4Warn Weather – The weather team has declared Tuesday a 4Warn Weather Alert Day with the possibility of two rounds of severe weather.
A little over a year ago, DTE was working to restore power to over 700,000 people that were left in the dark after an ice storm that hit February 22nd.
This year it’s severe thunderstorms that are threatening Metro Detroit as February goes down as one of the top 4 warmest Februarys on record.
Let’s get right to the timeline and what you can expect.
OVERNIGHT
3am to 8am
The first round of storms brings the chance of high winds and hail along with heavy rain at times. The Storm Prediction Center has placed all of Metro Detroit under a marginal (level one) risk. The primary threat will be one inch hail which is about the size of a quarter.
You might want to move your car into the garage as that is big enough to do a little chipping. Storms will move southwest to northeast at around 45mph. Then we move on to the best part of the day.
TUESDAY
8am to 8pm
Although we’re talking about strong to severe thunderstorms, most of Tuesday will be quite lovely. Dry, breezy, and incredibly mild. It will feel like a beautiful spring day with highs in the low 60s. The record is 63 and we will likely tie or break it. That warmth will provide a favorable environment for storm development along and ahead of a very strong cold front that will move through overnight into Wednesday.
TUESDAY EVENING/OVERNIGHT
8pm to 2am
This will be the best chance for severe weather. The Storm Prediction Center boosts our threat to a slight risk which is a level two. As a refresher there are five levels from marginal to high. Wind gusts over 60mph, large hail and flash flooding are all possible as the ground is still quite solid from the weekend freeze.
An isolated tornado cannot be ruled out although unlikely. Make sure you keep your phone turned on and volume up so if a warning is issued while you are sleeping the 4Warn Weather App will alert you.
Wednesday will be windy and wild. We start the day with a little light rain, then falling temps will cause winds to gust over 45mph and any remaining moisture will become frozen in the afternoon.