An ice covered parking lot near Traverse City Monday morning.
/ Joe Charlevoix
NORTHERN MICHIGAN -- A wintry cocktail of snow, sleet, freezing rain and in some cases, plain rain led to slick roads Monday morning along with dozens of school closings across Northern and parts of Central Lower Michigan.
Snow totals Sunday night through Monday morning ranged from 3-6" from the U.P. south into Lower Michigan with Fife Lake in Grand Traverse County coming in with 7" there overnight.
A warm front has set up shop over the Southern Great Lakes with warmer air overhead riding into Northern Michigan over/on top of the colder/sub-freezing temperatures we have in place at the surface, a typical situation for freezing rain which we saw break out along/south of M-32 Monday morning.
Any freezing rain or snow will end by midday Monday with a break in the action forecasted through early Tuesday. By Tuesday morning, that warm front will lift northward with yet another shot Tuesday morning for a round of light freezing rain/drizzle which will switch over to pure rain Tuesday afternoon. Not to be lost in all of this is the fact that temperatures Tuesday will skyrocket into the mid-40's north to mid-50's south (record territory) for late January!
Flood Watches have been posted downstate as the combination of melting along with incoming rain/thunderstorms Tuesday evening/night could lead to flooding issues there. By late Wednesday, a powerful cold front will sweep across Northern Michigan bringing an abrupt end to the warm weather with teen's for daytime highs Thursday/Friday along with lake effect snow making a return appearance.
