WEST MICHIGAN — The forecast from FOX 17 Meteorologist Reece Cole: Cloudy and mild conditions overnight make for a fairly mild weekend, but some showers are on the way. Winds will be light to start the weekend as high reach the upper 40s Saturday. Scattered rain showers develop late afternoon on Saturday. Rain will persist into Sunday morning with accumulation totals around a 1/4 of an inch. Outside of an isolated shower Sunday afternoon, we will be dry until Monday morning when colder air sweeps in to fire up some lake effect snow. Monday's blast of cold air will drop temperatures to the 30s and generate some slick travel conditions to kick off the work week, with wind chills in the 20s due to a strong north/northwest wind. Total snow accumulations west of U.S.-131 look to be up to 2". Thankfully we dry out and warm up into the middle of the work week!
Longer range forecast models and trends indicate we have a good chance of above-normal temperatures before and through Christmas. The average high temperature around that time of year is in the middle 30s. This type of a moderate to strong El Nino pattern is leading to what may be a "green" Christmas for Michigan. In fact, much of the entire nation may be seeing above-average temperatures leading up to Christmas itself, so perhaps travel will be good. It looks like the pattern may start breaking down around or just after Christmas. Make sure to stay up on later forecasts.
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy. Lows in the middle 30s. Winds light out of the southeast.
SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers late in the evening and overnight. Highs in the middle and upper 40s. Winds southeast at 5 to 15 mph.
SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy. Chance of a few light showers. Highs in the middle 40s.
MONDAY: Mostly cloudy. Lake effect snow showers possible. Highs in the lower to middle 30s.
TUESDAY: Partly cloudy. Highs in the middle 30s.
WEDNESDAY: Partly cloudy. Highs near 40 degrees.
For the latest details on the weather in West Michigan, head to the FOX 17 Weather page.
