News · Lansing
Michigan first snow 2026: none in the forecast through Election Day, and here is when it usually arrives in eight Lower Michigan cities
LANSING, Mich. — If you are waiting on the first snowflakes of the season, keep waiting. National Weather Service forecasts as of early Wednesday, Oct. 28, show no snow anywhere from Detroit to Marquette through Tuesday, Nov. 3, with highs mostly in the 50s, 60s and low 70s and only rain chances.
Not even a trace of snow has been recorded yet this fall at eight long-running Lower Michigan weather stations, according to NOAA climate records through Oct. 26. So when does Michigan’s first snow usually show up?
The Mitten Daily pulled 30 winters of daily snowfall records, 1991 through 2020, from the NOAA Regional Climate Centers’ data system for eight cities and found the first day each season with at least a tenth of an inch, the amount forecasters count as measurable snow. Here is the middle date, the earliest and latest since 1990, and when it came last year.
Alpena: Typical first snow Nov. 8. Earliest Oct. 3, 1993; latest Dec. 7, 1997. Last year: Nov. 9, 2025.
Houghton Lake: Typical first snow Nov. 8. Earliest Oct. 2, 2003; latest Dec. 1, 2011. Last year: Nov. 9.
Grand Rapids: Typical first snow Nov. 9. Earliest Oct. 7, 2000; latest Nov. 28, 1994. Last year: Nov. 9.
Lansing: Typical first snow Nov. 14. Earliest Oct. 12, 2006; latest Dec. 20, 1998. Last year: Nov. 9.
Flint: Typical first snow Nov. 14. Earliest Oct. 12, 2006; latest Dec. 8, 2001. Last year: Nov. 9.
Muskegon: Typical first snow Nov. 18. Earliest Oct. 18, 1992; latest Jan. 1, 1999. Last year: Nov. 8.
Saginaw: Typical first snow Nov. 20. Earliest Oct. 12, 2006; latest Dec. 18, 1998. Last year: Nov. 9.
Detroit: Typical first snow Nov. 20. Earliest Oct. 12, 2006; latest Dec. 29, 1998. Last year: Nov. 9.
What the numbers say. A first snow before Halloween is the exception, not the rule. In those 30 winters, Grand Rapids, Flint and Alpena each saw measurable snow by Oct. 31 in eight of them, and Detroit in only four. By mid-November, the first snow had come in 22 of 30 years in Grand Rapids and 21 in Alpena, but in only 12 in Detroit and 13 in Saginaw. The fall of 1998 was the slowest start in this period: no measurable snow in Saginaw, Lansing or Detroit until Dec. 18 to 29, and in Muskegon until New Year’s Day 1999. Halloween 2023 brought the first snow to seven of the eight cities.
The Upper Peninsula. NOAA’s combined long-term records for Marquette and Sault Ste. Marie were not available through the same data service, so they are not in this list. Marquette’s forecast through Nov. 3 calls for highs in the 50s and lows in the mid-30s to mid-40s, too warm for snow.
What it means for you. Last year’s first snow landed on Nov. 8 or 9 everywhere on this list, and the typical date for every one of these cities falls within the next three and a half weeks. That leaves a window to get snow tires on, find the ice scraper and service the snowblower before the first flakes. Daylight saving time also ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, so evening commutes will be darker starting next week.
Sources:
NOAA Regional Climate Centers, Applied Climate Information System (ACIS) web services, threaded daily snowfall records for the Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, Saginaw, Muskegon, Alpena and Houghton Lake areas, July 1990 through Oct. 26, 2026, analyzed by The Mitten Daily (first day each season with 0.1 inch or more; middle date for the 1991-2020 seasons; Lansing, Muskegon and Houghton Lake have two seasons with incomplete records), https://www.rcc-acis.org/docs_webservices.html
National Weather Service, NOWData climate records, https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=grr
National Weather Service forecasts issued Oct. 28, 2026: Detroit https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=42.3314&lon=-83.0458; Grand Rapids https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=42.9634&lon=-85.6681; Marquette https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=46.5436&lon=-87.3954
Image: NASA MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, “Wintery Chill and Lake-effect Snow around Lake Michigan (MODIS 2021-12-03).jpg,” Dec. 3, 2021, Wikimedia Commons, public domain, cropped, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wintery_Chill_and_Lake-effect_Snow_around_Lake_Michigan_(MODIS_2021-12-03).jpg
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