Light snow on the way tonight in metro Detroit

But two bigger storms to keep an eye on

DETROIT – A compact area of low pressure currently located over northwest Missouri will slide well south of Michigan tonight, but its northern flank of light snow will affect some of us -- particularly those south of Detroit.

The air overhead is very dry, so some of this snow will sublimate before it even reaches the ground, meaning that accumulations will be very light -- probably a half inch or so, and less than that north of Detroit. The best chance to see anything over a half-inch is near the state line. Lows in the single numbers above zero to the south, where cloud cover will be thickest, and perhaps even dipping a little below zero to the north if you maintain less clouds overnight. Wind chills by morning should be around -10°, so yes kids, you'll have school tomorrow.

Follow me on Twitter: @PaulGrossLocal4

Light snow (at least for those of you getting it) should end by lunchtime Thursday, then remaining mostly cloudy through the afternoon. Highs only around 12°, with wind chills between 0° and -10°.

Becoming mostly clear and bitterly cold Thursday night. Record lows averaging around -9° -- a little warmer in the big cities, and a little colder in rural areas. Detroit's official record low for Friday is -4° set in 1934 -- we'll probably destroy that record. Wind chills by Friday morning should be between -15° and -20°, so we'll be on the edge once again for school closings due to the cold weather (sorry superintendents…I know it's been a tough winter for you).

Mostly sunny on Friday, with highs only around 12°.

Mostly clear and still bitterly cold Friday night, with lows between 0° and -10° -- warmest, as usual, in the big cities and coldest in rural areas.

Mostly sunny Saturday, with highs in the upper teens.

Increasing clouds Saturday night, with lows around 5°.

If you've been following my forecast, you know I've been talking about possible accumulating snow on Sunday and Tuesday. Today's computer models suggest that Sunday's system will come close enough to give us accumulating snow. It's too early to speculate about how much (I hope to be able to tomorrow), but be aware that snow could develop by late morning and continue into Sunday night. Highs in the mid to upper 20s.

Snow ends late Sunday night. Lows in the upper teens.

Mostly sunny on Monday, with highs in the upper 20s.

Increasing clouds Monday night, with lows in the upper teens.

Tuesday will start dry, and possibly even with some filtered sunshine. But clouds will increase and snow is possible by the end of the day. Last night's computer models actually tried to bring up some warmer air and either a wintry mix or even some rain into part of our area Tuesday night, but this afternoon's models keep us colder.

So right now I'm leaning toward an all-snow forecast. Again, this is six-to-seven days in advance, so a lot can change. The upper air disturbance that will create this storm is still over the Gulf of Alaska, so the models' handling of this system may change considerably once it gets over the continent and can be studied by our radiosonde (weather balloon) network.

If today's models were to verify exactly, then we'd get another accumulating snowfall late Tuesday into Wednesday morning but, again, let's wait a few days and see how things trend.