It’s clear West Michigan has finally been (re)launched into winter this past week with temperatures only in the teens from an Arctic blast. Snowfall amounts were beginning to mount as well from both lake-effect and system snow from low pressure areas moving through the region. For example, Muskegon set a new snowfall record for January 25 at 9.4 inches. That broke the old record of 9.0 inches set in 1924. Locations in Oceana County picked up about seven to eight inches from Friday’s event, and places from Grand Haven to Holland tabulated about four to eight inches. Grand Rapids officially measured 2.1 inches at the National Weather Service office close to the airport.
As if that weren’t enough, we have already begun a climb out of the deep freeze and will continue to do so into the beginning of next week. That said, a departing high pressure system will give way to a low pressure area tracking in from the south/west Sunday afternoon. Many of us will see some light snow showers develop later in the afternoon, but warming temperatures aloft (above the surface) may produce some freezing rain, sleet, and some ice accumulations Sunday evening and Sunday night. Eventually for most of us, temperatures will warm enough to turn the precipitation to all rain later Monday (except our northern counties may remain with light freezing drizzle).
You may recall just a couple of weeks back the chance for freezing rain and ice that never quite materialized since we were coming off temps that had just been in the middle 50s. The ground never cooled fast enough to see ice form in a widespread situation. Only some areas north/west of Grand Rapids saw the ice. This time temperatures are easily at/below freezing at the surface, with warmer air coming in aloft to turn the precipitation falling from the clouds (in liquid form) to ice when it hits the frozen ground.
There are already WINTER STORM WATCHESout for areas west (outside) of Michigan for this event, and WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES have been posted for the entire FOX 17 viewing area. They do not go into effect until 3:00 PM Sunday and stay in effect until 5:00 AM Monday. Stay tuned to later forecasts as we update both on-air and online. Get the latest temperatures, satellite, radar, and 7-Day by going to www.fox17online.com/weather.
