Snow forecast changes for Christmas, with cold and wind on the way

DETROIT – The changes are coming for our Christmas forecast, but only for the snow part. The cold and the wind are still on the way.

Temperatures reached almost 50 degrees on Wednesday afternoon, and this slight push will keep the precipitation almost all liquid on Wednesday night.

Rain is expected at night and during the night. When temperatures drop enough to turn precipitation into snow, most of the moisture will be gone. A shower of snow cannot be ruled out around Thursday sunrise, but anything that appears should be minimal, without accumulation.

After a dry morning rest, we may see a lake-effect snow shower on Thursday afternoon, but the best chances of snow will return on Friday.

The same system that is bringing rain on Wednesday night will show us its rear end on Friday and potentially provide 1-2 inches of snow to the east side. However, we are at the limit, so it won’t take long to change the forecast completely.

Other locations will see snowfalls with a lake effect in the second half of Christmas Day. This can result in the accumulation of more than an inch, but only under persistent bands. Most of us will see less than an inch of accumulation.

If you’re not planning on roasting chestnuts over a fire, you may want to rethink this – at least the fireplace part. Freezing temperatures will affect everyone in the coming days. After a morning high in the mid-30s of Thursday, temperatures will drop continuously over a period of 30 hours, until the mercury reaches mid-adolescence on Christmas morning. Chills by the wind will be single digits at this point and will recover only for teenagers in the afternoon.

Temperatures will return to normal on Saturday and slightly above that mark on Sunday.

It won’t be warm enough to avoid some snow with the rain expected for Monday, however.

Track the radar:

• Michigan Weather Radar Page
• Metro Detroit Weather Radar Page