DETROIT – The snowfall timeline and amount of accumulation for this week in Metro Detroit is starting to come into clearer focus.
Hazardous weather conditions
We are issuing a 4Warn Weather Alert for Wednesday evening into Thursday morning due to a trifecta of weather conditions.
- Accumulating lake-effect snow, with the possibility of snow squalls.
- Gusty winds, which could gust between 30-40 mph.
- Below-zero wind chills by Thursday morning that will only feel like single digits by the afternoon.
How much snow will we get?
The winter storm watch on the west side of the state will eventually get upgraded to a winter weather advisory or winter storm warning due to the possibility of 4 inches to upward of a foot of snow forecasted off of Lake Michigan before Thursday evening.
Those snow bands will travel to this side of the state bringing anywhere from a coating to upward of 3 inches of snow where the bands are heaviest.
Timeline
Some snowflakes will begin to fly Wednesday morning, but heavier bands will develop after lunchtime.
More widespread snow will arrive throughout the evening, specifically after 7 p.m. Wednesday.
They will likely move out before sunrise. But some models have the snow sticking around through the Thursday morning commute.
As temperatures drop, salt won’t be as effective Thursday.
Power outages and wind chills
As wind gusts reach over 30 mph, we could see power outages again, in a similar form to last week.
But wind chills will be most noticeable. Feels-like temperatures will drop below zero through Thursday morning and stay in the single digits through the afternoon and even into Friday morning.