Issued at 6:01pm EST 01/17/2024

A wide range of school closing potentials are anticipated for Friday.
The primary focus will be on Berrien County in the extreme southwestern portion of our coverage area where a Winter Storm Watch has been issued in anticipation of the hazardous travel conditions due to very heavy synoptic and lake-effect snow Thursday night and Friday. Localized accumulations of up to 1 foot and near-impossible travel is possible for these areas. We believe schools will close in this area either in anticipation of the hazardous travel on Friday and/or because of the heavy synoptic snow late Thursday into Friday.
Elsewhere, computer weather models suggest that 1-3 inches of snow may fall overnight Thursday along and south of the I-94 corridor and 1-2 inches along and south of the I-96 corridor. North of I-96 models are only showing trace amounts to perhaps one inch but wind chills in the low negative single digits may prompt some closures or delays in this area as well.
Bottom line, as forecast confidence grows, especially for southwestern portions of our coverage area, expect to see some changes to this outlook and probably the introduction of some higher risk delineations.
We have also issued a School Closing Outlook for Thursday. That can be viewed at https://www.westmichiganweather.net/school-closings
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