I hope that you are enjoying the tail end of the holiday season as we get ready to put 2013 into the history books and welcome the Baby New Year of 2014! I'm not going to go into a full year-end review as so many other media sources have, there's current weather to talk about!
WE GOT SNOOKERED: Weather data as late as last night indicated that we would have at least a bit of a lull in the snow between the quick shots I predicted for the overnight into around mid-morning today, and a long-duration mild to moderate snow event lasting from this afternoon into Thursday sometime. Well, that didn't play out entirely as advertised. It started snowing last night as was expected, but it hasn't truly stopped since! I hate being wrong, but I am not the only one who was surprised by this turn of events. My forecast more or less lined up with what local broadcast media predicted. If the trained meteorologists were caught out too, then that means something changed in a very short time frame, or a clue was overlooked. Long story short, the snow blower will be needed as what's falling now won't fully stop until sometime around lunch Thursday.
SO HOW MUCH SNOW MIKE?: Good question. I'm going to show you this forecast map. As with all winter systems, your mileage will vary from what I put out here, but this will give you an idea of what to expect.
As you can see, I expect the front row seats for this event to be primarily from point between I-94 and I-96 south. Here's what the National Weather Service thinks we see regarding snow for the next five days:
Fairly quiet until later in the weekend once we get through this New Year event. Not much different than what we have on the table now. Cold, a lot of clouds, and a couple of shots of snow. I'm thinking we moderate in temperature briefly and get close to freezing, but man oh man, wait until next week when:
OLD MAN WINTER BRINGS THE COLD: Forecast data indicates the beginning of a brutal cold snap with high temperatures in the single digits and lows with minuses in front of them! Right now, the GFS forecast model is suggesting a daytime high of 9 and a low of -1 for Tuesday, as an Arctic airmass plunges across the border and spreads out. The snow cover that we have on the ground will add insult to injury. Make sure your cars and homes are ready for it, as the first full week of 2014 brings the first full-on bite of winter to the area! It looks like that nasty, vicious cold will hold on until almost the weekend, when we see the mercury start to claw it's way back into the 20's.
Here's your forecast for Jackson and surrounding areas including Michigan Center and Rives Junction:
This afternoon - mainly cloudy, basically continuous snow ranging in intensity from flurries to moderate - accumulations up to 2" or so in most areas through 5 PM. High 18. Wind WSW 8-16 MPH keeps wind chills down in the single digits.
Tonight - clouds thicken, snow re-develops late, lows near 9 above. Wind W turning N 5-10 MPH. Wind chills near 0.
New Year's Day - cloudy, snowy, snow expected to persist through the day, high 16. Wind NE 5-10 MPH.
Extended forecast:
Have a safe and Happy New Year's Celebration!
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