A winter storm warning has been issued for three West Michigan counties, and the forecast shows that some locations in that target area could see at least a foot of snow on Monday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

Heavy snow could impact Monday morning and evening commutes.

The warning runs from 1 a.m. Monday to 1 a.m. Tuesday. It includes Ottawa, Allegan and Van Buren counties. These include the cities of Jenison, Grand Haven, South Haven and
Holland.

While all of West Michigan will see general snow amounts of 1 to 4 inches on Monday, the three counties covered by the warning could see heavy snow totals of 8 to 12 inches. The largest accumulations are expected west of Kalamazoo and south of Holland. This snowfall would impact both the I-96 and I-94 corridors.

NWS meteorologists in Grand Rapids warn that this heavy snowfall could make travel difficult at times Monday.

From this evening’s forecast notes: “The winter warnings/advisories are very complex as we expect the bands of heaviest snow to shift quite significantly. The warning for Ottawa, Allegan and Van Buren begins at 1 a.m. this evening. It is already snowing there and the roads could become slick this evening, but we expect that the greater risk of impacts beyond the usual level will wait until the warning period expires.”

“The overarching theme for all of West Michigan is to expect localized heavy snowfall, rapidly changing road conditions and visibility, and snow amounts that can vary widely even within a single county.”