Metro Detroit weather: The calm before the warm

Temperatures rise into 40s

The Detroit skyline shown along an icy Detroit River on Dec. 27. 2017.

DETROIT – Sunshine graced our skies and made for a fine final workday of the week.  Winds blowing between 10 and 20 miles per hour did make it feel cooler but, compared to recent days, today was a splendid one.

Skies will become partly cloudy tonight, with lows in the upper 20s (-2 degrees Celsius).  Southwest wind at 10 to 20 mph.

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Partly cloudy and still a little breezy on Saturday.  Clouds will tend to increase during the afternoon and, by the end of the day, we’ll probably be cloudy.  Highs in the upper 30s to near 40 degrees (4 to 5 degrees Celsius).  This will be a great day to head down to opening day of the Auto Show, and also to get those Christmas lights down.  I’ve been telling you all week to take advantage of this day and get those lights taken care of.  Don’t waste the opportunity!

Cloudy Saturday night, with lows near 30 degrees (-1 degree Celsius).

Cloudy on Sunday with patches of drizzle and scattered light rain showers developing.  Highs in the low 40s (5 degrees Celsius).

Showers are likely Sunday night, with lows in the mid 30s (3 degrees Celsius)…you’ll notice how mild it feels when you head out to work or school Monday morning.

Monday is a day of big change.  Rain showers will start the day, possibly followed by a break as we progress deeper into the approaching storm system’s warm sector, with a steadier rain developing as a potent cold front gets closer.  A rumble of thunder still isn’t out of the question.  Highs in the mid 40s (7 to 8 degrees Celsius), and it’ll become breezier as the day progresses.

Becoming windy and turning much colder Monday night, with snow showers developing.  I’ll need to keep an eye on how quickly the temps drops, as there could be a flash freeze of wet surfaces if we drop below freezing fast enough.  Lows in the low 30s (-1 to 0 degrees Celsius).

Windy with periods of snow and snow showers on Tuesday…this will be a pretty raw, blustery day, with steady temperatures in the low to mid 30s, and much colder wind chill that you’ll notice.  We could see some minor snow accumulation, depending upon if any persistent bands set up.

Partly cloudy to mostly sunny on Wednesday, with highs near 30 degrees (-1 degree Celsius).

Thursday and Friday also look dry, and starts another warming trend as temperatures rise into the mid 30s (1 to 2 degrees Celsius) on Thursday, and into the low 40s (6 degrees Celsius) on Friday.  Rain showers are likely next weekend as the next winter storm once again tracks to our west…keeping us on its warmer side.

Travel trouble

The strong storm developing later this weekend could drop heavy snow on the major airline hub of Minneapolis Monday. Obviously, things could change but, based upon this afternoon’s computer models, they could even see 8 to 12 inches of snow.

If you have Monday travel plans that take you through the Twin Cities, I suggest monitoring this carefully through the weekend. And on Monday itself, remember that the radar on our free Local4Casters app gives you the radar for any location in the nation, and even in Europe.

It follows you wherever you go, so check it often both to see the progression of our rain here (and if any thunderstorms develop), as well as the big snow happening to our west! In the meantime, here are some maps I’ve prepared to show you the storm’s progression (the computer model ends at 10:00 a.m. Monday, so this is far as I could take it for you). Have a great weekend!