Beginning Tuesday night, there will be a cold blast and lake-effect snow chances in Metro Detroit.
What is lake effect snow, and how does it form?
Lake-effect snow can happen when the surrounding land areas are generally cooler than the lake.
As the colder air and the wind flow over the lake, the cold air will then warm from the lake. This will pull moisture off the water and form clouds. The moisture has to go somewhere, so it will go over land. Once it moves over to land, snow occurs.
Watch the full explainer with visuals in the video above.
Although this will be more prominent near the coastlines of Michigan, the southeast area will be impacted by lake-effect snow coming from the west side.
When will Metro Detroit get hit with lake effect snow?
Metro Detroit will see some light snow, possibly Tuesday night into Wednesday, but Arctic air will surge through the Great Lakes Wednesday afternoon and evening, kicking off the stronger lake-effect showers.
Strong winds may lead to blowing snow and will also drop wind chills into the single digits, if not below zero, by Thursday morning. This is almost an identical setup to what we had last week.
The worst of the system will be on the west side of the state, where Winter Storm Watches are in effect.
The scenario as it stands: Scattered to numerous show showers are likely by Wednesday afternoon with embedded snow squalls. Snowfall totals will be highly variable given the more scattered nature of snow showers and snow squall potential, but 1-2 inches of accumulation will be likely, with totals of 3-4+ inches in stronger snow bands. The northern Thumb could exceed 4 inches.
Gusty winds, near whiteout conditions and slick roads will all be possible from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning. Wind chills drop below zero by Thursday morning and stay in the single digits through the afternoon, which is the coldest air of the season so far.
