WEST MICHIGAN -- Even though it hasn't felt a lot like Christmas lately with milder than average temperatures and rain over much of the area this morning, snow is in the forecast for parts of the state if you're traveling Friday.
Right now, we're experiencing a mild, southerly flow ahead of a slowly approaching cold front. Once this front moves through early Friday morning, we'll see any scattered rain showers mix with or change over to snow showers. Here is a look at where that cold front is right now:
The rain showers ahead of this front look limited for the rest of the afternoon and this evening. Some steadier rain could move in tonight, but most of it looks to fall over the east side of the state:
The rain and snow showers Friday afternoon look pretty sparse as well, and won't have major impacts on travel:
As you can see in the above image, some rain and snow is falling at this time. But with temperatures above freezing, most roadways will just be wet.
Rain and melted snow looks very light between now and Friday afternoon. Here is a look at how much precipitation is being forecast by our European model:
Most of the FOX 17 viewing area will only see around 0.1" of rain, with somewhat higher amounts on the east side of the state.
Here's a look at the travel forecast Friday for Michigan, and other parts of the Great Lakes region:
The biggest travel problem areas Friday will be in the northern Lower Peninsula, and across parts of the U.P. where some snow is expected. But this will NOT be a crippling snow storm by any means. In fact, most areas up there will see less than an inch of accumulation.
Here is a look at the travel forecast for Saturday, which features tranquil weather across the entire region:
On Sunday, more snow showers will impact parts of the region -- especially from I-96 southward:
Even this snow doesn't look crippling, but a couple of inches are possible to the south of Grand Rapids. (This event is still a few days out, so we'll keep you posted on the details.)
As of right now, our chances of getting a white Christmas look fair to poor. Although we could see some snow on Sunday, it doesn't look heavy enough to whiten things up in most areas. There is also a chance of snow on Christmas Day. However, the official "White Christmas" snowfall measurement occurs around sunrise on Christmas morning. If we don't have at least an inch of snow on the ground at the time, 2018 won't officially go into the record books as being a White Christmas.
Here is a look at your extended forecast. Stay tuned to FOX 17 for further weather updates!
