DETROIT – Lots to talk about today, so let's get right down to the nitty-gritty:
As I told you Monday, we'll get through the afternoon rush hour in good shape. Then, snow will develop from west to east between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. and become heaviest roughly between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Snow should end from west to east between 4 a.m. and and 6 a.m. I expect total overnight snow to accumulate between 2.5 inches and 3.5 inches.
Accordingly, the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for the overnight hours. Lows in the low to mid 20s. Southwest wind at 5 to 10 mph ahead of a cold front that will cross the area first thing in the morning.
Wednesday is shaping up to be a rather interesting day (of course, "interesting" to me generally means that you need to pay attention). The first half of the day should be dry, as we'll be just behind the cold front that went through earlier in the day and, in most cases, it remains dry behind the front. However, for meteorological reasons that I'd rather not bore you with, things are going to become active with more snow forming behind this particular cold front.
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Those of you who have our Local4Casters weather app (which is free in the app store -- just search under WDIV) should watch for a stripe of snow to develop southwest of Michigan and spread northeastward Wednesday afternoon. Today's computer models project this snow to impact areas mainly south of Detroit, and if you are in this area, you could pick up another inch or two of snow.
The farther south you are, the better the chance you get this snow. North of 8 Mile, I don't think you'll see much snow during the day Wednesday. Highs in the mid to upper 20s should occur midday, with temperatures falling during the afternoon. Southwest to northwest wind at 8 to 13 mph.
Decreasing clouds Wednesday night, with lows dropping into the low single numbers in the bigger cities, between 0° and -5° in the colder suburbs.
Mostly sunny but cold on Thursday, with highs in the low teens. Mostly clear Thursday night, with lows near 0° in the bigger cities, and between 0° and -5° in the colder suburbs.
Partly cloudy on Friday, with highs in the low 20s -- no weather problems getting downtown for the Motown Winter Blast! Becoming cloudy Friday night, with lows in the mid to upper teens.
A chance of light snow developing during the day on Saturday, but I don't expect much accumulation. Highs near 30…another great day to head down to Winter Blast! Light snow chances continue Saturday night, with lows in the upper teens.
Sunday is very much up in the air. The long range computer models are developing a storm system that, depending upon which model you look at, moves eastward anywhere from as far south as the Ohio River to as far north as northern Ohio. The upper level disturbance that will generate this storm is still way out over the Pacific and, as I have explained in the past, the models generally don't get a good handle on these things until they cross the west coast and are then studied by our upper air weather balloon network. That should hopefully occur sometime on Friday so, until then, I'll keep a close eye on the trends -- as this system has the potential to give us another solid accumulating snow. Sunday will be colder as well, with highs in the low to mid 20s.
Partly cloudy on Monday, with highs near 20°. Becoming mostly clear Monday night, with lows in the low single numbers.
Mostly sunny on Tuesday, with highs in the mid 20s.