Last week Tuesday into Wednesday we had a pretty good snowfall of around 9" in Grand Rapids. A similar situation is shaping up again this week. I don't see the accumulations as heavy and widespread, but this will certainly be a noteworthy event. A developing low pressure system that originally started in Texas is drawing up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. That warm, moist air will rise over the several hundred mile treck up to Michigan. Long story short, we'll squeeze plenty of precipitation out of this system for a general 5"-8" across our area. One of the biggest differences you'll notice about this system is the wetter snow due the high moisture content. The last snowfall was much more light, fluffy, and powdery. With temperatures around 30 degrees, I expect about a 10:1 or 12:1 snow to water ratio instead of the 18:1 we saw last week. That means excellent packing snow for the kids making snowmen and having snowball fights.
Below is a graphic I constructed based on several computer forecast models. I believe areas in light blue will pick up about 5"-8" with some isolated 8"-10" amounts possible south and east of Grand Rapids. Most of those counties are under a Winter Storm Warning through Monday afternoon. Lighter amounts of snow will occur south of I94 to the Michigan/Indiana border as I believe some freezing rain and rain may mix in at times and keep snow totals down to around 3"-6" there. Muskegon, Oceana, Newaygo, and Mecosta counties are under Winter Weather Advisories and I anticipate about 3"-6" in those areas. Obviously, any deviation in the track of the low can make all the difference in the world, but that's the latest as of Sunday evening.
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