WEST MICHIGAN – Near record lows this morning certainly made it feel a lot more like winter as we saw many locations dip into the teens!
In case you’re wondering, record low temperatures in Muskegon, Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo range in the low teens, so we didn’t quite break them.
Today will warm up at a fairly decent pace, despite the cold start. Lots of sunshine will push us into the 40s. This is still 10 degrees or so below our average high temperature for this time of year.
Our focus then shifts overnight where a Winter Weather Advisory has been posted for portions of West Michigan. This begins at 10 o’clock tonight, and lasts until tomorrow afternoon.
Beginning around midnight, light precipitation moves in from the west. Note the different colors indicated on Future Track. Lavender being the snow, pink: a mix of rain and snow, and green being rain. With temperatures slightly above freezing, we’ll see a mix of all three types at this point.
As it becomes slightly colder to the north, the precip looks to become snowfall as the early morning hours of Wednesday carry on.
Big, heavy, wet snowflakes will fall for this period of time. As you note, the temps are above freezing at this point. This is good news for roadway conditions. While it is possible that snowfall rates will eventually make the roadways slick in some areas, overall the roadways should remain wet on the main surfaces. As always: bridges, overpasses, and side roads may become slick quicker than other locations.
Notice the temperature in the afternoon slightly after midday. We’re well above freezing at this point, and as a result, most of the precip falling will be rain. Any surfaces that received snow will begin to melt very quickly at this time.
Snow totals could approach 3-6 in some locations in northern West Michigan, with 6″ being on the higher side of the spectrum. It’s most likely a widespread 2-4″ is expected. Closer to the Grand Rapids area, we’ll see temps warm enough to mix in with rain, and snow will mostly accumulate in only grassy surfaces. Around a half an inch of rain is expected in many other locations as we see just rain in Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, and South Haven.
