I haven’t been outside yet, but yes, looking out the window, it is indeed a cold and frightful morning.
Lake effect snow and blowing snow will combine to produce poor travel today across Western Lower Michigan. It is currently 19° at 6 a.m. with snow and blowing snow. Roads will likely remain slick due to consistent blowing and drifting snow. Snow amounts will be heaviest towards the lakeshore, tapering off inland towards Highway 127. If traveling today, you will need to slow down and drive to conditions. Stay safe, my friends!
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 AM EST FRIDAY... * WHAT...Heavy snow. Additional snow accumulations up to 8 inches. Winds gusting as high as 45 mph. * WHERE...Portions of southwest and west central Michigan. * WHEN...Until 1 AM EST Friday. * IMPACTS...Visibilities may drop below 1/4 mile due to falling and blowing snow. The strong winds and weight of snow on tree limbs may down power lines and could cause sporadic power outages. Visibility and road conditions may change rapidly over short distances in lake effect snow. Travel could be very difficult. The hazardous conditions could impact the Thursday morning and evening commutes. Gusty winds could bring down tree branches.
Cold air will continue to pour across the Great Lakes today creating lake effect snow over Western Lower Michigan. The heaviest snow will occur west of Highway 131 towards the lakeshore. Windy conditions will also continue resulting in blowing and drifting snow. Plan on slippery/icy roadways making for slower travel.
On top of the ongoing lake effect snow, windy conditions will prevail today with northwest winds of 15-30 mph gusting at times to between 30-40 mph. The strong winds will result in blowing and drifting snow. Look for icy roads and limited visibility today. Due to the cold temperatures salt is not as effective. You will need to slow down today due to conditions.
Weather History
2001: This is one of the warmest December days on record in Lower Michigan. Grand Rapids and Lansing set record highs of 69 degrees. Holland and Flint both hit 70 degrees.
On December 5, 2007, a significant lake effect snowstorm dumped up to 10 inches of snow over portions of Huron and Sanilac Counties. Several dominate lake effect snow bands made their way onshore with snowfall rates up to 2 inches per hour in the morning. Some of the higher snowfall reports received included Richmondville (Sanilac) 10.0 inches, Deckerville (Sanilac) 8.0 inches, Forestville (Sanilac) 8.0 inches, and Harbor Beach (Huron) 7.0 inches.
Also on December 5, 2001, the temperature rose to 70 degrees in Flint. This is the record maximum temperature for the month of December in Flint. Detroit and Saginaw both reached 67 degrees, which easily set the record high temperature for the date. This was part of a very warm December which was the 9th warmest for Detroit, the 4th warmest for Flint and the 5th warmest for Saginaw.
Forecast Discussion
- Lake Effect Snow Continues Today Bottom line up front. Have ended the winter weather advisory for the US127 corridor including Lansing and Jackson. Have transitioned Osceola, Mecosta, and Calhoun counties into an advisory, and the rest of the winter storm warning remains as is. Radar shows that a notable lake-effect snow band is ongoing in the northwest flow regime along a roughly Muskegon to Kalamazoo line. This morning low-level winds veer to a more northerly flow configuration with the passage of a surface trough. This leads to the development of a lake effect snow band near and west of US131 enhanced by a Lake Superior connection that will lead to continued moderate to occasionally heavy snowfall. East of US131, scattered showers will occasionally impact the counties in the winter weather advisory and isolated showers for the US127 corridor. This translates to a general 4-8 inches with locally higher amounts possible near and west of US131, 1-3 inches of additional snow across the advisory counties, and up to an inch for the US127 corridor. Areas of heavier snow will likely see notable reductions in visibility. In addition to the snow, gusty winds persist today. Gusts will generally be in the 30-40 mph range inland with gusts to 45 mph towards the lakeshore. The gusty winds will also lead to patchy blowing and drifting snow through this afternoon which may cause localized visibility reductions, particularly in open areas. Use caution on the roads today areawide, even where the advisory has been dropped as lingering slick roads and possibly patchy blowing snow will persist in this region. Snow then diminishes tonight as surface ridging and mid-level height rises move into the region. Light snow showers are then possible across the area on Friday as a weak clipper tracks northeast past the area to the northeast. - No significant precipitation events this weekend into mid next week The are no major systems that are set to affect Southwest Lower Michigan in the Saturday through next Wednesday time frame. One surface low moves into the Northern Great Lakes and fills this weekend. Another follows that low and is deeper moving well off to our north into Northwest Ontario on Monday. As for the details, there may be some lingering light lake effect snow showers Friday night into Saturday, but this looks to be mainly flurries. Depth of moisture is a question with the DGZ being unsaturated. There is a good chance we are dry during those two forecast periods. The next chance for precipitation comes Sunday night into Monday as an upper shortwave ejects out of the Central Plains and through the Great Lakes. This wave is moving quickly and does not have deep moisture associated with it. Precipitation amounts look to be on the order of a quarter of an inch or less. We will have warmed up by this time and p-type looks to be rain. Mid week an upper trough moves through the Great Lakes region with air cold enough for lake effect snow once again. At this point we only have 20-40 pct chances for snow showers, but this may need to be bumped up as the upper trough does look fairly sharp with a solid shortwave. All in all, the Saturday through Wednesday time frame looks much quieter than the weather we have going on currently. - Temperatures warm this weekend and then fall into next week Temperatures will warm through the weekend with highs rising back above normal into the 40s for Sunday and Monday. A cooling trend back into the 30s for highs will occur as we head into mid week. Normal highs this time of year are around 40.
Looks like very variable snow amounts across the area. Some got 2″, some got 8″… a classic lake effect event
We have 8 inches on our picnic table on south side. It was cleared off yesterday before the snow started.
What a storm! I picked up 2.5 inches of snow and very slippery roads! Incredible!
About 2” here. Many schools closed due to the treacherous roads. Very icy. Sub zero windchills so remain inside if you can.
Here in MBY I did not receive much in the way of snowfall yesterday and overnight I have just 1.0” of new snow. There is a total of 2” on the ground. The overnight low here was 16 and the current temperature is 18.
Slim
I measured a consistent 5 inches around the yard – good plowing snow with the tractor this morning.
At GR the official H/L yesterday was 34/22 there was 0.28” of pricip and 2.8” of snowfall. There was no sun the highest windspeed was 49 MPH out of the NW. For today the average H/L is 39/27 the record high of 69 was in 2001 the coldest high of 21 was in 2008 the record low of 4 was in 1964 the warmest low of 54 was in 2001. The wettest was 1.23” in 1999 the most snowfall was 7.7” in 1991 the most on the ground was 10” in 1940.
Slim