DETROIT – Temperatures are headed to their coldest mark in nearly a year, and next week’s significant snow is coming into focus.
Bitter cold
Temperatures are on their way to the mid-teens overnight, but wind chills will be in single digits everywhere by daybreak. Even some negative numbers are possible in the North Zone.
Take solace in the fact that this will be the coldest we’ll have to endure through the end of the forecast. But don’t expect a huge warmup, either. Temperatures will stay below freezing all day, every day, with the exception a few hours Monday afternoon, when we’ll peak at 34.
Duck, duck, goose!
We’ve got two opportunities for light snowfall with little to no accumulation. The first is wrapping up Friday evening. Another round moves in Sunday, mainly late morning and early afternoon. Any accumulation there should be less than an inch.
The big enchilada is Monday night through Tuesday morning. Models are coming into more agreement that some of us will see significant snowfall, but the range will be fairly wide. Totals will range from less than an inch in Sanilac County, to 6 or more inches near the state line. That area of high pressure north of the Great Lakes will be eating away at the northern extent of this system, setting up a gradient of snowfall across southern Michigan.
The biggest impact will be during Tuesday morning’s commute. Even though less than half of the snow will be on the ground at that point, snowfall rates will be robust.
It should be done by the afternoon drive -- everything but the shoveling and plowing, that is.
Beyond that, we get some decent sunshine with near normal cold for the remainder of the workweek.
Track the radar: