Sault Ste. Marie Trail Report – 01/05
SAULT STE. MARIE UPDATE via Sault Ste. Marie Snowmobile Association – 01/05 Update 1/5- <> Good evening! Finally got my sled back for a little test ride. We met up with our rookie Zeke and Raco Dave on trail 8 between Raco and Brimley. On our way out this section was in rough shape. Zeke is doing a fabulous job with what we have to work with! Still warmer than it should be and the evidence of a week above freezing is definitely out there. Watch for one water hole in this stretch. Hoping it’ll have time to freeze up overnight. We need colder temps to really help them set up but this should hold up ok through tomorrow before lots of traffic hits it. <> <> Sault Ste. Marie Snowmobile Association Facebook Page <> Sault Ste. Marie Snowmobile Association Trail Report on MSA <> SAULT STE. MARIE AREA UPDATE via Sault Ste. Marie Snowmobile Association >> 3/17/26 SAULT STE. MARIE AREA UPDATE via Sault Ste. Marie Snowmobile Association >> 3/17/26 WEATHER UPDATE via Michigan Storm Chasers >> Final snowfall totals have been released from our blizzard of March 15th-17th, 2026 here in Michigan. Do note, some locations are approximated due to data gaps in the Upper Peninsula..... #miweather #keweenaw #westernup #marquette #munising #seney #newberry #soo #gaylord #cadillac #benzie #traversecity #petoskeyFinal snowfall totals have been released from our blizzard of March 15th-17th, 2026 here in Michigan. Do note, some locations are approximated due to data gaps in the Upper Peninsula. WEATHER UPDATE via US National Weather Service Marquette Michigan >> Today, lake effect snow and winds slowly decrease, with snow totals exceeding 2 inches confined to Alger County. Highs will be around 20. Tonight and Wednesday, a weak system brings a widespread 1 to 2 inches of snow, with lows in the single digits in the interior to 10s around the lakeshores. Highs Wednesday will be in the 30s. For the rest of the week into the weekend, mostly weaker systems with highs above freezing and lows mainly in the 20s. #miweather #keweenaw #westernup #marquette #munising #seney #newberry #sooToday, lake effect snow and winds slowly decrease, with snow totals exceeding 2 inches confined to Alger County. Highs will be around 20. Tonight and Wednesday, a weak system brings a widespread 1 to 2 inches of snow, with lows in the single digits in the interior to 10s around the lakeshores. Highs Wednesday will be in the 30s. For the rest of the week into the weekend, mostly weaker systems with highs above freezing and lows mainly in the 20s. SAULT STE. MARIE AREA UPDATE via Sault Ste. Marie Snowmobile Association >> 3/16/26 10:30 PM <> Latest Trail Reports – Quick Links <>
Good evening! Here’s the scoop on what I know for now-
Trail 8 – Soo to Brimley, groomed this morning. I’d rate it good on my ride back just now. A few wet spots but nothing major.
Trail 8- Brimley to Raco, groomed tonight. Excellent! One water hole to watch for in the eastbound lane. Hopefully it’ll freeze up after Groomer Zeke smoothed it over tonight.
Trail 889- groomed today, good to excellent. Not really any hazards here other than the washout on the way to Bay Mills Resort and Casino. Please use the shoulder here. It’s a small section but that area is very poor.
Trail 49- part of the city trail, down to Kinross. Mix of fair, poor, and good. Groomer Mike P was out there tonight and turned around north of the beaver pond which is north of Gaines Hwy. It’s still in really rough shape in spots due to water holes. This is what he had to say, “I didn’t go down 49 from 3 mile to 5.5 due to the water hole. 5 1/2 Mile to 7 Mile is great, 8 Mile to 9 Mile open water holes, 9 Mile to 10 Mile open ditch, 11 mile to 12 mile open ditch, 12 mile to the Beaver Pond, lots of open water. Riders need to watch out for ice chunks that got pulled out of the holes. We need single digits for a week.” Use caution and be prepared for water holes if you choose to ride south of the Soo!
City Trails- fair to good in places. Water hole between the tunnel hill and Ashmun Creek is still an issue. We have been grooming the bypass around it so just follow that. Be sure to yield in case others go around it. The city trails will be groomed tomorrow again.
Trail 480 and the powerlines from 889 to Raco to the Spile Dam turnaround- good to excellent. Being groomed right now
480 east of the Raco groomer turnaround, 472, and Kinross south- poor. Lots of water holes and has not been touched in several days. The groomer that was down with a bad track is back out there but the guys haven’t been out yet due to water holes.
We have such a variety of terrain on our trail system and these photos really show that. We’re doing the best we can with what mother nature has dealt us. We appreciate your patience as we battle through it.
Ride safe, ride right, ride sober and have a great time out there! ❄️❄️❄️
Sharing our other updates and observations in the next post.
Great job Zeke! We appreciate your time and efforts! Welcome aboard!Postings From Regional Pages On Facebook
Last one for the day!
Bryan hit the city trails this evening and they turned out great! The wet areas he saw a week ago are nonexistent now.
He saw quite a bit of sled traffic for a Tuesday.
Great to see people out enjoying the fresh snow and beautiful day!
Thank you, Bryan!!❄️❄️❄️ #soo #soo0317h #snowphotos
Sorry for all of the posts today! As you can see, we’ve been busy!
Pics from Kenny on his run with Raco Dave this morning on the 889 loop, 480 north of M28, and 8 along the powerline.
They report that it turned out great!
Thanks guys!❄️❄️❄️ #soo #soo0317f #snowphotos
No doubt the forecast lived up to its insanity, with many locations getting over 40" of snow across the central Upper Peninsula, and 8-10 foot snow drifts to make things even more extreme. In terms of forecast verification, our forecast did hit the 80%+ accuracy threshold we strive for after each event. Our final verification was 83%, and most of the the misses were where the system shifted slightly south to give parts of the northern Lower Peninsula greater than 24", and parts of the western Upper Peninsula much less. Anything over 18" of snow is just "a lot" at this point anyways, so we aren't stressing too badly about the miss in the Lower Peninsula near the Mackinac Bridge. Lake effect zones in SW Michigan did verify, as text was featured under the forecast that a couple spots would see locally higher amounts.
Overall, this will be a storm we won't soon forget, which adds to the list of wild weather we've experienced in Michigan over the last two weeks. If you have any additional snowfall reports to add to the list that are not affected by drifting, drop them in the comments below here on X or Facebook. A new two-day record was also broken at the NWS office in Marquette of 36"+ with this blizzard, which is just one record smashed by this blizzard. 
Good evening!
Here in the Soo, the blizzard is winding down. For us, it wasn’t so much the snow as it was the wind. I still only show about a foot total new snow out of this storm from 10 AM yesterday until now, but the drifts are nuts.
A few of us took a ride to Bay Mills Resort & Casino for dinner and to check out trail 8. Thank you to Zoey for the great service!!
We opted to take the shoulder of 6 mile from Deland to the resort as we know that the farm field drifts on 8 west of Brimley are likely very deep and visibility was poor when we got out there. The bay was nearly impossible to see as well.
Trail 8 from the Soo to Brimley is tunneled in spots due to people riding the middle to avoid the drifts. I personally lover smashing the drifts so I was in heaven on the outer edges😅
Surprisingly, we saw no downed trees or branches, which is pretty incredible!
I’m hearing that groomers will likely roll out tomorrow morning on the first runs since the storm started.
Hopefully, most businesses will be able reopen tomorrow, and we’ll get back to normal in short order.
We will keep you posted! Hope you all got through this unscathed! ❄️❄️❄️ #soo #soo0316e #snowphotos