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Snow accumulates Saturday night into early A.M. Sunday

Posted at 10:02 AM, Apr 27, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-27 22:16:38-04

A Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect for Van Buren, Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Allegan, Barry, Eaton, Ottawa, Kent, and Ionia Counties through 8 A.M. Sunday. ( virtually every model, however, looks to have all of the moisture out of here well before 6 A.M. Sunday ).

As far as Saturday’s forecast across West Michigan, clouds will thicken and lower and light rain is likely to work into southwestern sections of the viewing area in the late afternoon. This precipitation will only slowly make progress northward and most of the daylight stretch is to be dry in Grand Rapids. Light rain/snow showers develop in the Grand Rapids area this evening. Expect most locations to switch to snow as we progress through the mid-evening time frame, even earlier for southwestern sections.

The biggest factor in forecasting snow with this system ( and any snow system so late in the season ) is figuring out where the heaviest banding of precipitation will occur. This time of year, to get snow to accumulate, you need to have some fairly heavy snow. Based of a consensus of the most recent model runs from the overnight, it now appears that the heaviest snow will fall along the I-94 corridor southward to the Indiana state line. The further north you go toward Grand Rapids, precipitation rates are likely to be lighter and accumulation is not likely to be efficient. Grand Rapids is to reside on the northern periphery of the precipitation shield. Area along I-96 are likely to receive minimal snow accumulation.

Areas along a line from South Haven to Kalamazoo to Battle Creek and southward stand the best chance to receive about 2″ to 4″ of slop and slushy snow from this system. The bulk of the accumulation will be on grassy surfaces but some slick spots on roads can materialize later tonight. The good news is that no matter how much snow falls in any one given location, it all melts on Sunday as the mercury pushes as high as the middle 50s under abundant sunshine.

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