Metro Detroit weather: Cold, quiet Friday with snow chances on Saturday

Dry Friday night

DETROIT – It’s been a quiet night, and we’ll have a quiet start to our Friday, with sunrise bringing at least partial sunshine to the area, so grab your sunglasses -- you’ll need them later.  

Clouds will tend to increase this afternoon, but it will remain dry, with highs again in the upper 20s (-2 degrees Celsius). Wind will be very light today, however, so we fortunately won’t have much wind chill to deal with.

Today’s sunrise is at 8:01 a.m., and today’s sunset is at 5:22 p.m.

Mostly cloudy Friday night, but still dry, with lows in the low 20s (-6 to -5 degrees Celsius), with calm air.

Saturday forecast

Mostly cloudy on Saturday, with light snow developing by early afternoon well south of I-94. We won’t see much accumulation from this -- less than an inch at best down near the state line. However, if you are driving south of that state line on Saturday, then be prepared for deteriorating road conditions as snow accumulations will increase the farther south you go. In fact, areas from Indianapolis to St. Louis likely will see 6-12 inches of snow.  

If you are traveling Saturday, make sure to check the radar on our free Local4Casters weather app, and remember that the app follows you -- it’ll give you forecasts for wherever you are in the country (or even in Europe!). Highs Saturday should reach the low 30s (0 degrees Celsius).

Those of you who get some snowflakes Saturday will see those end Saturday night, with lows in the upper teens (-8 to -7 degrees Celsius).

Sunday forecast

Mostly sunny on Sunday -- what a great day to head to the Plymouth Ice Festival!  Highs in the low 30s (0 degrees Celsius) are almost perfect -- not quite too warm, and not too cold.

Next Week

The week ahead looks relatively quiet, with varying amounts of clouds and sun.  Our only true chance for snow isn’t a very big one…it’s on Wednesday and, right now, it appears that we won’t even see any accumulation.  

Highs should range from the mid 30s (1 to 3 degrees Celsius) through Wednesday, then cooling into the low to mid 30s (-1 to 1 degree Celsius) for Thursday and Friday.

Longer Range Outlook

As we explained in our winter outlook three weeks ago, we see a trend toward below average temperatures setting in for the second half of January, and today’s long range models show that colder air settling in for a long stay starting sometime next weekend -- perhaps Sunday.  However, the long range models aren't showing anything resembling a major winter snow storm for us over the next two weeks.  

Skiing

Even though you’re seeing lots of green when you look out your window, it’s been cold enough for our local ski resorts to make snow, so the skiing is there for you if you love to hit the slopes.  And up north, they’ve been getting some natural snow from Mother Nature, so conditions are terrific up there, too!