Weather

Actions

Wintry start to St. Patrick’s Day

Posted at 9:36 AM, Mar 16, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-16 09:45:53-04

WEST MICHIGAN- You'll likely be chastised by someone Friday for not wearing green of some sort, but the radar will be lit up with green...and other wintry colors in the morning.

A warm front off to our west will help lend to this wintry mix of precipitation for Friday morning.  Often times when a warm front hits this cold air, we'll see the development of different types of frozen precipitation as the warm air overrides the cold, leading to melting at different layers of the atmosphere.  This is already the case Thursday morning.

Early Friday morning, we'll be seeing a mix of snow, rain, freezing rain, and sleet.  As the above image indicates, most areas will be at or below freezing at this time.  This is when slick spots will likely develop as many people hit the roadways.

By the peak of Friday's rush hour, many areas will be dealing with some sort of frozen precip.  While this image indicates a lot more snow for most of us, I think there will be a larger area of the pink shade, which indicates a sleet and freezing rain mix in this instance.

By the afternoon, we'll see that milder air on the other side of the warm front work its way into the area.  This will transition most of that frozen precip to liquid by the afternoon.

So to recap, expect a wintry mix for most everyone early.   This will obivously makes things slick in most of the region.  It will change to rain later in the afternoon.  Right now, there are no advisories, watches, or warnings, however....that may change.  FOX 17 Weather App will keep you posted if those are issued later today.