Lake-Effect Snow Creates Highway Havoc In Midwest

Parts of the Plains, Midwest and Appalachians saw their first snow of the season. That included some heavy lake-effect snowbands, accompanied by thunder and lightning, in Chicago and elsewhere in the Great Lakes snowbelts.

Plains Snow Kicked It Off

It started late on Nov. 7 into Saturday Nov. 8 in the Plains and upper Midwest.

Up to 5 inches of snow fell in parts of southeast South Dakota and northwest Iowa, including Sioux Falls.

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Some light snow then spread into eastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois and northern Indiana that Saturday night. That snow fell at times in Madison, Wisconsin, during the Washington-Wisconsin college football game, and also in South Bend, Indiana, during the Navy-Notre Dame game.

The Lake's Effect

Starting on Sunday, November 9, cold winds blowing over the still relatively warm Great Lakes turned on the lake-effect snow machine for the first time this fall.

In Michigan, up to 18 inches of lake-effect snow was reported near Marquette, and 6 to 10 inches of snow blanketed the Leelanau Peninsula west and north of Traverse City.

But the lake-effect snow off of southern Lake Michigan Sunday into Monday stole the show.

Snow totals around Chicagoland varied widely, with most areas seeing just an inch or two of accumulations.

Chicago's O'Hare Airport picked up 1.7 inches of snow through, while 6 to 7 inches of snow was reported from the northern suburb of Wadsworth, Illinois.

Accompanying the snow, occasional lightning was seen over Chicagoland overnight Sunday night into Monday morning, with winds gusting to 50 mph along the lakeshore downtown.

Up to 12 inches of snow fell in just 6 hours within one intense snowband over the town of Momence, Illinois, about 50 miles south of downtown Chicago.

Parts of northern Indiana from the Chicago suburbs to South Bend picked up 4 to 14 inches of snowfall. Numerous vehicle accidents were reported across Indiana, including the Indianapolis metro, where 1 to 2 inches of snow was reported.

Parts of extreme southeast Wisconsin's Racine and Kenosha Counties measured up to 13 inches of lake-effect snow. Just across the border, 15 inches of fluffy snow piled up in Winthrop Harbor, Illinois.

Generally 1 to 5 inches of snow has also been reported in the eastern Cleveland and Detroit metros, so far. Parts of central and western Ohio picked up 1 to 4 inches.

Up to 8 inches of snow has been reported in the northwest Pennsylvania lake snowbelts near Tionesta and Vernango. Baldwinville, just northwest of Syracuse, already tallied 4 inches of snow, and Buffalo's Niagara Airport picked up just over 2 inches of snow, with heavier amounts in far southwestern New York.

One of the most long-lived lake-effect bands off Lake Huron into southwestern Ontario produced lightning for over 12 hours from Nov. 10-11, dumping heavy snow over London, Ontario.

(MORE: What November Weather Is Typically Like)

Appalachians, South, Too

The snow event wasn't simply a northern thing, even so early in the season.

Measurable snow fell as far south as northern Georgia. In Clayton, Georgia, 0.2 inches was reported.

At least a few flakes of snow were seen as far south as parts of Alabama, Atlanta, Georgia, the Charlotte metro, Wilmington, North Carolina, and just west of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

In parts of the southern Appalachians, it wasn't just a dusting.

Former The Weather Channel winter weather expert, Tom Niziol, reported snowfall rates of 3 inches per hour at Roan Mountain, Tennessee, on Nov. 10.

Up to 2 inches of snow was reported in and around Asheville, North Carolina, with much higher amounts in the higher elevations. Up to 7.5 inches of snow was reported in the Smoky Mountains. Farther north, up to 6 inches of snow was reported in the mountains of West Virginia.

And once the rain changed to snow, up to 9 inches of snow blanketed the Green Mountains of northern Vermont. Burlington, Vermont, picked up about 5 inches of snow, their first of the season.

Some of the flurries reached into parts of the Northeast's Interstate 95 corridor, leading to the first flakes of the season over New York City on Veterans Day.

How Early Was This First Snow?

For many of the areas affected, their first accumulating snow — at least 0.1 inch — of the season usually happens in November.

That includes Buffalo (Nov. 8), Chicago (Nov. 18) and Detroit (Nov. 19), according to NOAA 30-year averages.

This "first snow" is a tad late in parts of the Northern Plains. Bismarck, North Dakota, usually sees their first 0.1 inch of snowfall by Oct. 28, and was about 4 inches behind their average seasonal snowfall pace before snow fell last Friday night.

(MORE: When You Typically See Your First Snow)

What are your thoughts about seeing snow already? Leave us a reaction and a comment below. We'd love to hear from you.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.