Powerful snowstorm to sweep Great Lakes region, causing potential chaos for Thanksgiving travel
The holiday season’s travel plans may hit snags across the Great Lakes “Snowbelt.” The FOX Forecast Center predicts the biggest lake‑effect snow event of the year, starting Wednesday and extending through Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
Wind gusts could reach 50 mph over Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario in Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and western New York, creating whiteout conditions and dangerous driving until Friday.
The National Weather Service has issued Winter Storm Watches for those areas beginning Wednesday, most lasting until Friday evening. Model confidence is growing that the Upper Peninsula will collect several feet of snow in total.
The Marquette office urged residents to change holiday plans and refrain from traveling on Wednesday and Thanksgiving Day.
The storm follows a system from the Northern Plains that will mainly bring rain to the Great Lakes on Tuesday. Snow will probably stay confined to the Dakotas and Minnesota, with a potential wintry mix by Wednesday as the fast‑moving system passes.
The first moisture surge will lift back into Canada on Wednesday, but arctic air is set to follow, setting the stage for significant lake‑effect snow in Michigan’s U.P. The shift from rain to snow could create hazardous driving conditions, though the exact timing remains uncertain.
Travelers in the region on Wednesday afternoon should keep an eye on the latest forecasts. By Thanksgiving, lake‑effect snow will be fully underway across the U.P., with bands that could be intense and long‑lasting. Marquette could see between two and three feet of snow through Friday, though totals will depend heavily on wind direction.
Computer models are now converging on a prediction that the heaviest snow will land over counties just south of Buffalo, New York, layering places like Dunkirk and Jamestown in white. Some Ohio, Pennsylvania and western New York Snowbelt towns may receive a foot of snow or more through Black Friday.
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