Slow, treacherous travel conditions to continue through Tuesday across Michigan

Treacherous travel conditions – including blowing, gusty snow leading to low visibility and white-out conditions – are expected to continue through Tuesday as all of Michigan stays in the grips of this icy blast of air.

The bitter cold has created slick roads across the state, and the lake-effect snow that’s falling is smaller because of the intense cold. This makes it easier to blow around, creating hazardous driving conditions, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

Near-zero temperatures and sub-zero wind chills remain dangerous, too. Wind chills down to 25 below zero are expected into Wednesday. Time to frostbite on exposed skin is 30 minutes or less. Stay inside if you can, and make sure to bring pets indoors. Animal rescue groups in Michigan have already reported responding to find dead pets or animals in distress.

“Very cold temperatures and lake effect snow will continue to result in slow and treacherous travel through Tuesday night,” NWS meteorologists in Grand Rapids said. “While not particularly heavy, the snow will greatly reduce visibilities and slowly add up, with the highest additional amounts generally near and west of Highway 131.”

To check the highway conditions before you leave home, click into the state’s MiDrive website. It shows you traffic slow-down areas in real time, as well as any reported accidents and where state-contracted snow plows are working.

On Monday, there was a lot of slow-moving red showing on the map, as slide-offs and pileups were reported from West Michigan to Lansing to Flint. Tonight a snow squall line was reported near Lansing, extending all the way to Livingston County.

One NWS staffer in Grand Rapids shared this first-person account from earlier today: “Take it from someone who drove to work: 5 vehicles in the ditch in a 3-mile stretch of M-6 near Grand Rapids is just one of several problem spots. Even if you see pavement, you might have very little braking action. 45 mph might not be a safe speed. Remember your hat and gloves.”

New snow expected between tonight an Wednesday could total up to 8 inches along the Ottawa County/Kent County border. Three to 4 inches in forecast for Ludington, Muskegon and Kalamazoo. The Grand Rapids area could see 4 to 6 inches.

Southeast Michigan is expected to get less than an inch of new snow by Tuesday night.