As expected, a band of rain ahead of an approaching cold front moved across the area during the mid-to-late afternoon period. Factor in wind gusts between 30 and 35 miles per hour and you will no doubt agree that umbrellas were pretty useless this afternoon.
The rain ended this evening, skies cleared behind the cold front, and temperatures will plummet to near 40 degrees (4 to 5 degrees Celsius) by dawn. Wind will shift from south to southwest behind the front and drop to 10 to 15 mph as the night progresses.
This evening’s sunset was at 5:15 p.m., and Friday morning’s sunrise is at 7:20 a.m.
We’ll start our Finally Friday with mostly sunny skies, and temperatures will race up into the low 50s (11 degrees Celsius) by early afternoon, then level off and even fall as clouds move in. A stray sprinkle or light shower is possible late afternoon into the evening hours, but I suspect we’ll be more dry than wet. Winds will increase from the southwest, with gusts near 30 mph likely.
A few light snow showers may dot the landscape late Friday night into Saturday morning, but I don’t expect any accumulation. Lows Friday night in the low to mid 30s (0 to 1 degree Celsius).
Weekend update (snow?!)
Cold air will remain firmly entrenched across the Great Lakes state, with lake effect clouds the rule rather than the exception. We could start with some scattered light snow showers on Saturday, which would then transition to scattered light rain showers in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 40s (6 to 7 degrees Celsius) will feel colder due to a 10 to 20 mph wind.
Sunday is the more intriguing of the two weekend days. A strong upper-level disturbance now appears that it will generate a surface low that will drop southeastward out of Minnesota and then track eastward not far from the Michigan-Indiana-Ohio state line. Snow will likely erupt ahead of it late at night into the morning hours, with a possible mix of drops and flakes in the afternoon.
The uncertainty in this system lies in the fact that the upper-level disturbance is still out over the Pacific…it’s not until it crosses the west coast and then can be directly sampled by our land-based upper air balloon network that the computer models will get a better handle on things.
Since Sunday will be colder than Saturday (highs probably barely making it to 40 degrees (4 to 5 degrees Celsius), you can see my concern about the potential for our first snow accumulation, although it would be pretty light. Stay tuned!
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