DETROIT – Highs today will only reach the low to mid 20s (-5 degrees Celsius), as a colder air mass continues streaming in from the north in advance of an unusually strong area of high pressure.
Remember that airflow around a high is clockwise so, since the high is to our west, we get north-northwest winds bringing that cold air down from the north. That wind will blow at 8 to 13 mph today, which will keep wind chills in the single digits (-14 degrees Celsius) this morning, and in the low to mid teens (-11 to -10 degrees Celsius) this afternoon.
Today’s sunrise is at 7:50 a.m., and today’s sunset is at 5:43 p.m.
Mostly cloudy Thursday night, with lows in the mid teens (-10 degrees Celsius).
Partly cloudy on Friday -- we’ll finish the work week with some sunshine, which always helps! Highs in the mid 20s (-4 degrees Celsius).
Partly cloudy Friday night, with lows in the mid teens (-10 degrees Celsius).
Weekend storm update
There’s no change to the Saturday forecast: we may start with some sunshine, but clouds will increase during the day. Highs rebounding to near 30 degrees (-1 degree Celsius).
Cloudy Saturday night with light snow possibly developing after midnight – especially south. Lows in the low to mid 20s (-5 degrees Celsius).
Three out of four computer models have the low translating eastward across the Ohio River on Sunday. Even though this low position is very similar to what the models were depicting yesterday, the area of moisture north of the low is larger due to a big high to our north being farther north on today’s model runs. So light snow is likely, with the best chance for any light accumulation being south of I-94.
However, on Monday we will still be under the influence of the expansive upper level system associated with the surface low and this, combined with a very favorable wind trajectory over Lake Huron, will generate a more meaningful snow area over us, with a few inches of accumulation possible.
This is still a very complicated scenario, and I’ll start getting much more confident after that upper level system, which is now off the California coast, moves inland on Friday and can be studied by our land-based upper air balloon network.
We’ll keep you updated on Local 4, on ClickOnDetroit.com, and on the free Local4Casters weather app and, of course, those of you who follow me on Twitter at @PGLocal4 know that you’ll get personalized updates whenever I have new information to share -- even on the weekend when I’m off (I’m never really off -- that’s the life of a weather nerd).