WEST MICHIGAN - A powerful fall storm with rain, snow, and strong gusty winds will impact the Great Lakes Friday night into Saturday this weekend. The scope of this system will be huge...affecting several states, but most of it will only be rain and wind for us.
By late afternoon Friday, southwest lower Michigan will likely see rain showers developing. They will continue to overspread the entire area Friday evening and continue overnight into Saturday morning. See our forecast model image valid for 6 P.M. Friday below.
As the system approaches, we'll wrap significantly warmer air into Lower Michigan. Saturday morning temperatures will be reaching the low/mid 50s from Grand Rapids southward. See image below valid for 6 A.M. Saturday.
Once this powerful system gets by Michigan and tracks into Canada, winds will ramp up, snow showers may develop, and temperatures will fall. See image below valid for 6 P.M. Saturday.
Take a look a peak wind speeds and gusts when the core of the strongest winds move through the state late Saturday morning/early afternoon. We expect sustained winds at 20 to 30 mph with gusts of 40 to 50 mph. The image below is from our forecast model valid for 12:30 P.M. Saturday.
We also expect a decent amount of rain with this system. Total rainfall amounts can be seen below, and it looks to be widespread with some areas seeing an inch or more. Any snow behind this system will likely be less than an inch along/west of U.S. 131.
As FOX 17 Meteorologists have been mentioning all week, warmer temperatures...well above normal, are ahead as we move into next week. They will likely continue right up until Christmas. That means any appreciable or accumulating snow in time for Christmas may be difficult to obtain with temperatures in the 40s to near 50. Get the latest forecast atwww.fox17online.com/weather.
