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Metro Detroit weather: Heavy rain, thunderstorms possible this weekend

DETROIT – It’s been a pretty wacky month of December, weather-wise, so should it be any surprise that the last weekend of the year brings a chance of thunder? I’ll get to that in a moment.

But first, clouds will break up overnight, leaving us at least partly cloudy, with lows near 30 degrees (-1 degree Celsius). Fortunately, the wind will die off completely and the air will become calm.

Friday’s sunset is at 5:08 p.m., and Saturday’s sunrise is at 8:01 a.m.

Saturday continues to shape up as the much better day to get out and take down those Christmas lights. We’ll have a mix of sun and clouds, then skies will become cloudy by late-afternoon and evening. But it will remain dry through the day into our Date Night. Highs should reach the mid-40s (7 degrees Celsius). Wind becoming southeast at 3 to 7 mph.

Rain does not move into the area until after midnight Saturday night so, again, our Saturday evening plans will be fine. Sunday morning will be downright rainy, with heavy downpours possible, and it may become just unstable enough for a few rumbles of thunder! That’s right, a possible December thunderstorm. There is a chance that the rain may taper off for part of the afternoon and, if that break does materialize, then we could get a few pleasant hours with temps jumping into the mid-50s (12 to 13 degrees Celsius).

Just a friendly reminder that you can easily track the Sunday rain, lightning and temperatures on the FREE Local4Casters weather app. It’s truly the best weather app in the nation … just search under WDIV in the app store. And remember that the app follows you: if you are out of town, when you open the app you get the current weather and forecast for wherever you are, even in Europe!

Rain will return Sunday night, though, and total rainfall through Monday morning will likely exceed one inch across southeast Michigan.

Rain Monday morning should end by early afternoon. It’ll become windy, and the mild temperatures we’ll start the day with will be long gone, as Ernie Harwell used to say, as temperatures fall through the afternoon. It’s always tricky to try and nail down specific temperatures on a day like this, but my inclination is that we’ll wake up to temps in the mid to upper 40s (8 to 9 degrees Celsius), and then fall into the upper 30s (3 to 4 degrees Celsius) by late afternoon.

Mostly cloudy Monday night with possible snow showers developing late. Lows in the low 30s (0 degrees Celsius).

Windy snow showers are likely on Tuesday, with a dusting of accumulation possible. It appears that the snow showers will taper off just in time for New Year’s Eve…that would be great news. Highs Tuesday in the mid 30s (3 degrees Celsius), with wind chills near 20 degrees (-7 degrees Celsius). It’ll be a cold evening…bundle up as you head to your parties, and PLEASE don’t drink if you’ll be driving.

The sun returns on Wednesday, with highs in the mid 30s (3 degrees Celsius).

Mostly cloudy on Thursday, with highs in the low 40s (6 degrees Celsius).

Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain showers on Friday, and highs in the low 40s (6 degrees Celsius).

Mostly cloudy next Saturday, with highs near 40 degrees (4 to 5 degrees Celsius).

Then get ready for a sharply colder (but normal by winter standards) air mass to invade starting next Sunday. Highs Sunday near 30 degrees (-1 degree Celsius), and only in the upper 20s (-2 degrees Celsius) on Monday. We’re just not used to this stuff!


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