(WXYZ) — 7 First Alert Meteorologist Mike Taylor is doing a detailed breakdown of the expected winter storm that will hit Southeast Michigan starting on Friday.
A Winter Storm Watch is in effect for Livingston, Lapeer and Sanilac counties from 10 a.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Saturday. At some point, we'll probably get upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning for those counties, and a Winter Weather Advisory for the other counties.
Behind the scenes, the bigger issue isn't going to be how much rain or snow we'll get, it's going to be the winds because we're expecting arctic air to come in.
Wind gusts Friday evening will be between 35-40 mph and then once we get into Saturday morning, the winds could peak between 45-50 mph, which is in the high-end wind advisory or wind warning criteria.
While that's all taking place, we still do have the snow. We'll likely pick it up Friday night into Saturday and it's going to mix with some rain. The best likelihood for accumulation will be Friday night into Saturday morning.
That blast of Winter will be broken down into three lines: about 6"+ for the central part of Michigan, 3"-5" for parts of Livingston, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw and Lenawee counties, and then 2"-4" for most of Wayne and Monroe counties, plus the southeast part of Washtenaw, Oakland and Macomb counties.
Rain will cut into some of the totals in the eastern part of metro Detroit, and even the warmer temperatures as the system moves in will keep snow totals lower.
Once that moves out, temperatures start dropping with the arctic air.
Temperatures will only be in the teens to start the day, and then morning wind chills will be below zero for much of the week.
