Weird Winter In Metro Detroit — What's Coming Next?
DETROIT (WWJ) - It's been a fairly mild winter so far in metro Detroit — but what can we expect for the rest?
Back in the fall, the National Weather Service predicted that this winter season would be harsher than the last — which wouldn't be difficult since last winter was quite mild.
Early predictions called for big temperature swings with above average precipitation in the Great Lakes region — and Meteorologist Rich Pollman, with the NWS in White Lake, says that's pretty much exactly what we got.
"December ended up being exactly average temperatures," he told WWJ's Zahra Huber. "We got there by having two really cold weeks at the beginning on the month. Then we ended the month with two really warm weeks, and that all worked out to be an average temperature for the month of December that we right on normal."
Looking ahead, Pollman expects that pattern to continue.
"We're going to see that kind of play out the entire winter season, where we're gonna have these big episodes of cold air and then a big two-week time period where we have above normal (temps)," Pollman, with another cold snap on tap next month.
(The Old Farmer's Almanac, by the way, predicted a snowy, frigid winter).
It may not seem like it, Pollman said, but the Detroit area is right on par with where it typically is as far as snow so far this season — with most of it having fallen during the first two weeks of winter.
"But we're only about halfway through the snow season, and we can expect a decent amount of snow the first half of the month of March, it really is winter in the city of Detroit," he said. "So as that cold air returns for the month of February, if we get any storm systems to affect the Great Lakes region with that cold air in place, yeah we will have more snow."
As far as the immediate future, AccuWeather is calling for a windy and colder Thursday with snow showers that could be mixed with rain here or there. Temperatures will hang around in the 30s, but feel more like the 20s with the wind chill.
Know before you go: Keep it tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest forecast during traffic and weather, every 10 minutes on the 8s. See the live, local radar now at this link.
