LOCAL

Winter weather roller coaster: It's not over yet for Lansing region

Ken Palmer
Lansing State Journal

LANSING - The Lansing area escaped the worst of Wednesday night's ice storm, but our up-and-down, winter weather joyride isn't over quite yet.

Another shot of freezing rain is possible Thursday morning before temperatures climb to around 50 degrees in the afternoon, with rain and winds gusting to up to 45 mph, the National Weather Service said.

A larger amount of icing – about one- to two-tenths of an inch – is expected in areas north and west of Lansing, including St. Johns. A winter weather advisory remains in effect until noon Thursday in Clinton, Ionia and three other west Michigan counties.

Downtown Portland along the Grand River Wednesday morning, Feb. 6, 2019.  About 50 people were evacuated late Tuesday evening through early Wednesday morning due to flooding along the Grand River caused by melting snow and an ice jam in the river.  [Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal]

On Thursday night, temperatures will plummet once again, forecasters said.

The region will be "pretty frozen up by Friday," with highs in the low 20s, brisk winds and lake-effect snow flurries, said Cort Scholten, a meteorologist for the weather service in Grand Rapids. Lansing could get up to an inch of snow, he said.

High temperatures are likely to remain in the 20s on Saturday and Sunday.

Lansing received about seven-tenths of an inch of sleet and around a tenth of an inch of ice on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the weather service said. To the west, most of the precipitation fell as freezing rain, knocking out power to tens of thousands of utility customers. Grand Rapids received nearly four-tenths of an inch of glaze ice.

Roller coaster weather patterns are nothing new to mid-Michigan residents, who saw record cold turn to record warmth in the span of a few days last week.

Lansing set new daily records for the coldest high temperature for Jan. 30 and Jan. 31 (3 degrees and 4 degrees, respectively) and matched the record low temperature for Jan. 31 (minus 14 degrees). On Feb. 3, it set a record for the warmest low temperature (38 degrees), the weather service said.

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The precipitation and fluctuating temperatures can lead to ice jams on area rivers and cause localized flooding, Scholten said.

That's what happened in Portland, where flooding early Wednesday forced 50 residents who live near the Grand River to evacuate their homes.

Contact Ken Palmer at (517) 377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.