Weekend Weather: Snow, Dropping Temperatures

Bundle up this weekend, snow is expected to fall Friday and Saturday, with temperatures in the low to mid-20s.

Here is a look at the forecast, according to the National Weather Service.

Friday: There is a 90 chance of snow expected today, with blustery west northwest winds between 16 and 21 mph; some could reach 28 mph. Snow accumulation is predicted to be less than one inch during the day. According to the National Weather Service, there is a 40 percent chance that snow showers will continue through Friday night. A high near 28 degrees is anticipated during the day, falling to around 14 degrees at night.

Saturday: Throughout the day and evening on Saturday there is a 20 percent chance of snow showers, with a high near 23 degrees and a low around 15 at night. Winds are expected to be mild between 6-9 mph.

Sunday: The National Weather Forecast calls for partly sunny skies on Sunday, with a high near 25 degrees. Temperatures are expected to fall to around 19 degrees with a mostly cloudy evening.

Snow is forecasted throughout next week as well.

Snowfall not on par with average winter

Thus far the area has seen a mild winter, with just 0.4 inches of snowfall in January and 6.1 inches since December, according to the National Weather Service.

The average amount of snowfall in Metro Detroit for January is 4.5 inches. According to the National Weather Service, last year the area saw 8.3 inches on the ground, just through mid-January.

“The driving factor is an eastward extension of the jet stream over the Western Pacific,” Joseph Clark, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in White Lake said. “It looks like it won’t be enough to totally change this warm weather pattern, but it looks to change things quite a bit. We’re going to take it up a notch to something more normal. We’re not there yet, but this Western Pacific jet was the first step to getting there.”

For some, like the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) the lack of snow has meant less money spent. The road commission has saved money by purchasing less salt and paying out less for labor.

“We have spent less money on salt so far this year ... on salt truck driver overtime by about half what we normally spend and in salt by about a third,” said Craig Bryson, public information officer for RCOC. “It’s still fairly early in the winter and we’re not ready to assume there will be that kind of savings for the year.”

Though the road commission has saved money thus far this winter, Bryson assured that the savings is not enough to allow the undertaking of additional projects. He noted that if that were the case, they would hope to put that money toward purchasing new equipment, which he said is desperately needed.

“We’re talking, potentially in the area of hundreds of thousands of dollars and not millions,” Bryson said. “A couple of bad storms in February and we could be right back to average.”