Rick said:
snip
(For 25 years, until 3 years ago, lower Michigan got freezing rain at
least one of the holiday days - Wed through Sunday).

We tried to make it over to Hastings, south of GRR last year the week of Dec
10th. METARs kept getting worse and finally ended up with winds from the
north west off the lake 30 gusting to 40 and vis at 0/0 with heavy freezing
rain, fog, and snow. I called the airport manager and he said it was even
worse than reported! The freezing rain had covered everything with ice and
he was afraid he'd be spending the night at the airport because it was too
bad to drive. Trees and power lines down on the roads.
snip

If what we are going to get is just lake-effect snow, it's not
possible VFR, but is no big deal IFR as the tops are low and there's
seldom much ice.

Agree. With lake effect below me, I usually tell GRR that I want to stay
above the approach path to GRR 35 when going into 9D9, this gives me a slam
dunk through the lake effect and I've never picked up more than a trace. I
also make sure that I've got plenty of fuel to either circumnavigate it or
fly beyond it and land at a different airport.

Jim