When is the worst travel time in this Christmas lake effect snowstorm?

There will be some dangerous areas of Michigan to travel on this night and on Christmas Day. Although most of the snow is lake-effect snow, an additional snowstorm will return to southeastern Michigan.

We are seeing a heavy lake effect along the shore of Lake Michigan. We also have the west end of a major snowstorm in Ohio, which will hit the Detroit area.

See the radar forecast and first look at the Detroit area. The great snowstorm moving north across the Appalachian Mountains and Ohio will bring some snow to the Detroit area.

You see the effect of the lake on the snow along the shore of Lake Michigan, but you also see the light snow moving to Detroit and the Eastern Thumb around midnight tonight.

You can also see that the effect of the lake along the shore of Lake Michigan increases strongly around midnight tonight and continues on Christmas morning.

During Christmas day, the wind will blow from the west. This will launch a snow blast in the southern part of Lower Michigan. This blast of snow is likely to last just an hour or two anywhere in southern Lower Michigan.

Driving conditions will be worse this evening until midday Christmas in southwestern Lower Michigan. This would include the South Haven area, the St. Joseph area and the Kalamazoo area. Visibility will be low in periods of heavy snow.

The roads will be covered with fresh snow across western Lower Michigan until midday on Christmas morning. This includes the entire stretch from Grand Rapids to Traverse City.

After midnight, the Detroit area north of the eastern Thumb will have two to three inches of snow. The roads will be slippery on Christmas morning in the Detroit area and east of Thumb.

Here’s a look at the total snowfall after the lake effect ends on Christmas afternoon.

The yellow areas reach six to twelve inches of snow. Around the heaviest snow, there will be two to three inches of snow.

Give yourself more time to drive to your destination tonight and on Christmas Day.