Hopefully you didn't get too attached to the warm temperatures the last few days, because big changes are coming to West Michigan this week. A cold blast of Arctic air is on moving in, bringing temperatures in the teens and 20s and widespread accumulating snow.
A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for much of West Michigan Wednesday morning through Thursday evening for most locations. For Oceana, Allegan, Ottawa, and Muskegon County, it begins at 10 p.m. Tuesday and lasts through 7 P.M. Thursday.
A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for Barry, Berrien, Calhoun, Cass, Eaton, Ionia, Kalamazoo, Kent, Newaygo, St. Joseph, and Van Buren counties from 4 A.M. Wednesday through midday Thursday.
Light lake effect snow will develop overnight with the more widespread snow happening Wednesday and Wednesday night. Additional lake effect snow bands will be present Thursday as a west-northwest wind continues.
Frigid air in the upper levels is breaking off from the main jet stream in Canada come Wednesday night, and will move right over the Great Lakes. This sets us up for another drop in temperatures, down to the 20s in the afternoons Wednesday through Friday. Thursday and Friday mornings will be in the teens, and there are some typical cold spots that could be close to single digits. BRR!
We look to be even colder than the air mass from last week. It will also be breezy. Feels like temperatures are expected to be below zero Thursday morning!
With this large bubble of very cold air moving across the warmer Great Lakes and northwest winds in place, lake effect snow will increase into Wednesday. The initial bands of snow will be wetter and heavier, but turning light & powdery Wednesday evening.
Strong winds off of Lake Michigan will pull the snow farther inland, resulting in more widespread snow Wednesday and into Thursday.
Winds gusting to 40 mph during the heaviest snow times could pull lake effect bands farther inland, resulting in higher snow accumulations inland in spots.
Snow will taper down Thursday afternoon/evening as warmer and drier air surges in.
While snow totals will be the highest along the lakeshore, accumulating snow is likely for much of the area. Totals will be in the 4" to 8" range for a good chunk of West Michigan. 2" to 4" is more likely south of I-94 and well east of U.S.-131. The highest snow totals from this event look to be north and west of Grand Rapids across Oceana, western Newaygo, and Muskegon Counties. 6" to 10" (locally higher) amounts are expected here.
As always, expect a large variation in totals depending on your location and where the lake effect band(s) set up.
Difficult travel is expected especially along the lakeshore from Wednesday morning through Thursday. Accumulating snow, plus windy conditions leading to lowered visibility and rapidly changing conditions across the area, so stay tuned to FOX 17 for when it's best to stay off the roads. Take a look at our winter Storm Impacts below.
Stay with FOX 17 for updates to this forecast! Get more at www.fox17online.com/weather.
