Rain changing to snow, some areas could see 3+ inches by New Year’s Day

As Michigan gets ready to ring in the New Year, of course we have a change-over weather system sweeping in for the holiday.

Any precipitation falling as rain today is expected to change over to snow as temperatures drop today and into tonight and early Wednesday.

Because daytime highs will be above freezing and the ground is not frozen, snow that falls later today is likely to melt on roads and lawns. But as the temperatures drop today and we start to lock into our new cold pattern, snow accumulations of 1 to 3+ inches are expected over a diagonal swath of the Lower Peninsula by late tonight.

The National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts that the highest snow amounts could stretch from Charlotte to Flint and east into The Thumb.

“Rain will transition to snow late this morning with a wet 1 to 3 inches possible in an area east of U.S. 131 and along and south of I-96,” the NWS meteorologists in Grand Rapids said in the morning forecast notes. “Snow will fall from around noon to early Wednesday with the heaviest amounts between 4 p.m. and midnight. Minor impacts to the evening commute are possible due to brief periods of moderate snow.”

For those traveling for New Year’s Eve, some slick spots will be possible on the roads tonight.

Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Detroit are expected to get less than an inch of snow.

If we do see an area getting a heavy band of snow tonight, it would likely be a narrow region from Plainwell northeast to St. Johns and catching the greater Lansing area. If the forecast modeling stays the same as the morning runs, this area could see up to 4 inches of snow, the NWS said.

On Wednesday, a colder airmass will move into Michigan. While heavy snow is not expected, we will likely see some lake-effect snow. The cold air will be moving over the still-relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes, which is our recipe for lake-effect.