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Icy mix possible late Saturday afternoon

Posted at 11:59 AM, Mar 08, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-08 13:45:07-05

WEST MICHIGAN -- Even though an overall warming trend is in the way to the FOX 17 viewing area, we still have some wintry weather to get through this weekend. A warmer system taking shape in the western Plains as of this writing will move east/northeast over the next 24 hours. This will bring increasing clouds to the area tomorrow and a chance of rain, snow, freezing rain, and sleet by late afternoon.

This is how Future Track HD sees things late tomorrow afternoon. The pink area represents that icy mix of sleet and freezing rain:

For the most part, warmer air coming in should change the sleet and freezing rain over to rain pretty quickly. However, areas north of I-96 may see the precipitation stay frozen long enough to cause some travel issues for your Saturday evening. Up to an inch of ice accumulation will be possible in some of these areas.

As we progress through the evening and into early Sunday morning, one can see the change-over to rain continuing to take place:

Here's a look at rainfall totals according to our European model:

As that low pressure area continues to move eastward, we'll see the rain change back to snow on Sunday morning. Winds will also pick up, and could gust over 40 mph from the west/southwest.

The snow won't be enough to cause any issues for travel (a half-inch or less), but the high winds could create issues for high profile vehicles. There could still be some wet spots on the roadways that turn icy late Sunday as the colder air moves in.

Meanwhile, a big warm-up is expected next week. For details, be sure to stay tuned to FOX 17!