Rapid freeze-up to trigger lake-effect snow across Great Lakes into Monday

By Brett Rathbun, AccuWeather.com Meteorologist

January 10,2016; 9:45AM,EST

 

 

The coldest air this season will plunge across the midwestern United States following a round of rain and snow this weekend.
The storm on Saturday led to the first accumulating snowfall across portions of the Missouri Valley including St. Louis and Springfield.
As temperatures fell quickly during Saturday night, temperatures will struggle to rise on Sunday in portions of the Midwest. In some cities, temperatures will continue to fall.
"Sunday will be a day with continuously falling temperatures into the 20s for Cincinnati and Detroit," AccuWeather Meteorologist Michael Doll said.
"Along with the falling temperatures, rain will change to snow and create a very hazardous situation on roads as they will become slippery," Doll added.

Temperatures below freezing from the Upper Great Lakes to the Tennessee Valley will cause any wet roads to freeze if not properly treated.
Those traveling on Sunday will need to use caution as roads could be slick and dangerous.
High temperatures on Sunday will only be in the teens from Marquette, Michigan, to Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, and the 20s from central Michigan to northern Tennessee.
Gusty winds will lead to dangerous AccuWeather RealFeel® temperatures across much of the Midwest and for the Sunday afternoon football matchup in Minneapolis.

As this cold air dives across the region, bands of lake-effect snow will develop around the Great Lakes during Sunday and last through Monday afternoon.
"Within heavy lake-effect squalls off all of the Great Lakes, visibility can fall to near zero and make driving extremely difficult if not impossible," Doll said.
The heaviest bands will develop downwind of lakes Erie, Ontario and Huron with snowfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour or higher possible. A few rumbles of thunder are also possible.

Snowfall totals could exceed a foot in some locations downwind of lakes Huron and Erie and over 2 feet in the Tug Hill Plateau of upstate New York into Monday night.
Those traveling along Interstate 81 between Syracuse and Watertown, New York, as well as I-90 from Buffalo, New York, to Ohio should be prepared for blinding snow and poor road conditions. Travel will also be dangerous at times along Interstate 86 in southwestern New York.
RELATED:
Northeast interactive weather radar
Polar vortex to send arctic air into central, eastern US through midweek
Coldest weather of season so far in eastern US drives up electric power costs
"Snow removal crews will not be able to keep the roads clear in those conditions and this could lead to road closures, particularly I-81 south of Watertown, New York, I-90 south of Buffalo, New York, and I-86 across southwest New York," Doll said.
Lesser amounts will occur downwind of lakes Superior and Michigan but will bring some additional snow to Marquette, Traverse City and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Up to 6 inches could fall from the eastern half of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to northern Lower Michigan into Monday night.
Lake-effect snow will weaken during Monday night into Tuesday as a clipper system will spread a swatch of light snow and perhaps a brief burst of heavy snow from the Midwest into the Northeast on Tuesday into Tuesday night.
This clipper system will bring a reinforcing shot of colder air and trigger another round of heavy lake-effect snow to close out the week.
An additional 1 to 2 feet of snow can fall downwind of Lake Erie and more than 3 feet downwind of Lake Ontario by the end of the week.