DETROIT – Arctic air spilled into the state today right on schedule, and temperatures held steady or actually slipped a bit through the afternoon.
Mostly clear skies and diminishing wind tonight will promote a bitterly cold night, with lows between 0° and -10°, and even a few colder spots for some of you in the Thumb. Wind should decrease a bit overnight, but not enough to prevent wind chills between -15° and -20°. For this reason, the National Weather Service has issued a Wind Chill Advisory for tonight. It's going to be a close call whether or not any schools close Friday due to the cold, so frequently check Detroit's best School Closing Information Network here on ClickOnDetroit.com.
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Friday should start with some sunshine, but clouds will tend to increase through the day. Highs in the upper teens, although wind chills around -15°.
Snow develops Friday night, with near steady temperatures in the mid to upper teens.
Snow eventually ends on Saturday (not a big event -- probably around an inch), but wind will increase markedly during the afternoon and temperatures will start to plummet. Morning highs in the mid teens will fall into the single number by evening.
Valentine's Day night is on a Saturday this year, which makes it extra special for many of us (I'm a hopeless romantic, so it's extra special at least to me). So, I checked with Chuck Gaidica, and he has given me permission to issue a special Cuddle Alert for Saturday night! The bottom line is that it's going to be dangerously cold. Temperatures should bottom out around -9° -- and that's an average temperature.
Those of you who live in the typically colder suburbs may see actual temps drop to double-digits below zero. The wind, which will be strong, will create wind chills between -25° and -30°, so I anticipate, at the very minimum, a Wind Chill Advisory and, perhaps, even a Wind Chill Warning to be issued.
Mostly sunny and very cold on Sunday, with highs only around 4°. By the way, our record low Sunday is -10°, and our record lowest high temperature is 6°…both of these records are within reach.
Mostly clear Sunday night and continued bitterly cold, with lows generally between -5° and -10°.
Partly cloudy on Monday, with highs in the mid teens.
Partly cloudy Monday night, with lows around 4° (finally, ABOVE zero).
We have a chance for some light snow on Tuesday, and today's computer models fortunately take a developing big storm farther to our east than they projected yesterday, when it was a very close call for us That's great news for us, but not so good news for those poor folks in New England. Highs in the mid 20s (don't let this big heat wave go to your head), and it'll become windy by afternoon as Arctic Blast #3 moves in (but this one shouldn't be as bad as this weekend's blast).
Snow showers end Tuesday night, with lows near 0°, but windy conditions will once again generate sub-zero wind chills.
Partly cloudy on Wednesday with highs in the mid teens.
Partly cloudy on Thursday, with highs in the low 20s.