Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Copper City, MI

DISCUSSION
Issued at 202 PM EDT Thu Apr 30 2026

Afternoon GOES satellite water vapor imagery reveals a slow moving closed low parked north of Lake Huron. An embedded shortwave and vorticity maximum working across western Lake Superior in conjunction with steep mid to low level lapse rates is firing off another round of scattered rain/snow showers in the west and south-central UP.
Through tonight, scattered showers become more confined to the south- central where an additional 0.1-0.25" of QPF are possible. As seen last night, don't be shocked to see brief periods of efficient snowfall as temps continue to fall below freezing tonight. Snowfall amounts should remain light on grassy and elevated surfaces. Should more persistent showers occur, a half inch to and inch of snow may be present by sunrise, but will melt away through the late morning.

Similar conditions setup tomorrow as the slow moving upper low meanders closer to Quebec, allowing another shortwave/vort max to pass overhead. Cam guidance is less enthusiastic about morning and afternoon scattered rain/snow shower potential given increased drying via surface high pressure building into the Upper Midwest/Northern Plains, however, have opted to introduce slight chance PoPs and some light QPF to the forecast tomorrow since the NBM forecast thinks nothing will happen. Another cool day with daytime temps in the low to mid 40s expected.

Dry weather persists through much of the coming weekend. Saturday min RHs may flirt below 25% across the interior west and central but no fire weather risk is expected with recent cool weather and forecasted light winds generally <15 kts.

More widespread precip chances return early next week as medium to long range model guidance hone in on a series of shortwaves rotating around the eastern Canadian trough. Cooler than normal temperatures are expected through the rest of the forecast period and potentially further into the first half of May as captured by the latest CPC 8- 14 day and 3-4 week outlooks.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SATURDAY/
Issued at 657 PM EDT Thu Apr 30 2026

Expect generally VFR conditions throughout the period as skies clear out tonight before isolated (20% or less) -SHSN move into the vicinity of at least IWD and CMX Friday morning (and potentially SAW as well). While we could flirt with MVFR cigs if an iso -SHSN or two moves over the terminals, given that the precip chances are 20% or less, kept things at low-end VFR in the TAFs for now. Once the -SHSN and clouds move out of the vicinity of the terminals by the afternoon, expect clearing skies and solid VFR conditions. Expect light N'rly winds throughout the period, with some calm winds possible overnight tonight.

MARINE
Issued at 202 PM EDT Thu Apr 30 2026

Gusts below 25 kts and waves below 4 ft are expected through the remainder of the work week into the coming weekend under the influence of weak flow aloft and a slackened surface pressure gradient. Long range probabilities for gusts >25 kts remain below 30% into early next week.

MQT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
Upper Michigan...
None.
Lake Superior...
None.
Lake Michigan...
None.