WEST MICHIGAN — Arctic air—the coldest of the season—will make its way across Lake Michigan overnight and into tomorrow creating more lake-effect snow and bitterly cold wind chills. In fact, the National Weather Service office in Grand Rapids has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for portions of West Michigan -- mainly counties adjacent to the lakeshore.
With west to northwesterly winds through the duration of this event, it looks like the heaviest snow will fall along and west of US-131. In a couple of cases, namely in Kalamazoo and St. Joseph counties, the heavier snow will occasionally extend east of US-131. This is how much snow one of our models suggests will fall through the event:
This model may be a little conservative with totals, and therefore some 5 to 6 inch amounts will be possible in some of our lakeshore counties.
The other component to this Arctic outbreak will of course be the bitterly cold wind chills. Although it appears those values won't quite be cold enough for an advisory, they will be close at -10° to 0°F.
Combining the bitter cold with the snow, we have another potentially dangerous situation on area roadways tonight, Sunday, and Monday. Temperatures will be too low for salt to melt the snow on area roads, which will cause for very slippery conditions. If you must travel during this time period, be sure to allow extra time to get there and extra space between you and the driver ahead of you. It's also recommended you take some sort of emergency survival kit with you in your vehicle.
Be sure to stay tuned to FOX 17 through the weekend for further updates on this next round of winter weather.
