Arctic blast grips Metro Detroit

Wintry changes coming in next week's storm

DETROIT – As expected, Tuesday night’s strong cold front ushered in quite a blast of arctic air.

Did the wind gusts wake you up? I woke up to some window rattling myself. We’re now in the deep freeze for several days before some warmer air heads this way early ahead of next Tuesday’s storm.

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Will that warm air get here before the moisture? The answer appeared to be yes on Tuesday, but it now appears to be no. I’ll discuss the ramifications of that later.

Wednesday night will feature scattered snow, especially in the evening, with lows in the low teens (minus 11 degrees Celsius). West winds should eventually decrease to 15 to 25 mph, which is still quite breezy, but not nearly as strong as the 30 to 40 mph gusts we had during the day.

Thursday will be mostly cloudy and breezy, with scattered snow showers. Like Wednesday, some of us will barely get any flurries, while others see the flakes flying. It depends on where you are. Highs will be only near 20 degrees (minus 6 degrees Celsius), but the west-southwest wind at 15 to 25 mph will create wind chills near zero (minus 18 degrees Celsius).

This bitter cold is tough on our pets. If you missed my article earlier about pet safety in very cold weather, click here. You might want to share this with your family and friends. Our furry friends deserve the same concern that we give to ourselves.

Snow showers will gradually diminish Thursday night, with lows near 8 degrees (minus 13 degrees Celsius).

it will be mostly cloudy and breezy on Friday with a few flurries. Highs will be in the upper teens (minus 7 degrees Celsius), with wind chills between zero and 5 above (minus 15 to minus 18 degrees Celsius).

Friday night will be mostly cloudy, with lows near 10 degrees (minus 12 degrees Celsius).

It will be mostly cloudy and breezy on Saturday with a few flurries or brief light snow showers. Highs will be near 20 degrees (minus 6 degrees Celsius), but wind chills will be between zero and 5 above (minus 15 to minus 18 degrees Celsius).

It will become partly cloudy Saturday night, with lows near 8 degrees (minus 13 degrees Celsius).

Note: If skies clear out completely and the wind becomes lighter than expected, then we’ll be significantly colder than this.

Sunday will be partly cloudy and breezy, with highs near 20 degrees (minus 6 degrees Celsius), but wind chills between zero and 5 above (minus 15 to minus 8 degrees Celsius).

Monday will be breezy as well, but these breezes will shift to a warmer southerly direction. Clouds will increase, and temperatures should rise into the upper 20s (minus 2 degrees Celsius).

Tuesday is now looking much trickier. Tuesday's models really pushed the advancing warm air quickly into the Great Lakes, so I thought that we’d be looking only at rain. Now that push of warmer air is delayed a bit, which means that we could potentially begin with some accumulating snow and/or some ice, then see a transition to rain.

There’s no way I can get confident or specific about a thermodynamic question like this so far in advance. The computer models just don’t give me enough resolution at this point.

I will keep a close eye on this and update you throughout the week. Regardless of how much wintry precipitation we get, temperatures will warm well above freezing Tuesday night before another cold front knocks us back down on Wednesday.

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