The rain will turn to snow, with some areas potentially seeing more than 3 inches by New Year’s Day

As Michigan prepares to ring in the New Year, there’s of course a change in the weather for the holidays.

Any precipitation that falls as rain today is expected to transition to snow as temperatures fall today and into the night and early Wednesday.

With daytime highs above freezing and the ground not frozen, snow that falls later today is likely to melt onto roads and lawns. But as temperatures drop today and we begin to adjust to our new cold pattern, snow accumulations of 1 to 3+ inches are expected late tonight across a diagonal swath of the Lower Peninsula.

The National Weather Service (NWS) predicts peak snow amounts could extend from Charlotte to Flint and east to The Thumb.

“Rainfall will occur this morning in an area east of US 131 and along and south of I-96, with 1 to 3 inches of precipitation possible,” NWS meteorologists in Grand Rapids said in the morning forecast notes. “Snow will fall from around midday until early Wednesday, with the greatest amounts between 4pm and midnight. Minor impacts to evening commutes are possible due to short periods of moderate snowfall.”

For those traveling over New Year’s Eve, some slick spots on the roads are possible this evening.

Less than an inch of snow is expected to fall in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Detroit.

If we see an area with a heavy layer of snow tonight, it will likely be a narrow region from Plainwell northeast to St. Johns, which includes the greater Lansing area. If forecast models remain the same as the morning runs, the area could see up to 10 cm of snow, the NWS said.

A colder air mass will move into Michigan on Wednesday. While heavy snowfall is not expected, we will likely see some lake snow. The cold air will flow over the still relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes, which is our recipe for the lake effect.