Afternoon Update

Hello!

With a little bit of downtime, let's have a look and see what we have going on around the area as far as weather...

COLD SHUTDOWN:  The brutally cold conditions have shut down basically all of the schools in the area.  Due to work, I was not able to research and post the closings for you here as I have done in the past.  It seems to me that the best sources for school closings if you're in the Lansing TV market are either WILX or WLNS.  And if you're in Branch, Hillsdale, Lenawee, Washtenaw, you could go to either Detroit or Toledo for your lists.  Here's a look at Tru-Track Doppler:

There you see the snow that will overspread our part of the world from the north as the day progresses, it's also why we have the Winter Weather Advisories up.  I am surprised that the counties under the care of the National Weather Service Detroit office (Lenawee, Washtenaw, Livingston, Shiawassee) have not had a Winter Weather Advisory activated for them.  I wouldn't be surprised to see that happen later on.

Here's a look at the current wind chill values in the area:

If you''ll notice the single digit figures on the right, that's where the snow is falling right now.  So we will see some moderation in temperatures as the snow works into the area.  These figures are valid as of 1:30 PM - still SUPER COLD!

Expect snow to start between now and the evening commute home, plan for slick roads and such, as it's too cold for salt to do much good.  We'll have more later!

Winter Weather Advisory....

OK Gang!

Not at my laptop right now but you need to know that the National Weather Service has killed the Wind Chill Advisory and traded it for a full blown Winter Weather Advisory, at least the Grand Rapids NWS office has.  Here's what we have:

Wind Chill Advisory - Branch, Hillsdale, Lenawee, Washtenaw, Livingston, Shiawassee

Winter Weather Advisory - Calhoun, Jackson, Eaton, Ingham, Clinton

Wind Chill Advisory - Wind Chill values down to -25 or worse.  These will cause frostbite in minutes.

Winter Weather Advisory - Wind Chills down to -30 or worse; snow starting PM Friday combined with wind increasing to 30 MPH will cause white outs and blowing/drifting, slick roads; high profile vehicles will have a tough time traveling.

I'll post more info if I get another break at work.

So Cold It's....Painful

Good Morning!

I thought that the harshest part of the winter was behind us with our early month cold snap.  Looks like that wasn't the case.  I'm not 100% sure that we get as low into the wind chill values as we saw earlier in the month, but we do spend more time in the deep freeze.  Let's have a look:

BRUTAL COLD RETURNS TONIGHT:  Wind chill advisories are up for the entire blog, which means that we'll see wind chill values in the -20 to -30 range tonight.  Winds kick up to 20-30 MPH in some cases depending on location, driving those wind chill values down.  Make sure you take precautions to bring in pets from outdoors, do what you need to do so the car will start, etc.  Some clearing in the area will allow air temperatures to fall below zero tonight, with a brief respite before the pattern repeats next week, where forecast model data currently indicates sub-zero air temperatures at night for most of the week.  Don't feel too bad, freezing and sub-freezing readings are expected to cover much of the US from the Rockies on east.

SNOW IN THE PICTURE:  We'll pick up from 2-3" of new snow in the area between now and Monday night.  Some partial clearing tonight so I don't think we get much of anything, except perhaps blowing snow from what's already on the ground, with winds turning northwest to north and increasing.  I can't rule out a few stray flurries if by chance you have some clouds overhead though.  The snow looks to be a two-piece deal.  We'll see some starting about lunchtime or shortly thereafter Friday, going into midday Saturday.  It tapers off to flurries or nothing, then re-starts again Sunday afternoon into Monday.  The 2-3" forecast looks good for the blog right now, so unless we get a big pattern shift (not likely) or an intense Clipper (possible, but not seeing that in the data at the moment), plan on that for the weekend.

PATTERN PERSISTENCE:  The subtitle says it all.  If you're looking for a break in this nasty cold weather pattern, the best I can tell you is good luck with that.  Current forecast data doesn't indicate a break in the temperatures anytime soon.  The freezing line makes it back to about as far north as Fort Wayne, Indiana toward the end of the forecast on February 5th, but then it starts diving south again.  In sum, Old Man Winter has us firmly in his clutches, and the Siberian Express is spooled up and at high output!  By the way, that last remark about a pattern break in February, don't put much stock in that - when it comes to weather forecasting, anything outside of seven days is fairly suspect.  You can only make an educated guess based on climatology (historical data), and trends.

I guess it's time for some downright brutal forecasting (the cold, not my accuracy) -

Like I said, do what you have to to get your cars ready for this next stretch of cold weather.  Stay inside this evening if at all possible and bring your pets inside too.  Be safe and we'll have more for you later on. Blessings!

Currently...

Good Morning!

Here's a look at conditions in the big three of the blog:

The pain is on the way - nasty cold tonight into Friday.  I'll have details and the forecast for you later this morning.

Going Nowhere Fast...

Hello!

Taking a look at some fresh forecast data to see what's going on over the next few days here in South Central Michigan.  Here's what I am seeing:

Hump Day Weather...

Good Morning!

Cold air and harsh winter weather in general won't be going anywhere anytime soon.  In addition, we'll see some accumulating snow start to develop for today/tonight, then again for the weekend, looking like a Friday night into Saturday deal right now, and then starting the new work week.  Talk about adding insult to injury.

We have had some pretty cold air in the area the last couple of nights.  Hopefully you have had good luck and your car has started without issue!  Last night we dropped to -9 at Jackson County Reynolds Airport just before midnight.  Lansing's lowest reading at Capital City Regional has been -3.  Over in Battle Creek, some clouds kept things warmer relatively speaking, with Kellogg Airport posting a zero as their low water mark.

Clouds in the area right now, we'll see those persist throughout the day, and courtesy of a clipper, add some developing snow into the mix later.  Good thing we aren't right along the lake, where a couple of feet of new new snow has fallen in some spots thanks to lake effect.  We should only see around an inch or so of new snow, nothing major.  We're saving that for the weekend.

Here's a look at the forecast for Jackson and surrounding areas including Leoni Township and Spring Arbor:

Have a great Wednesday!  Blessings.