Snow plow clearing a northern Michigan road.
NORTHERN MICHIGAN -- Well there is no doubt that Northern Michigan has plunged into a deep freeze. Bitter cold arctic air that has been in place over Northern Canada much of the month has finally broken through and will be with us until at least late week before temperatures moderate.
The coldest spots Monday morning were at Newberry and Sault Ste. Marie where we dipped to -2F. Wind Chill readings (the temperature on exposed skin with added effect of the wind) reached to -21F at Newberry Monday morning.
This cold air will remain in place with temperatures Monday ranging from +8F to +15F across Northern Michigan. The core/heart of the cold will settle in Monday night/Tuesday with low temperatures ranging from -13F at Sault Ste. Marie and Rudyard to +5F at Manistee and Ludington. High temperatures Tuesday will not get much warmer than 5F above zero.
Cold west-northwest winds will cross both Lakes Superior/Michigan leading to lake effect snow. As is the nature of lake effect snow, it will be very localized. While you may only see an inch or two, folks only 5-10 miles away could see more than a foot through Wednesday afternoon. It appears based on wind direction, that northwest Luce County towards Alger County and Grand Marais will see upwards of 18 more inches with Antrim and parts of Southern Charlevoix County seeing upwards of 10-13" of snowfall including Bellaire and Mancelona through Wednesday evening. Again, this won't all fall at once, but will be over a multi-day period in the snowbelts.
Temperatures gradually warm with 20's forecasted by next weekend.
