Traverse City, MI Weather

Key Messages

- Patchy dense fog will linger until late morning

- Slight chances for rain showers Sunday over eastern upper, lower chances for northern lower

- Cooler Temperatures Monday and Tuesday, then rain chances mid to late week

Discussion

Issued at 307 AM EDT Sat Oct 24 2026

Current satellite and surface observations depict patchy dense fog forming in spots over northern lower, as well as stratus and fog persisting over eastern upper. Mid to high level clouds are moving up and over an upper ridge (axis centered on WI this morning). These clouds are approaching Lk MI, and will continue to the east today. Near the surface, KAPX VAD profiler shows 10 to 15kts of SE winds around a couple hundred feet up. These relatively light, but more persistent winds have been keeping fog formation confined to the lower spots for northern lower while the higher hills remain mostly clear. The mid to high clouds will also work to keep widespread fog and stratus out of NW lower. As a more mature stratus/fog deck forms near the northern Saginaw Bay region and up to Thunder Bay, this will likely drift to the west, bringing dense fog to the interior higher hills of northern lower by sunrise. Patchy low stratus and fog will linger through the late morning, with visibilities improving by noon.

Today, the upper ridge axis will move over northern MI. At the same time, WAA over the northern plains will approach MI, however the CWA will likely remain on the fringes. High temperatures will be slightly warmer than yesterday (reaching into the 60s again), with light south winds. The larger upper pattern begins to shift Sunday, with a shortwave trough flattening the upper ridge towards the Ohio River Valley. A cold front will gradually move across the state from NW to SE Sunday. Chances for weak rain showers exist over eastern upper starting Sunday morning. These chances drift south over northern lower later Sunday, with very low chances for anything over a tenth of an inch. A wide temperature gradient will exist Sunday as cooler air keeps high temperatures in the upper 50s for much of eastern upper, with low 70s expected for much of northern lower which will see lighter southwest winds for most of the day.

Sunday night into Monday, a 1035mb surface high will continue to seep over northern MI. High temperatures will remain in the 40s and 50s over all of northern MI with mostly cloudy skies. A couple short waves will likely miss northern MI to the north during this time, however chances for a shortwave to move over northern MI increase for the later half of the work week.

Aviation

Issued at 1130 PM EDT Fri Oct 23 2026

Think visbys/cigs will continue to bounce from LIFR to VFR to MVFR thru most of the night as locally dense fog moves in and out of TAF sites. Most consistent fog/IFR-LIFR more likely at CIU, PLN, APN. Winds should largely remain light/vrb to slightly SE (except for potential offshore breeze at APN), but may hang closer to 5-10kts at CIU. Winds pick up a bit more, generally 5-10kts or so from the SSE turning to SSW late in the day into the evening. Once fog burns off (most likely 13-16z), expect VFR cigs to prevail (bases around 10-20kft). LLWS could become a concern after 0z Sun.

Apx Watches

MI...None. MARINE...None.