Winter weather warning with 2 to 10 centimeters of snow expected

DETROIT – We have been telling you all week to prepare for this, and today is the last day to do some things if you don’t like being in an extremely cold climate.

Here is a summary of what is coming towards us:

Most hours of the day must be dry. Some snow may arrive in southern Lenawee and Monroe counties in the late afternoon, but again, the day must be almost dry.

Most snow will fall between 7 pm and 1 am, and now it looks like we’ll see less change to rain or a mix – the best chance to see this is south of Detroit and east of US-23. As such, most of the moisture available for this storm to produce will fall like snow, and I now expect general snow from 5 to 10 cm in southeastern Michigan, with a very solid drop tonight.

Consequently, the National Meteorological Service issued a warning about the winter weather from 4pm Thursday to 4am Friday.

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The snow should end in the middle of the night, and then we will be dry until Friday morning. Some strips of lake-effect snow will extend across the state on Friday afternoon, and I think the best chance of seeing them will be north of 8 Mile.

Saturday looks dry, and then there is a chance of light snow on Saturday night, ending in the early hours of Sunday morning. I don’t expect much of that.

It will get a little windy in the late afternoon, but the real wind won’t start blowing until the Arctic front approaches at the end of Thursday night. The wind can blow between 30 and 40 mph from the south ahead of the front and then, when the front crosses the area, the wind will shift to the southwest with gusts of about 40 mph possible. This wind will continue until Friday.

Today will have temperatures rising to 30 degrees (0 to 1 degree Celsius) this afternoon, and actually rising a little further to 30 degrees (2 degrees Celsius) tonight. As soon as the Arctic front passes, temperatures will start to drop, and we will be between 20 and a half degrees (-5 degrees Celsius) at dawn on Friday.

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Temperatures during the day on Friday will continue to drop, and we will be in the range above zero (-8 degrees Celsius) in the late afternoon. Low temperatures are heightened this weekend, with highs in mid-teens (-9 to -8 degrees Celsius), and low overnight well below one digit (-15 to -13 degrees Celsius).

The wind and arctic air mentioned above will make it look a lot colder on the outside than reading the thermometer. On Friday afternoon, cold winds will be around zero (-18 degrees Celsius).

The thermal sensation on Saturday will be from zero to 5 above zero (-18 to -15 degrees Celsius).

Sunday’s cold wind will be between zero and 5 below zero (-18 to -21 degrees Celsius).

The snow that falls on Thursday night will be damp and (especially if there is rain on it) that snow will freeze into a solid piece of crude that will be very difficult to remove. If you have the skill, I suggest going as late as possible to clear the snow before the temperature drops.

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An added bonus is that it will be much hotter (albeit with wind) than if you wait until Friday or weekend. Keep an eye on the radar of the free Local4Casters weather app … you’ll easily see where the back of the snow is. In fact, if you click on the “FutureCast” button, you will get the projection of the most up-to-date, high-resolution computer model of snow ending time – our app will really help you plan when you get there and dig.