Michigan's Most Memorable Thanksgiving Snowstorm: A Look Back

It's no surprise that a list of December snowstorms has secured their spot in the Michigan history books. There have even been a few that have arrived just in time to impact the holidays and Christmas day, but what about Thanksgiving?

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We thought we would take a little nostalgic journey back in time and search out the biggest Thanksgiving weekend snowstorm to hit Michigan. It's not unheard of to have snow in the Great Lakes State during November, but a major storm is more of a rarity...but it has happened.

To get the intel on the biggest snowfall for Thanksgiving in Michigan we turned to the experts at the National Weather Service. According to them, it was Thanksgiving weekend of 1974 that had most of Michigan blanked heavily with snow. The storm, dubbed a Super Snowstorm, was a tricky one to predict exactly back then with the technology they had and the totals weren't originally anticipated.

"Light snow moved into extreme Southeast Lower Michigan during the predawn hours between 5:00 AM and 7:00 AM. Even at the 5:00 AM forecast issuance, it looked as if just one to three inches of snow would blanket extreme Southeast Lower Michigan for this event. However, by sunrise, already up to three inches of snow covered the region and the snow was not getting any lighter", said the NWS.

When all was said and done, 19.3" (19.2" of it falling in 24 hours) was recorded in Detroit with Flint reporting a snowstorm total of 8.1 inches. The entire system made for a tough holiday weekend, to say the least.

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Curious about the biggest November snowstorm to hit Michigan? That would be the storm that rolled in between November 18-20, 2014. That system dumped obscene amounts of white stuff across the state, with the bulk falling in the northern portions of Michigan. It would be two rounds of lake-effect snow and a three-day snowstorm. That storm saw Gaylord buried under 60.9 inches of snow by the end of November, and Grand Rapids had two feet of snowfall in only five days.

As of right now, the Flint area isn't showing any major weather systems on the horizon for the Thanksgiving weekend, but we will be sure to keep you posted.

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Gallery Credit: KATELYN LEBOFF