Not Much Until Next Week...

Good Morning!

As advertised, a gray day to start here in South Central Michigan.  We'll keep those gray skies around for a good chunk of Thursday.  Off to the west, a few lake-effect snowflakes are falling, but it doesn't look like all of that is reaching the ground.  Let's take a peek and see what's running under the hood!

BRRRR!:  Very cold start to the day, and we aren't the only place that's down there with respect to temperatures, take a look at this map:

Plenty of cold to go around, especially in upstate New York and New England, as well as out in the Rockies.  Some places haven't even gotten back to the north side of zero yet today!  We'll see temperatures climb into the 20's here and stay there for the day today.  Another chilly night is expected as clouds dissipate, and allow the little bit of daytime heating we see today to vanish back into the atmosphere.  Winds kicking up some will bring wind chills down to near zero in some spots.

THE WEEKEND:  Plenty of clouds, but a little bit of sun here and there.  Not much in the way of precipitation opportunity until Sunday, that's when an upper impluse rolled into the bottom of a trough breezes into the area.  As it passes through, it might be enough to trip a bit of light snow or snowshower activity.  No major headaches expected here, I will say that if you're over by the lakeshore for any reason Sunday, you might see a little bit of accumulation as that impulse will likely kick start some lake-effect activity.  We'll leave that sticky note regarding snow chances stuck to the monitor for now as I wait for more forecast modeling to become available.

NEXT WEEK:  Quiet once we get through Sunday, the next thing on the horizon is a two-piece deal.  First, it seems that the polar airmass currently freezing folks in the Plains and Rockies decides to start pushing east. If forecast models have a handle on it, that cold air will be bulldozing a well-organized surface low in front of it, and from what I can see, this looks in the ballpark.  That surface low will track gently northeast until it gets to near Springfield, Illinois, then it hangs a sharp left and goes more northerly, up through Chicago and Gary, then out over the lake and up into Ludington, Manistee, and places such as that.  This system looks like it will leave us a couple of inches of new snow as a calling card, and most of it should be out of here Thursday.

Visible Satellite Image

Not much to see but clouds on the visible satellite image, at this hour, so here's the forecast for Jackson and surrounding areas including Parma and Grass Lake:

Today, mostly cloudy, some flurries or maybe even a touch of light snow show up after lunchtime.  High 27.  Any snow that does fall should be light, wind W 6-12 MPH.

Tonight, some clearing, very cold. Lows drop to 17, wind WSW 6-12 MPH puts wind chills down near zero in many places.

Friday, a mix of clouds and sunshine, chilly, high 27.  Wind WSW 5-10 MPH.

Friday night, clouds thicken, cold, lows near 18, winds slacken and turn a bit more southerly, SW 4-8 MPH.

Saturday, sunny to start, some afternoon clouds move in and make it partly cloudy, milder as we finally get back to near the freezing mark.  High 30.

Sunday, mostly cloudy, we can't rule out a few flurries or even a light coating of snow, highs stay right around 34.

Monday, periods of clouds and sunshine, temperatures hold steady right around 32.

Tuesday, partly to mostly cloudy skies, snow developing later in the day.  Seasonably mild, high 35.

Wednesday, cloudy skies, some light snow, high 34.

There's a look at your forecast for the next six days, and I do hope you have a great Thursday!  Blessings.

Change & Rearrange

Good Evening!

Man what a busy day!  I am just now free to update the information as I said I would this afternoon.  Let me get right to it while I still have some time!

PRE-DAWN THURSDAY:  Skies are mainly starry around this part of the world, so that means it's going to get COLD, thanks to no cloud cover to trap the radiational heat from the sun during the day.  Expect an overnight low in the lower teens for most spots in the blog, and wind chills will be in the single digits.  Lingering clouds in some spots may yield a dusting of snow by daybreak.

THURSDAY:  Clouds redevelop over the area for the day, and a small upper wave could make the atmosphere grumpy enough to create a bit of light snow, especially near the lake shore.  Daytime highs should top out around 26 degrees with westerly winds as high as 10 MPH keeping wind chills in the mid teens.  You get another cold night with temperatures around 16 degrees, but winds at or above 10 MPH will shove us into the freezer and put wind chills near zero.

FRIDAY:  We get some sunshine in here for the end of the week, temperatures in the mid to upper 20's and   sustained westerly winds.

Temperatures start to warm up next week.

Have a great night!

Just A Quick Note...Changes To The Forecast

Good Afternoon!

Just a quick look at some data this afternoon has required that I change the forecast.  Unfortunately, I am at the straight job so that will have to wait for awhile.  I can say that it' looks like we won't make it into the upper 30's as I had previously teased in an earlier post, but things will stay fairly quiet until late in the weekend, when it looks as though Sunday we may see some widespread light snow.

Tonight we will see mostly cloudy skies and very cold temperatures, nighttime lows will drop to about 11, and wind chills will be down near zero.

Thursday, the snow that I talked about earlier this week may show, but there won't be much to it.  So very cold and not a lot of moisture in the air to work with.  High temperature tomorrow, looks to top out around 26.

We'll have more for you later.  Have a great day!

Six Day Outlook...

Hey Gang!

The six day outlook is up...I don't see much going on, just some light dustups possible here and there.  Have a look:

Have a great night!

New Year's Night Outlook...

Good Evening!

It turned out to be a pretty nice day with plenty of sunshine in the area!  Like I said in one of my tweets, one of the forecast models apparently was having too much fun ringing in 2013, and was way off base.

Some clouds are working into the area at this hour, those should not bring us any snow.  I won't mind the partial cloud cover as it will help hold temperatures up a degree or two, because they will trap a little of the solar radiation (sun warmth) from today.  I don't see much change needed to the forecast, so here goes:

Just as a reminder, some light snow by lunch Thursday, more of that Saturday, then we start to see a warm-up back into the middle 30's or so next week, so hang in there!  And by the way, remember the days have started to get longer as well, since winter is underway!

Have a great evening!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Good Morning!

It's a new year and time for a new forecast.  I just want to take a moment to say that i hope that all of your dreams come true this year, making it better than 2012.  Let's get right into it...one deeper dive coming up!

RIGHT NOW:  We have clearing skies in South Central Michigan, offering us some peeks at sunshine.  There are a few stubborn clouds at this hour, so we have some lingering snow flurries as well.  

As you move over into my colleague Ben Kouchnerkavich's part of the world in Southwest Michigan, there's some light lake effect snow falling, especially as you work past I-69 and head toward Kalamazoo and points west.  That stuff will linger over that area in fits and starts today, the good news is, I don't see it making it's way this far inland.

LOOKING AHEAD:  We'll stay fairly quiet here over the next few days, no major storms expected in this part of the world.  Just some cold air as a Polar Express aided by passing over snowpack dives into the nation through the Upper Plains, bringing us some chilly conditions.  We do bump up the chances at some light snow over the next 36-48 hours, as that Polar Express has a trough with an upper low spinning in the base of it.  After we get through that, just chilly for the weekend, then another small disturbance makes tracks our direction for Sunday and into the start of back to work.  Some light ridging indicating milder temperatures starts tracking at us from the southwest as we get into the middle of next week.  Still a little early to tell with any real confidence, but temperatures into the mid 30's or better look to be within reach next week.

SNOW:  Yep.  Some on the ground, some on the way.  Forecast models are suggesting that we see some snow here as early as Thursday morning during the AM commute to work.  Others say it will be later in the day.  I am going to split the difference here, and say be prepared for some snow as you head out the door, but my money is on a closer to lunchtime arrival.  This event will be triggered by an upper low, and as it stands now, there aren't a lot of ingredients in the mixing bowl for any heavy duty snow.  Most areas in the blog should see about an inch, of course, the west end may see more due to the lake effect.  As the forecast computers crunch their numbers, a clearer picture should emerge later today.

Sunshine with a few clouds in Jackson right now, let's look at the forecast for you:

Baby New Year brings us mixed sunshine, more sun than clouds though, chilly with a daytime high of only 27, winds NW 4-8 MPH.

Tonight, a blend of clouds and stars.  More stars makes it very cold with lows down to 13, and wind chills in the single digits.  Winds becoming SSW 5-10 MPH.

Wednesday, continued partly sunny and chilly, high near 28, SW winds 6-12 MPH.

Wednesday night, clouds slowly thicken, an outside chance at some flurries or light snow by daybreak, lows roll back to 15, winds W 7-14 MPH.

Thursday, partly to mostly cloudy, some scattered flurries or light snow overspread the area around lunchtime.  High 29.  Any snow that does fall should be light and stay right around an inch total.

Friday, sunny skies, chilly, high 27.

Saturday, sunny to start, some afternoon clouds move in and make it partly cloudy, milder as we finally make it to the freezing mark.  High 32.

Sunday, partly to mainly cloudy, chance of a few flurries or even a light coating of snow, highs stay right around 32.

Monday, periods of clouds and sunshine, temperatures hold steady right around 32.

There's a fairly quiet six day forecast for you, I will have an update on the latter part of the weeke and weekend for you later.  I hope that you have a great Tuesday!  Blessings.

New Year's Forecast!

Good Evening!

Just taking a few minutes to look at some data and post something here for you for tonight and tomorrow as you head out to ring in 2013, and then recover (or work) tomorrow.

It looks to be a fairly quiet evening weather wise in this part of the world, which is a good thing.  You'll need to be mindful that we may see some light snow or even some freezing drizzle, so please be careful as you travel out to New Year's celebrations!  More winter weather is set to track south of us, through Indiana and Illinois, and back further into Missouri and Kansas.

Here's a look at the last forecast of 2012!

Details later!  Have a great New Year's Eve!

Quick Look For Sunday

Good Morning!

The snow stuck around in fits and starts for a good part of the evening and night, so I guess I have to own a busted forecast for yesterday.  It clears off somewhat and we see temperatures trending down.  Don't be surprised to see some more light snow in periods as the day progresses.  Here's my forecast for today:

Have a great Sunday!