Sunshine and above normal temperatures today were a farewell present from the winter we've come to know. That's very sappy for a weather article, but a good representation of the transition that's about to occur.
Wet Commute For Most
Scattered rain showers will skate through for the drive home tonight. North Zoners will get snow showers... mostly an inch or less. Sanilac County could see a bit more. Most of us south of M-59 are dry by mid-evening, and stay that way until our weekend storm arrives.
Lake-Effect Snow North
Beyond 9PM tonight, scattered snow showers will still be lingering around the North Zone. After sunrise Thursday, a solid lake-effect band could bring snow squalls to the same spot. So additional accumulations of 1-2 inches won’t be out of the question in areas where that band sets up.
It will start migrating south during the afternoon and evening. Some Metro and West Zone locations may get some snow showers then. But the band will be weakening, so accumulation looks minimal at best.
Sloppy Saturday
We're noticing a few changes to our weekend storm. It still looks like a healthy amount on the front end. But rain will eat away at a lot of that.
Snow begins just after midnight Friday and continues through late morning on Saturday. Temperatures warm enough to change snow to rain, which will continue through early evening. Snow returns Saturday evening through Monday morning, but a lot of the moisture will be gone at that point.
It looks like we'll get 4-8 inches of snow initially. But temperatures will reach the upper 30s as the rain falls on top of that, so expect a slushy mess by sundown on Saturday. The mercury will fall sharply, taking lows around 20 Saturday night. So that slush is going to freeze as more snow falls. We may see only an additional inch Saturday night through Sunday.
The biggest impacts will be the moderate snow early Saturday and dealing with frozen slush for Sunday. This is not to mention wind gusts reaching 40 mph as temperatures stay below normal for early next week.