Wind chills early this afternoon rose above -25 degrees (-32 degrees Celsius), so the National Weather Service allowed the Wind Chill Warning to expire and then issued a Wind Chill Advisory until 5 a.m. for south of 8 Mile and until 9 a.m. north of 8 Mile to take into account wind chills between -15 and -24 degrees (-26 to -31 degrees Celsius).
Actual air temperatures finally rose above zero this afternoon, ending a thirty-six hour streak of consecutive below zero temps. That didn’t even come close to the Detroit record of sixty-seven straight hours below zero in 1899.
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Wednesday’s Arctic cold set three January 30 temperature records (lowest temp, lowest high temp, and lowest average temp for the day). However, none of Wednesday’s (or today’s) temperatures will crack us into the top five for some of Detroit’s more notorious cold records:
Now that the core of that Arctic air is moving out, we can look forward to a nice (but gradual) warm-up. Not so much tonight, however. Clear skies early this evening will allow temps to once again fall below zero -- perhaps to around -3 to -5 degrees (-19 to -21 degrees Celsius). Increasing clouds, however, will stabilize those temps, and perhaps even elevate them a few degrees toward dawn. Fortunately, the wind will continue to lighten up overnight. But even light wind with temps near or a little below zero will push those wind chills down to -10 or -15 degrees (-23 to -26 degrees Celsius).
One other item of note tonight is an upper level disturbance that will brush the far south with a bit of light snow. This doesn’t look like much -- perhaps a few tenths of an inch south of I-94, with a bit more toward the state line.
Any lingering snowflakes to the south first thing Friday morning will end quickly, with increasing sunshine through the day. Highs in the mid-teens (-9 degrees Celsius) will sure feel a lot better than what we’ve been through the past few days. Southeast wind at 4 to 7 mph.
Friday’s sunrise is at 7:47 a.m., and Friday’s sunset is 5:47 p.m.
Partly to mostly cloudy Friday night, with temperatures steady through midnight, then rising to near 20 degrees (-8 degrees Celsius) by dawn Saturday.
Mostly cloudy on Saturday, with some drizzle possible later in the day. Highs in the mid 30s (3 degrees Celsius).
Drizzle and freezing drizzle (if temperatures drop to freezing) are possible Saturday night. Lows in the mid 30s (1 to 2 degrees Celsius).
A few light showers are possible on Sunday (best chance is in the morning), with temps continuing their upward climb into the mid 40s (7 to 8 degrees Celsius).
A few light showers are also possible Sunday night but, like the daytime on Sunday, more of the night should be dry than wet. Lows in the upper 30s to near 40 degrees (4 degrees Celsius).
Monday starts dry, but shower chances increase by mid to late afternoon. And you may want to get out and feel that breezy high in the low 50s (10 to 11 degrees Celsius).
Don’t get used to Monday’s mild temps -- the cold front crashing through the area Monday night drops us back down. Tuesday will be mostly cloudy and breezy, with highs only in the mid to upper 30s (3 degrees Celsius).
Wednesday looks a little tricky -- and it’s way too early to even speculate about the specifics. But right now it appears to potentially be a mixed bag of wintry precipitation, changing over to rain later in the day. After this system passes by, more cold air surges in -- but nothing close to what we just experienced.