There will be some dangerous areas of Michigan to travel into this evening and Christmas Day. While most of the snow is going to be lake effect snow, an additional snowstorm will scoot back into far southeast Michigan.
We are looking at heavy lake effect along the Lake Michigan shoreline. We also have the very western edge of a major snowstorm in Ohio that will give a glancing blow to the Detroit area.
Look at the radar forecast, and first watch the Detroit area. The major snowstorm moving north through the Appalachian Mountains and Ohio will bring some snow to the Detroit area.
Total snowfall forecast
Radar forecast from 1 p.m. Thursday to 5:00 a.m. Friday.
So you see the lake effect snow along the Lake Michigan shoreline, but you also see light snow moving into Detroit and the eastern Thumb around midnight tonight.
You can also see that the lake effect along Lake Michigan shore gets going strongly around midnight tonight and continues into Christmas morning.
During the day on Christmas, the wind will swing to blow from the west. This will shove a spurt of snow across the southern part of Lower Michigan. This burst of snow will probably only last an hour or two in any one spot in southern Lower Michigan.
Driving conditions will be at their worst tonight through noon Christmas in southwest Lower Michigan. This would include the South Haven area, St. Joseph area and Kalamazoo area. Visibility will be low in periods of heavy snow.
Roads will be snow covered with fresh snow for all of western Lower Michigan now through noon Christmas morning. This includes the entire stretch from Grand Rapids to Traverse City.
After midnight, the Detroit area north into the eastern Thumb will have one to two inches of snow. Roads will be slick Christmas morning in the Detroit area and the eastern Thumb.
Here’s a look at the total snowfall once the lake effect is done Christmas afternoon.
Total snowfall through December 27, 2020
The yellow areas get six inches to one foot of snow. Surrounding the heaviest snow, there will be two inches to six inches of snow.
Give yourself extra time to drive to your destination tonight and Christmas Day.