Quiet After This...

Hello There!

The wet and dreary weather that we have had will continue, as the storm that created blizzard conditions in Colorado and unloaded 2 feet of snow in it's wake there is now about here with us.  Let's have a closer look...

CLOUDS AND RAIN:  Here's a look at the current satellite and radar composite image:

You can see the large precipitation shield stretching all the way back to northern Illinois.  Even though the radar returns are coded as all rain by color here, you need to know that along and north of I-96 between Grand Rapids and Lansing, that is snow.  On the other side, south of a line from Fenton to Lansing, that's all rain.  I suspect it will remain that, there could be a touch of freezing precip mixed in but I don't expect much if any of that.

STORM WORKING THROUGH:  Here's a look at the upper air setup.  You can see the big player in the game right now, that storm system coming out of the Rockies...

The base of the trough is in north central Missouri, and it will be pulling a cold front along the southern tier of states that will cause some severe weather problems for our friends in the Deep South - a couple of tornadoes are possible in Dixie Alley today.  Nothing like that for us though.  Just the rain, then on the back side of the system, some wraparound snow is possible into tonight, but that should not amount to a whole lot if any does show up.

FAIRLY QUIET AFTER THIS:  As this storm system departs, I don't really see a whole lot to talk about until a week from today...

Here's the next weather maker, the last day of March.  A deep 980 millibar surface low centered over the Minnesota/Wisconsin line will have rain out ahead of it in the warm sector, and some snow behind it on the back side in the cold air.

I hope you have a great rest of your day!

Another Storm As Winter Fights The Calendar?

Good Afternoon!

A few clouds in the area, but still some sunshine.  We'll see our clouds increase as the day progresses, and by midweek, a storm system bringing rain, and possibly some snow to the northern counties in the blog area.  Let's have a look at it all.

MIXED SUN RIGHT NOW:  Fairly uniform temperatures in the area right now, and readings from 37 to 40, depending on where you look.  I'll show you the visible satellite and the current conditions...

A band of clear skies separates passing clouds that are located from roughly I-94 south, and from just off I-96 north across the state, with northwesterly breezes.  The good news is that there's no precipitation in those, and I expect things to stay that way for the next day or two.  You basically see today's forecast in the picture, just move the temperatures up into the low to mid 40's and you'll have it.

SWITCH IT UP MID WEEK:  Tomorrow morning, we note a fairly broad surface low out over the northern Great Plains start to sharpen up and put it in gear to move east.  Before it does that, it actually retrogrades a bit to the southwest and deepens.  Some rain showers will develop in Michigan courtesy of a disturbance working through the larger flow, even though the low is way out by Colorado and Nebraska!  Have a look at this:

If this verifies, the GFS is telling us to expect showers south of a line from roughly Pentwater to Bay City.

That surface low holds fairly steady at 990 millibars, and then it hopscotches due east until it hits the triple point where Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri all come together, then it turns more northeast...

If this is right, the low is just west of Chicago at 8 AM Thursday, and it has most of the Lower Peninsula in rain.  Now as that low continues it's trip northeast, we could see some wraparound snow on the back end of the as that system gets away from us.  Let's change the lens we're looking at this through and get a bit more detailed.

Here's a look at the NAM forecast model at 8 PM Thursday.  You see here the wraparound snow working into Michigan from the west as the low departs and we get more into the cold sector, and you also see more intense rains for far southeastern Michigan and into Ohio.  This is why we have a Winter Storm Watch active for Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham counties.

LOOKING DOWN THE LINE:  After we get this out of here, we bring in another band of rain and snow late Friday/early Saturday as a disturbance slides north of Michigan proper, staying largely in Canada.  It will pull a trailing front that will have a narrowly focused band of precipitation, looks like rain showers that flip to snow after frontal passage as the colder air gets settled in.  Beyond that, indications are that we stay rain/snow free until the end of the month.

Forecast:

Today - Increasing clouds PM, we can't rule out a stray shower or two around sunset, high 51.

Tonight - Some scattered showers developing, lows hold steady around 48.

Tuesday - Mainly cloudy, more scattered showers about, high 55.

We'll have the extended forecast for you later,  Have a great day!