Saturday, February 14, 2015

DANGEROUS WIND CHILLS IN THE MORNING!

Gang,

These wind chills are nothing to mess with.  Stay inside and if you must go out, dress accordingly!
You will get frostbitten within minutes at these values, and worse can happen the longer your bare skin stays exposed!


This forecast is for 7 AM Sunday morning.  Jackson -36; Ann Arbor -40; Adrian -36; Coldwater -37; Lansing -36;

Bitter Cold - Snow Lingers...

Good Afternoon!

Happy Valentine's Day.  I hope that you have something or someone to cuddle with, as it is chilly and snowy outside!  A look at the visible satellite image shows all of the banding from the lake effect snow.

The blue freehand line drawn on this map is a rough estimate of where the most intense lake effect snows will be falling until we get a shift in the wind pattern.  Please bear in mind the bands you commonly see with lake effect snow typically carry further away from the lakes than what's drawn here, so if traveling, you can go from a few flurries to near white out conditions in a matter of  a minute or less, so pay attention!
One thing I've noticed on the radar, the motion has changed during the last 12-16 hours.  Last night it was more west to east as you typically expect, but now, the radar shows the motion of the snows almost north to south.  That wind is biting and cold out of the north, 10-20 MPH.  That will push your wind chills down to dangerous values as we get into the afternoon and evening.

SOME CLEARING LATER, THEN COLDER:  The snow will taper off as we get into the evening, after dropping 3-7" of new accumulation depending on where you're at, but close to the lee sides of the lakes, the lake effect snow machine will remain cranked up, so you can expect an additional inch or three if you are in a county touching the lake shore, or in a county next to a lake shore county.  Example, if you live in say, Allegan County, Barry touches Allegan to the east - expect to be impacted by lake effect snow.  As the snow tapers off, skies will clear and then the bone-numbing cold settles in.

CLIPPER THEN A BONA FIDE:  The next chance for snow appears to be on Tuesday, after some cloudy skies with perhaps some light snow on Monday.  We'll see clouds overspread the area from northwest to southeast, and then more snow, perhaps another couple of inches added to what's already on the ground.  As it stands now, I don't expect much relief from the cold this week, and in fact, a more organized "bona fide" storm system is projected to approach from the south central Plains and slide south of Michigan, but it will bring some more snow to the area.  How much?  Too early to say.


Forecast for Jackson and vicinity:

This afternoon - continued cloudy, snowy, very cold.  High only 14.  Winds NNW 10-20 MPH will keep wind chills as low as -10.

Tonight - Snow starts tapering off overnight, bitter cold.  Lows near -10, wind chills as low as -35. Winds NNW 10-15 MPH.

Sunday - Continued cloudy and frigid, highs only struggle to -4.

Sunday Night - More bitter cold, lows dip near -15, wind chills -25.

Monday - some clearing, not as bitter, highs near 13.

Tuesday - more clouds than sun, a bit warmer, highs near 20.

There's your frigid forecast through early next week, please be safe traveling and stay warm! Blessings.