Metro Detroit weather: Ready for a little snow?

Light snow develops Wednesday afternoon

DETROIT – Take a look at the satellite image at the top of this page. The shot was taken mid-afternoon. Ben Bailey and I were watching satellite time lapses and the southern edge of the clouds over Michigan was right over the state line and not moving.

It’s as if the Michigan/Indiana/Ohio state line marked some sort of force field that kept the clouds in place. Just crazy! Weather is very rarely so linear, so this was pretty special to see.

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The clouds should briefly break up tonight, before more clouds return. Lows in the mid 20s (-4 to -5 degrees Celsius), with a light and variable wind.

Wednesday will start dry, so roads will also be dry for the morning rush hour. Light snow (with a small chance for some rain showers to briefly mix in) will develop mid-afternoon and continue through the afternoon rush hour. Highs should reach the mid 30s (1 to 2 degrees Celsius) and this, plus salt, should keep the roads just wet -- but we all know that even just wet roads means a typically slower rush hour.  Southeast wind at 10 to 15 mph.

Wednesday’s sunrise is at 7:53 a.m., and Wednesday’s sunset is at 5:01 p.m.

Mostly light snow and snow showers should end around midnight, with partial breakup of the clouds after that and temps falling into the upper 20s (-2 degrees Celsius) by dawn. Total snowfall should be under an inch, with the best chance for any accumulation being north of 8 Mile -- south of there, the snow won’t accumulate much, if at all.

So, we’re calling this snow Meh+ on the Local 4 Snow Meter. The only reason we’re going “plus” is the slower rush hour Wednesday afternoon. We’re pretty confident you can handle this.

Partly cloudy on Thursday, and any sunshine we get combined with highs in the upper 30s (4 degrees Celsius) means that it’ll be a relatively comfortable day if this is your big Christmas shopping day.

Clouds increase Thursday night, with a wintry mix of rain showers and snow (and possibly even a little ice) developing after midnight. Lows in the low 30s (0 degrees Celsius).

Light rain showers are likely on Friday, with highs in the low 40s (6 degrees Celsius).

A few rain or snow showers are still possible Friday night, with lows in the low 30s (0 degrees Celsius).

Weekend forecast

Mostly cloudy on Saturday, but still relatively mild, with highs in the low 40s (6 degrees Celsius).

This Saturday night is a very popular holiday party night (not to mention that it’s Date Night for the rest of us), and it looks dry That’s great news. Evening temps in the mid to upper 30s (2 to 4 degrees Celsius), with lows by morning near 30 degrees (-1 degree Celsius).

Partly cloudy on Sunday, with highs in the low 40s (6 degrees Celsius).

All-in-all, the weekend looks pretty good for Christmas shopping, and finally getting up those Christmas lights if you’ve been procrastinating.

Lions game in Buffalo

The computer models are in great disagreement but, as of this afternoon, it looks like a dry game in Buffalo this weekend. We’ll sure take that based upon what typically happens there this time of year. With game temperatures near 40 degrees (4 to 5 degrees Celsius) and light wind, this could be an unusually comfortable Buffalo game for the men in Honolulu Blue and Silver. We’ll keep tabs on the models and update you through the week.