Day 1 School Closing Outlook
Issued: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 5:43 PM ET
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Summary:
The first snowfall event of the season is on tap for overnight tonight and through the day tomorrow. Several decent bands of heavy, wet snow are expected across parts of the area tonight which may prompt some school closures or delays Thursday morning. However, relatively warm temperatures preclude higher confidence in a more impactful event. See full discussion below for details.
Discussion:
As aforementioned, several bands of heavy, wet snow are expected to develop overnight tonight as a strong low-pressure system pivots through the area. Locations that see these bands would definetly be susceptible to scattered, or even fairly widespread, school closures and delays under normal winter weather patterns. However, because we are still early on in the Winter season, surface temperatures are only marginally freezing at best. These warmer air temperatures, combined with warm road surface temperatures, will promote fairly rapid snow melting rates which will limit the amount of snow that is able to accumulate on roadways. Additionally, many areas will likely see a mix of rain and snow which will further favor the increased melting rates and the well-above-average Lake Michigan water temperatures will allow for any snow that is falling along the immediate lakeshore to melt and fall as rain further inhibiting the ability for snow to accumulate in those areas.
Still, we do expect some locations to see snow accumulations on the order of about 1-4 inches, with some locally higher amounts possible of course, so a few isolated to widely scattered areas of travel impacts may prompt a couple of school closings here and there, especially along the US-131 corridor South of I-196. Rural areas will be especially susceptible to these roadway accumulations where road surfaces do not receive snow removal as quickly.
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