DETROIT – Becoming windier as Wednesday night wears on due to an approaching Arctic cold front, which will also bring a 2-3 hour period of snow showers between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m.
I don't think we'll see much accumulation (perhaps 1/2 inch), but the timing will be close to rush hour. I suggest checking in with meteorologist Brandon Roux and our Local 4 News Today team starting at 4:30 a.m. just to be sure that the roads are in good shape.
As we saw both Monday and Tuesday evening this week, all it takes is a small, brief band of heavier snow to cause problems in some areas. Overnight lows around 6 degrees, with wind chills around -10 to -15 in the heart of the metro area, but -15 or a little colder along and north of Interstate 69 (that's why the National Weather Service has issued a Wind Chill Advisory for this area).
Becoming partly cloudy and quite windy on Thursday (gusts to 35 mph are possible by afternoon). While some snow showers are possible, I don't think they'll be widespread, but this will highly depend upon the wind trajectory off of Lake Michigan. I'll keep an eye on this, and tweet quick updates if necessary (you can follow me on Twitter at @PaulGrossLocal4). Highs near 13 degrees with sub-zero wind chill all day.
Thursday night will be bitter cold, and we'll completely blow up our existing record low for Friday morning (-1, set in 1994) as temperatures fall to an average temp of -10. Fortunately, wind should be light Friday morning. Friday itself will be partly cloudy, with highs around 13.
The approaching weekend snow still features some uncertainty, but some technical aspects are becoming a bit clearer to me. There's a chance for some light snow overnight Friday night into Saturday morning (perhaps an inch or less). Then there's another chance Saturday night into Sunday. Right now, the bulk of this snow should stay south of Michigan, but we could pick up a bit (perhaps another inch or two?), especially south of Detroit.
However, any northward jog in this weather system would bring much more of a significant snowfall into our area, so this will be focus of mine over the next few days.
Highs Saturday in the mid-20s, as we get a brief warm-up, but then back down into the mid-teens for highs on Sunday.