If temperatures plummet immediately below freezing when the rain changes to snow, then wet paved surfaces will instantly become a sheet of ice. One major concern I have is the potential for a FLASH FREEZE. Sometime either very late Thursday night or Friday morning, drastically falling temperatures will cause the rain to change to snow, and snow or snow showers will then persist the rest of the day into Friday night. The steadier rain will move in for Thursday night. While we could see some raindrops or wet snowflakes during the day on Thursday, any precipitation should be light. But I have been able to develop some confidence in the overall scenario. And I want to be clear about something before you read this forecast: very small changes in the storm’s position could have massive implications on the weather we get. Since that “jet streak” is still offshore, it cannot be studied by our land-based weather balloon network (called radiosondes), which is why some of the fine tune details of this storm are still up in the air. This will be the impetus triggering formation of the low-pressure system that we deal with in a few days. UPDATED: Updated winter storm snow predictions, timeline for Metro Detroit: In-depth forecast, analysis Meteorological Set-up:Īn intense core of jet stream wind – between 150 and 170 mph (not a typo) – will cross the Pacific Northwest Tuesday night and head southward into the central U.S. And I say this not based upon the amount of snow we’ll get but, rather, based upon the severity of the overall conditions that we will experience, not to mention the timing…on the huge travel day just before Christmas. 4Warn Weather – All systems are go for one of the severest winter storms to ever hit our area.

Detroit weather forecast