprise.  Here's hoping to maybe one last hurrah before this season winds down.

[cyclone77]

Probably the hardest snow event I've ever attempted to measure.  A lot of areas of the yard are completely scoured free of snow, with other areas buried 1-3ft with snow drifts.  Still in heavy snow right now with this narrow band.  Came up with an average of 6.3", but the real amount is likely higher than that.  A lot of granulation going on at ground level with these steady 40+mph winds blowing in off of the farm fields.  Definitely looks like a legit blizzard out there this morning.

[cutlew]

Deepest snow since mid December. Neighborhood kids and golden retrievers have been loving it. Happy spring!


.

[Sciascia]

[dmc76]

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AeQBVmtfY/?mibextid=wwXIfr

 

this is incredible. In the death band in the UP

[A-L-E-K]

rip city^

[Imneversatisfied]

Here in Alpena we got a second once in a century ice storm just like last March. Got 4" of drifted cement Sunday morning,then over .5" of ice accumulation. Lost power at 5 am after my neighbor's tree fell on the line and then watched 4 transformers blow. 65 percent of town has no power. Trees snapping constantly. 40 mph winds and 1" of snow forecasted tonight will be a kick in the nuts!