First wind, then snow, then cold in Metro Detroit

Stretch of severe winter weather on the way

DETROIT – Skies will become mostly clear Thursday night and your Friday will start with actual temperatures near zero and wind chills between -15 and -25.

Consequently, the National Weather Service has issued a Wind Chill Advisory until 4 p.m. Friday.

Take your shades on the way to work, but you probably won't need them on the way home as clouds will increase during the day. Wind will also increase and by afternoon we'll see southwest winds easily reaching 20 to 30 miles per hour. Highs in the low teens, but wind chills will be sub-zero all day.

Windy with snow developing Friday evening. At this point, it appears that we'll average 1 to 2 inches, which will easily put us over the top for snowiest January on record! Temperatures actually rising to near 20 by Saturday morning.

Windy with snow diminishing Saturday morning, then becoming partly cloudy by afternoon. Don't let the sunshine fool you, as Arctic air surging in will cause temperatures to fall during the afternoon.

Although Sunday could start with a peek of sun, clouds will rapidly increase, and more snow will develop. It's way too early to say for sure, but I have a gut feeling (I rely upon my gut feeling a lot...experience counts in meteorology) that we'll be in the 2 to 4 inch range. Stay tuned! Highs in the mid to upper teens.

By the way, now that we've set the record (by this weekend) for snowiest January, I'm now setting my sights on this becoming one of our all-time snowiest months, period! We've only had four months since the 1870s with more than 30 inches of snow and this will likely become the fifth!

Following this, we'll hit the core of this latest severe Arctic blast with highs just in the single numbers both Monday and Tuesday, and lows between 5 and 10 below zero. Wednesday looks only slightly warmer.

You've heard all of the tips before, but I'll just briefly recap a few of them:

If you're worried about your pipes freezing, open the cupboard doors to let the warmer house air circulate around them, or leave the faucet on a slow drip (that's because moving water is less likely to freeze than static water). If you need to go outside, we always say to dress in layers, and it really does work because each layer of air between layers is a great insulator. Also, mittens work MUCH better than gloves, and don't forget a hat, we lose a lot of our body heat from the top of our heads. If the sun is shining, open the blinds to let that sun in! Even on a brutally cold day, that sunshine can help warm the house. Then make sure to shut the blinds to help keep the cold out when the sun isn't shining on those windows, and at night.

Finally, please make sure to keep an eye on your pets and any elderly neighbors. This weather is particularly dangerous to them.

Be safe, stay warm, and don't forget to follow me on Twitter at @PaulGrossLocal4!