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Lake Effect Snow in the Lower Great Lakes; Unsettled Pattern in the Pacific Northwest

Lake-effect snow will continue downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario through Friday. Lake Effect Snow Warnings have been issued. In the Western U.S., rain and higher elevation snow will continue over the Great Basin through Friday. A front will move over the Pacific Northwest this afternoon and produce light rain and higher elevation snow over the Cascades through Saturday. Read More >

Overall, the month of January in Southwest Lower Michigan is expected to be warmer and wetter than normal.  That is not to say we will not have periods of very cold temperatures,  but that the warmer periods, when the entire month is averaged, will prevail.  For the last 10 Januarys, 5 were warmer than normal, 2 were colder than normal and 3 where near normal between 2011 and 2020.  As for precipitation, there was 5 Januarys that were wetter than normal, 4 were near normal and there was 1 below normal precipitation for the Januarys between 2011 and 2020.  There is clearly a trend toward wetter Januarys.  This used area wide data all of our long term climate stations averaged together.