National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

• Home
• Site Map
• News
• Organization
• Search for: NWS All NOAA 

000
FXUS63 KGRR 290035
AFDGRR

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
735 PM EST WED JAN 28 2015

LATEST UPDATE...
AVIATION

.SYNOPSIS...
ISSUED AT 328 PM EST WED JAN 28 2015

ROADS COULD BE ICY ON THURSDAY MORNING AS LOW PRESSURE BRINGS A
WINTRY MIX OF PRECIPITATION LATE TONIGHT. TEMPERATURES SHOULD RISE
ABOVE FREEZING BY LATE MORNING AND CONDITIONS SHOULD IMPROVE. SOME
LIGHT SNOW IS EXPECTED DURING THE AFTERNOON WITH ACCUMULATIONS AN
INCH OR LESS. IT WILL TURN MUCH COLDER ON FRIDAY AND INTO THE
WEEKEND.

&&

.SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT)
ISSUED AT 328 PM EST WED JAN 28 2015

KEPT THE HEADLINES AS IS. MAIN THREAT APPEARS TO BE LIGHT FREEZING
RAIN LATE TONIGHT WHICH WILL CAUSE ICY ROADS FOR THE THURSDAY
MORNING COMMUTE. WARM AIR ADVECTION IS ALREADY UNDERWAY AND
STRENGTHENS OVERNIGHT. AS THE VERY WARM AIR ACROSS THE PLAINS
ADVECTS EAST WE WILL SEE 850 MB TEMPS GO ABOVE 0C FOR BY 06Z FOR
ALL BUT THE FAR NORTHERN TIER. WE START OFF VERY DRY SO TEMPS WILL
DROP AS THE COLUMN SATURATES AND WE COULD SEE A QUICK BURST OF
SNOW AT THE ONSET BEFORE PRECIP GOES OVER TO IP AND FZRA. DO NOT
EXPECT MUCH QPF SO ICE AMOUNTS WILL BE LIMITED...BUT ENOUGH TO
CAUSE POTENTIAL TRAVEL PROBLEMS BEGINNING AFTER MIDNIGHT AND
CONTINUING THROUGH THE MORNING COMMUTE.

SOUTHERLY FLOW THROUGH THE MORNING SUGGESTS THAT SFC TEMPS SHOULD
WARM AS ANY FREEZING PRECIP BRINGS LATENT HEAT EFFECTS THAT ARE NOT
BEING OFFSET BY CAA NEAR THE SFC. SO EXPECT ICING ISSUES TO END
DURING THE MORNING. SFC LOW MOVES EAST AND COLD AIR ADVECTION ON
NORTHWEST FLOW BEGINS AFTER 18Z WITH PRECIP TRANSITIONING BACK TO
SNOW FROM NORTH TO SOUTH. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS AN INCH OR LESS AND
TEMPERATURES SHOULD NOT BE COLD ENOUGH TO ALLOW MUCH ACCUMULATION ON
ROADS...SO IMPACTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE MINOR.

SYNOPTIC SNOWS END BY EVENING WITH SOME NORTH TO NORTHWEST LAKE
EFFECT. INVERSION HEIGHTS ARE AOB 5KFT DURING THE EVENING SO LAKE
EFFECT SHOULD NOT BE HEAVY.

.LONG TERM...(SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY)
ISSUED AT 328 PM EST WED JAN 28 2015

OVERALL MODELS ARE TRENDING FURTHER SOUTH WITH THE TRACK OF THE LOW
SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...SUGGESTING LOWER MICHIGAN WILL END
UP WITH LESS PRECIPITATION AND COLDER TEMPERATURES.  HIGH RES EURO
SUGGESTS A DRY FORECAST IS THE WAY TO GO FOR SUNDAY.  NOT READY TO
DROP POPS COMPLETELY...BUT THE PATTERN WE ARE IN HAS BEEN A DRY
ONE.  AS A RESULT I WILL LOWER POPS ON SUNDAY AND BACK OFF ON THE
QPF CONSIDERABLY.

LOOKING FURTHER AHEAD...STRONGER WARM AIR ADVECTION IS NOTED FOR
TUESDAY.  WITH AN ARCTIC AIRMASS IN PLACE...THAT SHOULD SUPPORT A
SOUTHWEST FLOW EVENT. POPS WERE INCREASED...ESPECIALLY WEST OF GRAND
RAPIDS.

I DID LOWER TEMPERATURES ESPECIALLY SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY GIVEN
THE DOMINANCE OF THE ARCTIC AIR.  THE MODELS COMMONLY ARE TOO WARM
WITH THE NIGHTTIME LOWS DURING THESE EVENTS.

&&

.AVIATION...(FOR THE 00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z THURSDAY EVENING)
ISSUED AT 735 PM EST WED JAN 28 2015

AVIATION IMPACTS DEVELOPING TONIGHT AND CONTINUING THURSDAY
MORNING. THE MAIN ISSUE IS A MEDIUM TO HIGH CONFIDENCE ICING EVENT
DUE TO SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN BETWEEN ROUGHLY 06Z AND 15Z. EXPECT
MODERATE ICING BETWEEN THE SFC AND 6000 FT DURING THIS TIME.
LOWERING FREEZING LEVELS AFTER 15Z-18Z THURSDAY WILL LEAD TO
PRECIP CHANGING TO MOSTLY ALL SNOW FROM NORTH TO SOUTH IN THE
AFTERNOON... ENDING THE MOD ICING THREAT.

OTHER ISSUE IS LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR BETWEEN ROUGHLY 02Z AND 10Z
TONIGHT AS WINDS INCREASE TO 50 KT OUT OF THE SOUTHWEST IN THE
2000-4000 FT AGL LAYER. THE SFC WINDS DURING THIS TIME WILL BE OUT
OF THE SOUTH-SOUTHEAST AT 12-16 KTS.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST EXPECT NUMEROUS IFR CIGS/VSBYS BETWEEN 12Z AND
18Z THURSDAY AS THE SFC LOW/TROUGH TRACKS ACROSS MI. CIGS/VSBYS
IMPROVING AFTER 18Z THURSDAY WITH THE PASSAGE OF THE LOW ALTHOUGH
WINDS SHIFTING/INCREASING OUT OF THE NORTHWEST TO 15-25 KTS WITH
SOME GUSTS OVER 30 KTS POSSIBLE.

THE PATTERN FOR THIS EVENT LOOKS VERY SPRINGLIKE. IN THE WARM
SECTOR OF THIS SYSTEM... TEMPERATURES TODAY IN PARTS OF THE
CENTRAL PLAINS WERE IN THE 70S. THIS AIR MASS... ACCOMPANIED BY
PWATS NEAR 0.80... WILL BE PUSHING RAPIDLY NORTH TONIGHT AND
INTERACTING WITH A SHALLOW COLD AND DRY AIR MASS OVER MI. SFC DEW
POINTS WERE ONLY AROUND 10F AT 7 PM. THIS CONTRAST IS BOUND TO
RESULT IN SOME INTERESTING WEATHER IN TERMS OF PRECIPITATION
TYPES... ALTHOUGH OVERALL COVERAGE/INTENSITY/AMOUNT OF
PRECIPITATION IS STILL SOMEWHAT IN QUESTION.

LATEST SHORT RANGE GUIDANCE SUPPORTS DEVELOPMENT OF CONVECTIVE
PRECIPITATION BETWEEN 06Z AND 09Z OVER SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN
ON THE NOSE OF THE LOW LEVEL JET. FCST SOUNDINGS OVERNIGHT SUPPORT
PREDOMINATELY FREEZING RAIN WITH SOME SLEET POSSIBLY MIXED IN FOR
THE AZO/BTL/JXN TERMINALS AND I-94 CORRIDOR REGION. MEANWHILE THE
MKG/GRR/LAN TERMINALS ARE CLOSER TO THE TRANSITION ZONE TO MOSTLY
SNOW WHICH SHOULD BE JUST NORTH OF THE I-96 CORRIDOR. SUSPECT
THESE TERMINALS WILL SEE MORE IN THE WAY OF A SNOW/SLEET/FREEZING
RAIN MIXTURE... WITH LESS FREEZING RAIN THAN TO THE SOUTH.

&&

.HYDROLOGY...
ISSUED AT 328 PM EST WED JAN 28 2015

COLD WEATHER WITH ONLY LIGHT PRECIPITATION SHOULD MEAN NO
SIGNIFICANT TRENDS IN THE RIVERS. ICE WILL FORM OVER THE WEEKEND
AS THE COLD INTENSIFIES.

&&

.GRR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MI...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 1 AM TO 4 PM EST THURSDAY FOR
     MIZ037-043-044-050>052-056>059-064>067-071>074.

LM...NONE.
&&

$$

SYNOPSIS...OSTUNO
SHORT TERM...OSTUNO
LONG TERM...MJS
AVIATION...MEADE
HYDROLOGY...OSTUNO