Our January thaw continues today with temperatures rising into the 40s. Yesterday we saw partly cloudy skies and temperatures rising to the low 40s. Rain will be moving in tonight into Friday. A 20-30% chance of freezing rain is possible north of M-57 Friday morning. Highs today will be in the 40s with lows tonight in the 20s to 30s from north to south. Highs on Friday will only be in the 30s.
Highest Wind Gusts

Windy conditions have continued through the last 24 hours. Here is a list of the highest wind reports from around southwest Michigan from Yesterday afternoon until this morning. The gusty winds will subside this evening and while they will return tomorrow, the winds will be weaker.
Weather History
1951: A huge arctic high-pressure center moves south from Canada all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and brings snow to Florida. Temperatures fall to record lows in Lower Michigan. Grand Rapids sets their all-time record January low of 22 degrees below zero. Baldwin, Michigan plunges to 37 below zero.
2008: Rain changes to snow as an arctic cold front brings a flash freeze to lower Michigan during the night of the 29th, leaving a sheet of ice on the roads. Temperatures fall from the upper 40s to the single numbers, with occasional blinding white-out conditions in falling and blowing snow. There were numerous traffic accidents and some roads were closed for a time. School and event cancellations were widespread, and there were also sporadic power outages.
2019: Arctic air combined with strong winds gusting over 30 mph to bring dangerously cold wind chill temperatures of 20 to 40 below zero. Actual air temperatures remained below zero through the entire day across much of Lower Michigan with a 2 pm temperature of 12 below zero at Kalamazoo.
On January 30, 2019, a record cold snap began across the region with Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw seeing high temperatures of 1, 2, and 4 respectively, which broke the daily low maximum temperature records at each site. Temperatures bottomed out well into the negative teens overnight.
On January 30, 2014, the last accumulating snow of the month fell. Amounts were less than one inch, but it pushed the record monthly snowfall totals to 39.1 inches in Detroit and 32.9 inches in Flint. It was the snowiest single month on record for both locations. The monthly total in Saginaw was 15.6, which was still good for its 20th snowiest January.
Also on January 30, 2012, all three Southeast Michigan climate sites saw temperatures soar to new daily record high temperatures. Saginaw, Flint, and Detroit respectively recorded highs of 56, 58, and 62 degrees.
Also on January 30, 1951, Flint had a record low of -16 degrees for the day.
Forecast Discussion
- Rain/wintry mix tonight/Friday Developing low pressure over north Texas will track toward the lower Great Lakes today. Warm advection ahead of it will not only push temperatures into the 40s across the cwa, rain will also move into the cwa tonight. We`ll begin the day with some sunshine, however, but see clouds advect northward ahead of the low during the afternoon. There`s been a signal for several days that the central cwa may see a brief 3-4 hr period around 12z of light freezing rain...generally north of M-57 and south of US-10. Surface temperatures in that area will cool overnight to around freezing for a couple of hours and a brief glaze may develop. By mid morning, though, surface temperatures will warm above freezing ending the freezing rain threat. Once the low moves east during the afternoon, some colder air will advect south behind it and we`ll likely see the light rain mix with some wet snow. Little, if any, accumulation is expected. - Chance of mixed rain/snow Sat night/Sunday Low pressure moving across the northern tier of states will produce light precipitation in a warm advection/isentropic lift environment. Much of the precipitation falling as light snow will remain north of the cwa. However, there may be some light mixed rain/snow along the trailing cold front, being aided by a decent short wave moving across the state Sunday afternoon. Due to the Pacific nature of this system, there isn`t much cold air with it and highs will be in the lower to mid 40s Sunday. - Wintry mix possible mid week next week Models have divergent solutions regarding a mid week system and so confidence on p-type isn`t very high at this point. The ECMWF develops a low in the plains and tracks it toward central Lake Michigan by Wednesday night. Whereas the GFS keeps the system much farther south across the Tennessee Valley. A mix of the solutions would put some rain/freezing rain across the southern cwa Wednesday night and light snow to the north. We`ll continue to monitor the evolution of this system.
Bring it!
This is a fantastic sight!
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/
Car temp had 51 in town. Areas of grass starting to show in everyone’s yards. Amazing how fast the snow disappears.
And the grass, at least here, is still green.
We only have a couple patches of grass. Our snow pack is hard, crunchy and slippery from all the thawing and freezing.
Did crack the windows in the house today…
GR is still above normal for seasonal SNOWFALL!! WOW!!!
January is now below average for snowfall. Wow!
Welcome to Day 4 of The Melt!