Brief reminder of winter as snow, cold creep back this week in Michigan

The Detroit News

A roller coaster week of weather will include two precipitous drops: snow, particularly in southeast Michigan, and a hard freeze that puts early spring vegetation in jeopardy.

But for a few overnight periods, the National Weather Service says, conditions otherwise will be about normal for April.

The snow is expected Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Snow is expected late Tuesday into Wednesday in southern Michigan, with the highest totals expected in Metro Detroit and areas south.

"Air temperatures will become plenty cold enough for accumulating snow as cold air will be pulled further south into the area and temperatures fall into the mid-upper 20s north to the upper 20s-around 30" in Metro Detroit and south, the weather service says for Tuesday into Wednesday.

"Generally expect to see a 2-4 inch swath of snow (from) Interstate 69 south (especially on grassy areas) with locally higher amounts possible, particularly over the higher elevations of the Irish Hills from the M-59 corridor south."

The latest southeast Michigan has gotten 3 or more inches of snow was May 9, 1923.

Freeze warnings will be in effect Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for various areas of Michigan.

Cold is expected tonight in Mason, Lake, Oceana and Newaygo counties, with a freeze warning in effect 1-8 a.m. Tuesday, then 8 p.m. Tuesday through 11 a.m. Thursday.

That warning extends to Leelanau, Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Manistee and Charlevoix counties from 10 p.m. Monday through noon Tuesday.

A freeze warning  is in effect for much of western lower Michigan from Tuesday evening through Thursday morning, including the counties of Muskegon, Montcalm, Gratiot, Ottawa, Kent, Ionia, Clinton, Allegan, Barry,  Eaton, Ingham, Van Buren, Kalamazoo, Calhoun and Jackson.

Night-time lows in southeast Michigan both Tuesday and Wednesday into Thursday are forecast for the mid-20s, and daytime highs are expected in the lower to mid-40s. But temperatures will rebound at the end of the week. By Friday and into the weekend, sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60s are forecast.

Watches and warnings may expand. Check detroitnews.com for continuing developments.