Winter storm approaches Metro Detroit: Timeline, snowfall estimates and 'thundersnow'

the storm. We're going to get started. And welcome to our live coverage of the winter storm that is heading to southeast Michigan. I'm Kristi McDonald. Thanks so much for joining us right here on local four plus and click on Detroit dot com. It's a Friday. I mean, it is the first Friday in March, so why not buckle in and get ready for a snowstorm? Ashley Barrissy joins me live and she's been tracking the storm and has the very latest in the snow totals for us and the path of this whole storm.

Ashley Well, absolutely cool. We're going to get some kind of storm at least once a week over the last month, so why not continue even though it's March? We're still in winter. It's meteorological spring, but we have 17 days until the spring equinox, so we just have to get these winter storms and while we can, I guess right now downtown Detroit quiet 36 degrees, same in Ann Arbor 36 and Holland 35 and Adrian, but factoring in east northeasterly winds 10 to 15 miles per hour. Those wind chill readings are cooler in the 20s. Winter storm warnings are currently in effect, and that's for all of us. We're going to get some rain in the fall. We're going to get some rain in the fall and then we're going to get some snow in the fall.

We're going to get some snow in the fall. We're going to get some snow in the southeastern Michigan from Monroe up towards Sandalac County until 4 AM on Saturday. We anticipate the conditions to rapidly deteriorate throughout the evening and significant snowfall totals now that we have a much better gauge on the track of this low pressure system that's headed our way. Here's a look at exact track 40 radar where we have on radar some snow showers in parts of Monroe Lena Way County is now inching into Washington on that very southern edge of Wayne County, and then we have some rain in the north and then we have some air ports and different meet our sites. It doesn't appear that all of this is making it to the surface yet, so it still has to cut through a layer of dry air before making it to the surface. And so we'll likely have more of this rain or a little bit of mix on the onset before snow showers really start to move in. So we still anticipate better snowfall arriving at the surface closer to about three o'clock in the afternoon throughout Lena Way Monroe County is pushing up to about 30 miles per hour.

And so we're going to be looking at the northern edge of the summer. It's going to be throughout the evening, but widespread and staying rather steady for several hours late this afternoon and even into the early part of the overnight 30 mile per hour wind gusts are anticipated starting around four o'clock this afternoon, and they will be upward of that by about seven. We could even have some wind gusts down to our south getting close to 40 miles per hour. I point this out because that does factor into those wind chills, but it does factor into the north of the area. Not as widespread as the ice storms we dealt with the last two weeks, but nonetheless, these are gusty winds that could create some trouble, especially on some of those weak branches from the previous systems that we've had taking you step by step through this computer model. Widespread snow being picked up on the model run by four o'clock from Toledo north of Detroit, getting into some of our northern counties throughout the metro zone, but this continues to lift northward into the thumb by five, six o'clock. The deeper shades of blue would indicate the banding of snow that would be the heaviest where we could have two inches an hour coming down.

We still have to start to see how this radar sets up throughout the afternoon and evening to really lock into where that banding is going to be, but likely upward of six to eight inches and a lot of areas across metro Detroit, and I think we'll have some pockets of double digit snow accumulations. Now look at Toledo southward, heavy rain showers at this time at six. And so if that creeps just, you know, 20 miles north, that's going to significantly cut down on the snowfall totals in parts of Monroe County. So I anticipate that rain snow line to be hovering really close to the edge of southeastern Michigan, right by Canada. And this is where we have that uncertain area where we could have three to five inches of snow, a little less or a little more, all dictated by that rain snow line throughout the evening. Nonetheless, the rest of lower Michigan dealing with widespread snow until about midnight will have a few lingering streamers in the area. Then by four a.

m. we'll definitely be drying out maybe a few breaks in the clouds throughout the day on Saturday and warming up into the low 40s. So your snowfall forecast as we go throughout the afternoon and evening hours showing still consistently about three to five inches for this sliver from really port here on Mount Clemens down towards Monroe grow seal on the lower end of that. This is because it's anticipating a little more rain mixing in. You get into parts of Oakland County, Washtenaw County, six to eight inches, if not more with the heaviest banding still projected between the two areas. We're going to see a lot of snow falling down into the area. We're going to see a lot of snow falling down into the area.

We're going to see about Jackson Howell Flint up into Lapeer where we could have some double digit accumulations. Here's the deal though. Eight inches or more of snow on the ground. It's all going to feel the same because this is going to be a lot of snow to be shoveling or snow blowing. And so you do need to shovel in shifts. I can't emphasize that enough because at the rate of two inches per hour and the fact that this going to be very heavy and wet in nature. This is the time it's going to be very heavy.

We're going to see a lot of snow falling down into the area. So let's go with this during the peak intensity which is really between about four to 11 p.m. You also might hear a few rumbles of thunder as you're out there shoveling. Don't be alarmed. We call it thunder snow. It's a lot like a thunderstorm as we could have some lightning in the upper atmosphere.

And so instead of having rain precipitation that comes down as snow, it's kind of a cool phenomenon. Rather rare. And then the winds will be gusting up to 35 40 miles per hour. And that could bring us a lot of rain. So let's go with this. We'll begin to give you the latest update throughout.

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