DETROIT – Like it or not, the Christmas weather scenario played out pretty much as expected.
After a dry late-afternoon / early-evening on Christmas Eve, drizzle and light rain moved into the area…but the heaviest rain held off until between midnight and dawn.
That left us with scattered light rain to deal with on this Christmas morning, followed by a gradual drying trend as we headed into the afternoon.
Clouds will break up tonight, with lows in the upper 20s (-2 degrees Celsius) by dawn. Wind will be light…blowing from the northwest at 2 to 5 mph.
This evening’s sunset is at 5:07 p.m., and Sunday morning’s sunrise is at 8:01 a.m.
Sunday forecast
Look forward to a nice mix of sun and clouds on Sunday, although I think there will be a period where it’s more sun than clouds along with a light and variable wind.
In short, not a bad day! It’ll be a cooler day, with highs in the upper 30s (3 to 4 degrees Celsius), but that’s still above our long-term average high of 35 degrees (1.5 degrees Celsius) for this date.
Increasing clouds Sunday night, and here’s where the forecast gets tricky: It appears that some snow and freezing rain will develop late at night, with lows in the low 30s (-1 to 0 degrees Celsius).
Next week
The wintry mix eventually changes to rain on Monday, with highs in the low-to-mid 40s (5 to 7 degrees Celsius). Most computer models agree upon the overall scenario for Sunday night / Monday, with the usual small differences in detail…such as timing, how much ice before the snow changes to rain, etc.
So be aware of this if you are traveling early Monday (and monitor the real-time radar on our app). I’ll keep you updated all weekend long on Local 4, on the free Local4Casters weather app, and on ClickOnDetroit.com.
And just when you thought it was safe to come out of the house, it appears that a very similar weather system could impact the area late Tuesday…stay tuned.
A Possible Top-Ten for December?
Thus far, Metro Airport has officially received only 0.7 inches of snow this month. If DTW doesn’t get accumulating snow from these last two wintry weather systems of the month, then December 2021 will go down in the record books as the fifth least snowy December since records here began in 1874!
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