SAGINAW, Mich. (WNEM) – After an icy start this morning in some areas (particularly the Thumb, which resulted in school closures), conditions have continued to improve this lunch break. While some residential, secondary and commercial roads will have some slippery patches, we’re getting into the upper 20s, which will allow the salt to be very effective.

Afternoon

It was also a cold and stormy start this morning, but wind chills will be in the mid to upper teens about 10 degrees warmer than this morning as highs reach up to 29 degrees in a few hours. Winds today will be 10 to 15 miles per hour from the southwest, with gusts up to 25 miles per hour. The normal high temperature for December 6th is 38 degrees.

After some morning storms, another small disturbance is on the horizon from the northwest. Right now we’ve seen the snowpack over Lake Michigan increase quite a bit. Model data shows the atmosphere should be able to handle these snow showers as they move inland, with some sweeping into central Michigan. While the coverage should ease slightly, these showers will not be visible, they will simply dissipate completely as they reach inland. There are no squalls to be expected here either, although there could be slightly heavier snow showers from time to time, which will worsen visibility. If you are driving and the snow increases, remember to turn on your headlights and reduce speed to maintain a safe distance! Up to 2.5 centimeters of dust is possible from these showers this afternoon.

Tonight

We will see most of the snow showers stop and a calm night, but clouds will continue. Low temperatures will fall to around 22 degrees with a southwest wind of 5 to 10 mph and gusts up to 20 mph. The only areas expected to experience some severe weather are Houghton Lake and St. Helen.

Weekend forecast

The biggest development in this weekend forecast occurred Saturday, where a clipper system will move through the northern Great Lakes. However, what we have seen in recent data trends is that snowfall from this system is spreading southeast into the Lower Peninsula, even into the TV5 viewing area. This snowfall would be light/steady, but still enough to produce accumulations of up to about 1 inch. With our latest update, start and end times tend to be earlier. Now the snow showers appear to start around 8am and then taper off around 5pm.

As this snow disappears, we could actually see a brief transition to freezing drizzle or even just light rain on the trailing edge. However, this wouldn’t last long and at that point temperatures will start to rise slightly above freezing around 34 degrees.

The rest of the weekend will be dry from here, with partly to mostly cloudy skies on Sunday. The maximum temperatures reach 34 degrees on Saturday and then 42 degrees on Sunday. The interesting thing about the temperatures this weekend is the transition from Saturday evening to Sunday morning. The “low” for Saturday night is essentially the evening temperature on Saturday of 34 degrees, with temperatures then remaining stable or even rising steadily by a few degrees over the course of the night.

There will be another mild day on Monday before it cools down again next week. Check out TV5 First Alert’s 7-day forecast!

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