Justin Liles: Bitter cold wind chills followed by snow

In the near term, the biggest weather threat looks to be wind chill and the cold air currently hanging around the Northland. With clearer skies tonight, temperatures will drop well below zero across the region. Winds will pick up out of the west and have gusts as high as 20mph. This will likely drop the wind chill value into the -20° to -30°F range. A wind chilly advisory will likely be issued later today or this evening. As far as the snow heading our way, it doesn’t looks to amount to much.

The low appears to be taking a northerly track which keeps us in the drier area of the storm. In fact, the low eventually sets up in northern Minnesota Thursday, then dives south east toward Indiana. This means the worst of the storm looks to be Thursday night into Friday AM for the U.P. of Michigan. It’s in this area where as much as a foot of snow is possible. Most of the region looks to see 2-4” now. Winds could create poor travel with blowing snow late Thursday but should be much weaker by sunrise Friday morning. Stay tuned for additional information.

TONIGHT
Partly cloudy, with a low around -17. Wind chill values between -20 and -30. Breezy, with a west wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
WEDNESDAY
Snow, mainly after noon. High near 4. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.
THURSDAY
Snow likely. Patchy blowing snow after noon. Cloudy and cold, with a high near 3. Blustery, with a northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
FRIDAY
A chance of snow. Widespread blowing snow. Mostly cloudy and cold, with a high near 1. Blustery, with a northwest wind around 20 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph.
SATURDAY
A slight chance of snow before 7am. Widespread blowing snow, mainly before 1pm. Partly sunny and cold, with a high near 4. Blustery, with a northwest wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph.
CHRISTMAS DAY
Mostly sunny, with a high near 7. West wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
MONDAY
Mostly sunny, with a high near 11. West wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 15 mph.