Yesterday, we had a high of 52° and a low of 41°. Temperatures will begin to trend downward, and snow should be moving back into SW Michigan. Bittersweet Ski Resort in Otsego should be able to make snow Wednesday night and nightly through at least early next week.
Today breezy westerly winds will continue with cloudy skies and highs in the 30s. Light snow returns Wednesday through Friday with a couple of quick systems moving through the region.
CPC Christmas Week Forecast
Weather History
1963: Lake effect snow buries Muskegon with a three-day total of 34 inches of snow from the 16th to the 18th. This will be the snowiest December in Muskegon history with a grand total of 82.6 inches for the month.
On December 17, 1876, the daytime temperature rose to only 10 degrees in Detroit, which is 25 degrees below average.
Forecast Discussion
- Light snow accumulation Wednesday morning Of the two Clipper-style troughs to affect us through the workweek, late tonight to Wednesday morning is likely to be more modest with snow amounts and impacts. The 500 mb troughs (one from the northwest CONUS and one from northern Alberta/Sask) will not be well phased as they approach Michigan, and the 850-surface low will be more open and focused over the Ohio river valley. As a result of rather paltry lift and remnants of dry air at and below the DGZ, QPF should be in the ballpark of 0.10 inch, though there are plenty of ensemble members that yield less. Per the HREF, snow may start in west Michigan after 1 AM Wednesday, but is more likely to affect a larger portion of southwest to south- central Michigan between 6 AM and 11 AM. Morning low temperatures at or below 32 may help road temperatures be marginally receptive to becoming slick during the morning commute with this inch-or-less snowfall, but any impacts should be short lived as temperatures trend toward the mid 30s. - Accumulating snow and slick roads favored late Thu to early Fri The next Clipper is likely to produce snow from midday Thursday through Friday morning. This wave is favored to have a closed low at 850 mb as it tracks over the southern Michigan vicinity. Temperatures will be a little colder than on Wednesday. Mean QPF is about 0.1 inch at Kalamazoo and 0.2 inch at Big Rapids, though plausible higher-end amounts may be double that. Slick road conditions are a fair possibility between Thu evening and Fri morning from generally a 1 to 3 inch snowfall. - Cold Weekend A brief intrusion of modified Arctic air is likely to pass through over the weekend as the synoptic pattern across North America amplifies before breaking down again. 850 mb temperatures down to minus 15 C or colder would keep surface temperatures no warmer than the mid 20s, and lows Sunday morning may fall into the single digits under high pressure. Speaking of high pressure, upper-level height rises are expected to occur across the region and upstream while the coldest air is passing through Michigan, so a fairly large and strong surface high over Manitoba/Minnesota may turn our surface winds more northerly and limit the inland extent of lake-effect snow on Saturday.
Wow it looks like another cold weekend! Low temps around 10 degrees! More great skiing weather is on the way! Enjoy!!! Rock n roll!
Phew next week is looking warm. Look at all that red!
Grand Rapids summery for yesterday the H/L was 50/40 there was 0.10” of rainfall there was no sunshine the highest wind speed was 38 MPH out of the W. For today the average H/L is 36/24 the record high of 54 was in 2006 the coldest high of 10 was in 1919. The record low of -5 was in 1973 the warmest low of 41 was in 1939. The wettest was in 1921 with 1.37” the most snow fall of 10.4” was in 2022 the most on the ground was 13” in 1973.
Slim