(WEST MICHIGAN) – Sunday was quite the day weatherwise! Most of the day was dry, but we picked up an inch or two of snow fairly quickly in the late afternoon. Then, things transitioned to some freezing rain, sleet, and ice pellets through the evening hours. There were numerous thunderstorms across the southern base of Lake Michigan, which tracked into the I-94 corridor and produced some steady freezing rain. Our reporter and camera crew on the scene live in Kalamazoo witnessed those thunderstorms and heavy freezing rain first hand about 10:00 PM. In fact, there must have been some strong thunderstorm outflow winds since their new FOX 17 umbrella was literally turned inside out.
We had one report from the National Weather Service about .30″ of ice in Berrien County, but heard nothing much regarding ice afterwards. Temps have already started to warm in Van Buren, Berrien, and Cass Counties and the frozen precipitation has already transitioned to all liquid rain. Temps will warm into the mid 30s overnight and most areas will transition to rain. The exception may be areas north of Grand Rapids that hang on to temps at/below freezing through the early/mid morning hours. They will be the last ones to see the freezing drizzle end and road conditions improve.
You can always go to www.fox17online.com and check out our live weather stream with temps, radar, advisories, and wind chills. There’s also more resources at www.fox17online.com/weather. Enjoy the brief warm up on Monday as temps reach about 40/42 degrees, and Tuesday we’ll soar into the 50s. More thunderstorms are possible Tuesday evening/night as the Arctic cold front approaches. Our warmest temps on Wednesday occur around/shortly after midnight, before crashing throughout the day into the 20s by the dinner hour. Lake-effect snows will likely commence Wednesday PM and last through Friday with heavy snow possible along/west of U.S. 131.
The attached photo shows FOX 17 Meteorologist Kevin Craig tracking rain, ice, and thunderstorms into the area late Sunday evening. Drive safely and don’t forget we’ll have complete updates with weather, road conditions, and with traffic from 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM Monday morning on FOX 17.
