DETROIT – Before getting to the forecast, I have to show you how crazy the temperatures were this morning.
The past two days, I explained to you the concept of radiational cooling, and one of the key ingredients is clear skies, which we indeed started the night with last night. However, during the overnight hours, some Lake Erie moisture managed to spread inland and created a low stratus cloud deck that acted like a blanket and kept temperatures up -- for some!
Areas that stayed clear the longest, such as the I-69 corridor, saw the coldest temperatures, with Flint taking the cake with a low temperature of -19° this morning! Port Huron wasn't far behind at -17° (and by the way, those are actual temperatures, not wind chill).
To show you an even more detailed example of just how dramatically those clouds impacted temperatures, the temperature at my house when I went to bed last night was already -6° -- I was clearly headed toward double-digit below zero temperatures. But after those clouds moved in, my temperature rose eight degrees to 2° when I woke up. Forty-five minutes later, skies briefly cleared, and my temperature immediately dropped two degrees back to 0° before more clouds rolled back in.
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Tonight, a more widespread cloud deck than what we saw last night should cross the area. There will be some breaks through the night but, right now, it appears that we'll see much more cloud cover than clear sky. With that in mind, I'm expecting lows in the single numbers. The typically coldest spots could drop into the low single numbers, but most of us should be between 5° and 9°. Wind continues to be light -- from the southwest at 4 to 7 mph.
We could see some breaks of sun early, but Thursday should be a cloudy day overall and become breezy. Highs in the mid 20s. Southwest wind at 10 to 20 mph. Mostly cloudy Thursday night with a chance of flurries or scattered very light snow showers. Lows in the mid to upper teens.
Partly to mostly cloudy on Friday, with highs in the mid to upper 20s. Partly cloudy Friday night, with lows in the low teens.
Partly cloudy, breezy and warmer on Saturday, with highs in the mid 30s. Mostly cloudy and breezy Saturday night, with a snow shower possible. It's also going to be a much milder night, with lows near 30.
Mostly cloudy and breezy on Sunday, with a few light snow showers possible. Near steady temperatures in the low to mid 30s.
Partly cloudy and colder on Martin Luther King Day, with highs in the low to mid 20s. Partly cloudy Monday night, with lows near 10°.
Although still uncertain, I still think there's a chance for some light snow on Tuesday, with highs in the low to mid 20s.