We have reached our high for today at 31° at 6 am. Temperatures will fall throughout the day and lake-effect snow will pick up with a brisk west wind.
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THURSDAY... * WHAT...Heavy snow. Additional snow accumulations between 4 and 7 inches. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph. * WHERE...Allegan, Ottawa, Muskegon, and Oceana Counties. * WHEN...Until 7 PM EST Thursday. * IMPACTS...Roads, and especially bridges and overpasses, will likely become slick and hazardous. 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 Wednesday morning and evening commutes.
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THURSDAY... * WHAT...Snow expected. Total snow accumulations between 3 and 5 inches. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph. * WHERE...Barry, Kalamazoo, Kent, and Van Buren Counties. * WHEN...Until 7 PM EST Thursday. * IMPACTS...Roads, and especially bridges and overpasses, will likely become slick and hazardous. Visibility and road conditions may change rapidly over short distances in lake effect snow.
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 AM EST THURSDAY... * WHAT...Snow expected. Total snow accumulations between 2 and 4 inches. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph. * WHERE...A portion of south central Michigan. * WHEN...From 7 AM this morning to 7 AM EST Thursday. * IMPACTS...Roads, and especially bridges and overpasses, will likely become slick and hazardous. Visibility and road conditions may change rapidly over short distances in lake effect snow.
A rapid drop in temperatures and increasing winds, combined with intensifying snow showers, will lead to worsening road conditions this evening. (click to expand graphic)
Weather History
1995: A spell of frigid weather continues with high temperatures of only 10 degrees at Grand Rapids and 11 degrees at Muskegon.
2000: A blizzard strikes southern Lower Michigan with record snowfall and strong winds causing heavy drifting, shutting down travel. The 14.5 inches of snow that falls at Lansing is the heaviest on record for any December day. The 14.2 at Grand Rapids is also a record for any day of the month and contributes to December of 2000 becoming the snowiest month ever recorded there.
On December 11, 2000, a powerful storm system moved east just south of Michigan, dumping heavy snow across all of the area, with some freezing rain and sleet near the Ohio border. Near blizzard conditions with up to 58 mph wind gusts were found across all of the area, with an outright blizzard in the Thumb. Many schools were closed for two to four days after the storm. Mail delivery the next day was spotty at best, and many businesses and government offices were closed. Specific snowfall amounts and impacts of the storm, by county… Bay: 8 to 10″ in Bay City. Genesee: 12-14″ fell, along with 4-foot drifts. Flint Bishop International Airport closed in the afternoon of the 11th and ended up with 14″, the third largest snowfall on record. Up to 200 cars were stranded on Interstate 75 just south of Flint during the storm. In Burton, the roof of a window manufacturing company collapsed. Huron: 16.2″ in Port Hope. Lapeer: 12-16″ near Lapeer (city), with 3-foot drifts. Interstate 69 was closed from Davison to Imlay City. Lenawee: 5.7″ in Adrian with some freezing rain. Livingston: 10-15″ with 3 to 5-foot drifts. Macomb: 12″ across the county. Midland: 7 to 11″ in Midland (city). Monroe: 8.5″ just southeast of Milan; up to half an inch of freezing rain in Monroe with several trees downed due to ice and wind, and power outages. Oakland: 12″ across the county. St Clair: 12.3″ near Avoca; 14.7″ in Ruby; 17.5″ in Yale, 14″ in Capac. In Port Huron, 12-20″, closing the Blue Water Bridge to Canada. Saginaw: 11″ in Frankenmuth with 3-foot drifts, roads drifted shut. MBS (Tri-Cities) International Airport had many flights canceled, and the airport was closed at 830 pm on the 11th. Sanilac: 13″ in Brown City. Shiawassee: 15.5″ in Morrice. Tuscola: 10-14″ in Vassar. In Caro, 16.3″ of snow fell with 4 foot drifts. An 18-car pile-up on the north side of town required snowmobiles to rescue stranded motorists. Washtenaw: 8-12″ in Ann Arbor; closing Eastern Michigan University for only the second time ever. Wayne: 6-12″ across the county; three-eighths inches of freezing rain in Rockwood; At Detroit Metropolitan Airport, 6.1″ fell, with 197 departures and 165 arrivals canceled.
Forecast Discussion
- Lake effect event Today through Thursday The event has begun. Latest radar shows a strong dominant snow band streaming from the NW across through Hart across to Grand Rapids and extending all the way into Lansing. Webcams through Pentwater shows large flakes with MDOT cams showing accumulations. Latest Higher resolution models are verifying pretty well with latest band with the HRRR version in the HREF showing a good signal, including snow at Lansing. Accumulation questions remain as temperatures are hover around to just above freezing especially south of Whitehall. Given whats occurring the NW flow should then continue to increase through Wednesday morning with the focus in the NW corner of Western Michigan. Winds remain out of the west with a more northwest tilt through shifting into the region. The trough axis should shift into the region later today which will shift the dominate band to along the US 10 corridor this afternoon and evening. This will also increase the lake effect snow across our entire lakeshore regions. The largest lake effect snow accumulation remains focused Wednesday night as the low level jet moves over head between 00Z to 06Z. While snow will continue into Thursday the cold air overhead drops to below -20C. The instability will also weaken and given those conditions, there will be weaker snow generation inland. The arctic front will bring strong winds will bitterly cold temperatures with wind chills Thursday morning in the negative single digits. Have not made any changes to headlines. While the Big Rapids area will receive some snow, the duration of lake effect bands shouldn`t be long enough to reach advisory criteria. That said there remains the potential that the US 131 corridor through Mecosta and Montcalm could see brief impacts if any lake effect bands move overhead. The trough will lift to the NE late Thursday into Friday with cold, dry downsloping flow through Friday.
I agree we get advisorys out we get hammerd…With snow…INDY
Great storm! Kent County should be in a WARNING! Take it to the back and get ready to rock!
What a STORM!!!!
Winter in MI rocks!
Yes, it is going to be a wild ride! Enjoy!
We are getting absolutely pounded with SNOW! Let is snow, let it snow, let it SNOW!!!!!
Not to jinx myself, but I think much of the area will see 3-6 inches this evening and overnight once the short wave moves in. Areas to the NW saw almost 10 inches last night in localized spots!
Sounds about right and upwards of 8 inches in spots! Wow!
Get ready – once the cold front plows through, the winds and snow will pick up! I love it!
Almost 1PM and so far, not really impressed with this lake effect event. Have less than a half inch on the ground and mostly just light flurries. It is now 31 with a few flurries currently.
Slim
Patience my man, the heaviest bands are not expected till this evening and overnight! Get prepared now!
Yeah, I’m not sure why the WWA started at 7a. Here it is nearly nine hours later and we haven’t even seen one flake of snow.
We are getting pummeled with SNOW as we speak! Around an inch already! Incredible!
16.4 inches of snow so far and a snowstorm in process! All of this and only Dec 11th! Wow, just wow, WOW!
These predominant lake effect systems, leave me out of the fun! Only 3″ or so this year. We need a big weather system to push through!
Agreed!
We look to have a very brief cool down with some snow then back to above average temperatures.
Slim
There is some snow on the ground here this morning the current temperature is 31 and it is just cloudy at this time. We now have 10 days of December in the record book and the mean so far is 32.1 that is -1.0 below average the high so far is 50 on the 8th and 9th the low so far is 17 on the 5th there has been 5.1” of snow fall that is -0.4 below average.
Slim
The official H/L yesterday was 42/33 there was 0.02” of rain and a Trace of snowfall. The highest wind was 19MPH out of the W. There was no sunshine. For today the average H/L is 37/26 the record high 63 in 1949 the coldest high 10 in 1995 the record low -3 in 1962 the warmest low 49 in 1899 the most snowfall 14.2” in 2000 the most on the ground 14” in 1970.
Slim