GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The weather looks to shake out on the quiet side for this coming weekend, but changes in the pattern are ahead for next workweek. After some sunshine on Saturday, we look for more clouds to return on Sunday. Any rainfall likely holds off until later in the evening heading into the early morning hours of Monday.
Temps will jump into the middle 40s both Sunday and Monday keeping West Michigan free of any problems on the roadways. As colder air works in on the backside of low pressure, we will shift rain showers to snow showers overnight Monday into Tuesday morning. This is the point where slippery conditions become a possibility as temperatures fall below freezing and likely even fall further into Tuesday afternoon.
With very cold northwest winds blowing over the waters of Lake Michigan Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon, lake-effect snow will become a major player for portions of the viewing area. Where the heaviest bands ultimately set up remain to be seen but several inches of snow will be on the table for some of us with the focus, of course, nearer the Lakeshore. Even locations inland such as Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo will likely have at least some snow accumulations causing very slippery travel Tuesday through Wednesday.
Anything that falls will definitely be accumulating as the mercury nosedives into the lower teens by daybreak Wednesday. With brisk northwest winds expected, wind chills can go as low as -10 degrees or so. High temperatures will not get out of the teens on Wednesday afternoon for all of West Michigan. It stays cold on Thursday as well with highs likely in the lower 20s but the lake-effect snow should be shutting down at that point.
The good news is that this blast of cold air is to be relatively short-lived as the coldest of the air will retreat northward by next weekend. This, however, may come at the cost of heightened prospects for more snow. Stay tuned to FOX 17 on-air and online in coming days.
