First Snow to Reach Upper Midwest This Weekend

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

October 15,2013; 8:16PM,EDT

 

 

As waves of colder air sweep southward from Canada, the first snowflakes of the season are possible for some locations in northern portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
The combination of progressively colder air and weak disturbances will set the atmosphere up to produce chilly rain showers over the Upper Midwest starting this weekend.
The warm waters of the Great Lakes will warm the air slightly but, at the same time, will add some moisture to the the air and make some of the showers heavier.

Where the showers are heaviest and the atmosphere cools enough locally, some wet snow can mix in with the rain and could even change to all wet snow.
Through nearly the end of October, the waves of colder air will keep coming from Central Canada and will make more progress to the south and east around the Great Lakes region.

From Minnesota to Michigan this weekend, RealFeel® temperatures can dip near to below freezing at times during the daylight hours, after including wind, actual temperature, precipitation and other factors.
According to AccuWeather.com Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, "As the pattern continues to evolve, other areas around the lower Great Lakes and the central and northern Appalachians are likely to join in with their first snowflakes of the season."
The pattern has the potential to bring the first accumulating snow to a few areas that receive lake effect.
"The best chance of snowflakes and perhaps ground-whitening snow for parts of the southern and eastern Great Lakes and the higher ground of the central Appalachians appears to be later next week," Abrams said.
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Winter Forecast for the United States
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Pattern Change Alert
It is not unusual for a small amount snow to fall in the vicinity the Great Lakes and Appalachians during the second half of October.

Average Snowfall for October*

City	Snowfall (Inches)
Cleveland	0.2
Chicago, Ill.	0.2
Detroit	0.1
Fort Wayne, Ind.	0.3
Syracuse, N.Y.	0.4
Binghamton, N.Y.	1.0
Pittsburgh, Pa.	0.4
Burlington, Vt.	0.3

*Some of these locations, and others, could see some snowflakes from the upcoming pattern.
While the pattern will bring the coldest air of the season so far in terms of daytime highs from the Midwest to New England and the mid-Atlantic, it does not favor snow for the I-95 corridor.
The atmosphere along the coast will generally still be too warm. Only if a storm were to spin up just offshore as the cold air was moving in would there be a chance of snow to fall near the East Coast.

On Social Media

Tweets for this articleAccuWeather Updates

Winter Weather Hub

MVWinterUpdates

While plastering much of eastern Canada, GFS still has snow downwind of the Great Lakes this weekend. See web. #lakeeffectsnow

22h

Mike Cox

wxmc

Northwest flow snow events have connections with the Great Lakes. Which means @lauravelasquez sends me snow occasionally. lol! #nwas13

9h

Twin Flame

ShivaBanta

Minnesota is technically not part of the Midwest but is a Great Lake state. We just voted for gay marriage.

2h

PLEASE CALUM :)

craiclikeniall

i complain so much about winter here (canada) but i love it. the snow, the hot chocolate, skating on frozen lakes, oversized sweaters

Oct 14

Bobpoff

GlobalExpoBob

All you Michigan and Wisconsin, Minnesota and "Upper Midwest" peeps have fun with that! fb.me/30G2kdmJM

7h

Ryan Hanrahan

ryanhanrahan

Pattern change by the weekend with push of cold air into upper midwest/Great Lakes - coldest stays NW of us. pic.twitter.com/6JXUiGMTaT

Oct 14