Storm to Pummel Detroit, Buffalo With Snow

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

February 6,2013; 7:11PM,EST

A somewhat stronger storm from western Canada will bring an swath of moderate to heavy snow to part of the Great Lakes region Wednesday night into the end of the week.

The storm was producing light to moderate snow over part of North Dakota, much of Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin during the day Wednesday. For this area, the storm will be rather abbreviated and will be have similar to other Alberta Clippers that have affected the area over the past couple of weeks.

The forward speed of the clipper is forecast to slow down with time.
A wintry mix is projected to occur around Chicago to Fort Wayne, Ind., late Wednesday night and Thursday and in Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday into Friday.
Farther north, extra energy in the upper atmosphere and colder air at the surface will translate into a swath of enough snow to shovel and plow from portions of Wisconsin Wednesday night into Thursday to much of Michigan, across southern Ontario and into western and central New York Thursday into Friday.

Cities in the path of significant and potentially heavy snow for a time include Madison, Wis., Grand Rapids and Detroit, Mich., London and Toronto, Ontario, and Buffalo and Syracuse, N.Y.
A few locations from the central Lower Peninsula of Michigan to western New York could pick up a half a foot to a foot of snow, where lake effect provides some extra moisture.

The AccuWeather.com Winter Weather Center has a lager version of this map.

Little or no snow is forecast farther south over much of the Ohio Valley. Temperatures there will be too warm or dry air will sweep in, cutting off the precipitation. However, a few slippery spots could develop Thursday night into Friday morning where any existing wet areas freeze up.

Significant snow is heading for Detroit and other major metropolitan areas around the Great Lakes region. (Photos.com image and thumbnail of the Belle Isle Bridge in Detroit, Mich.)

Enough snow or a wintry mix will fall toward Pittsburgh and the West Virginia mountains for slippery travel Thursday night into Friday.

Just a reminder, while the storm will be rather minor in the Chicago area on south in terms of travel impacts, much more substantial travel disruptions are likely farther north and east. An all-out blizzard will impact New England Friday into early Saturday with ripple-effect airline impacts likely across much of the nation. Significant storm travel impact is also possible in New York City.