Michigan’s Upper Peninsula gets 2 feet of snow, a May record

MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) — A record May snowfall buried parts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula under more than 2 feet of snow this week, with one spot getting twice that amount over several days starting in late April, the National Weather Service said.

About 28.7 inches (72.9 centimeters) of snow fell between Sunday morning and Tuesday afternoon at the weather service’s Marquette office, where records date back to 1959, the office said.

A record-setting 26.2 inches (66.5 centimeters) of that fell between Monday and Tuesday in Marquette, making it the snowiest May on record in the city overlooking Lake Superior, said meteorologist Don Rolfson.

About 19.8 inches (50.3 centimeters) of the snow fell Monday in Marquette and that became the largest snowfall recorded in a day in the month of May in over 50 years, he said. The snow was very wet, making it heavy, slushy and difficult to remove from roadways, Rolfson said.

While it’s not unusual for Marquette to get some May flurries, he said this week’s snowstorm was abnormal.

“It’s late spring now so, it’s gotta just be a really unusual situation to get snowfall like this,” Rolfson told The Detroit News.

Other areas across the north and central Upper Peninsula also received a lot of snow, he said, with Herman Township in Baraga County receiving 52 inches (132.1 centimeters) between April 29 and May 2.