Forecasted snowfall has verified quite well across the area today.
We had a good break this afternoon for several hours where road conditions greatly improved due to the dry slot and plow trucks were able to hit all major roadways.
Snow picked back up this evening and the temperatures across the region are now approaching the freezing mark or have already fallen below. This additional snowfall, expected to be in the 1-4 inch range with locally higher amounts possible, coupled with the falling temperatures will result in very slick roads from either snow cover, ice, or both.
Additionally, strong wind gusts, possibly approaching 40-45mph along the lakeshore may result in some scattered power outages overnight tonight and into the morning hours on Wednesday.
South of I-94 school closures are expected to be isolated at best, though we have opted to keep low probabilities (yellow-shaded 15-30%) in place due to the risk of flash freezing water left on roadways. Southeastern portions of our coverage area will likely not see any school closures and we will leave non-zero (green-shaded) probabilities highlighted for those areas as delays may still be possible, but not likely.
Closer to Grand Rapids, from about a Saugatuck to Ithica line and points north we will introduce a 31-50% chance of school closures, with the exception of East Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids (remains in a yellow-shaded 15-30%), where we believe municipal agencies will be able to handle road conditions and keep them favorable enough for schools to operate.
North of a Grand Haven to Alma line we are opting to leave the red-shaded 51-70% risk in place although we have expanded it south some as compared to our outlook from yesterday evening. This is to account for the additional snow accumulation expected for these areas.
North of a Ludington to Big Rapids to Gladwin line we are opting to introduce a pink-shaded High Risk (71-90%) risk of closures due to the potential for more than 4-6 inches of new snowfall and high roadway freezing potential. We believe that widespread school closures are expected in this area.
Mecosta-Osceola ISD Big Rapids campus has already closed for Wednesday so we have introduced a purple-shaded EXTREME risk (>91%) for that campus and the immediately surrounding districts/campuses.
Our forecast for Thursday is now available at www.WestMichiganWeather.net/Day-2-Closings
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