WEST MICHIGAN -- After a quiet weekend and start to the week, light snow will move into the FOX 17 viewing area tonight. It looks like the snow will start for most of us sometime after 10:00 PM.
This snow is associated with a low pressure system, now centered in southeastern South Dakota. Snow exists around this low and well to its southeast. Some rain is also falling in some areas south and southwest of Chicago:
The leading edge of this precipitation will slowly edge into the area this evening, and become all snow as temperatures drop tonight. At the onset of the precipitation, a little rain may mix in well to the southwest of Grand Rapids, but snow will be the primary precipitation type with this event. Here's a look at how Future Track HD sees the snow initializing late this evening:
The snow will continue to advance through the area overnight, and still be falling across much of the area during morning rush hour. There may be a few breaks in the snow coverage west of Kalamazoo at this time:
The accumulating snow should taper off by noon in most areas, but some scattered afternoon snow showers -- mixed with rain -- will still be seen:
Right now we're looking at 1 to 2 inches of snowfall accumulation in most areas. It's possible that isolated 3 inch totals will pop up to the north and northwest of Grand Rapids where an upper level disturbance could produce a few heavier bursts of snow. This is how much snow the European Model is forecasting for the area:
As the above-mentioned low pressure system slowly moves eastward Wednesday and Thursday, enough cold air will filter into the area for some lake effect snow showers on Wednesday, and especially on Thursday. At this point in time, accumulations will generally be an inch or less with that. The weekend at this point is looking "high and dry" as of now, but temperatures will be on the cool side of average for this time of year.
