Recap of December 12th Midwest Blizzard

As most already know, this was an epic storm. Some areas were hit hard as expected, some were spared. Overall, much of the immediate Mid-Michigan area was not in the worst part of this storm, seeing only around 4-8". The reason I note this as not being that bad, is because areas north and west saw upwards of a foot of snow. Reports from near Madison, WI came in stating they received nearly 17" of snow.

This storm was so strong mainly because of the flow between the northern and southern streams. This caused quite a bit of phasing which lead to a large influx of moisture into this storm. The tracking of this storm was the worst part. The uncertainty was still floating in the air come Monday night, but finally, the GFS and NAM both got on bored with a more westerly and northerly track. The crazy thing about this storm is that it's showing viewers that even the Meteorologists don't know exactly what to expect. Earlier in the week, the storm was actually being sent to the east coast on the models.

Detroit escaped with a brief period of snow, followed by mostly rain. The same was there for much of the greater Chicago area.

Even though the storm has moved well off to our east, we're not finished yet with snow. Areas near Lake Michigan and as far east as Lansing and the outside areas of the Metro Detroit area could see anywhere from 2-6" of additional snowfall tonight and into early tomorrow. Winds will be strong, and power outages will be possible, with gusts as high as 60mph, which will cause widespread blowing and drifting during much of the day tomorrow.

Travel is not advised; roads will and already are, becoming slick and icy. This will continue through much of the day on Thursday until Friday when things finally dry out some.

Then, our attention turns to late this weekend. The GFS and NAM are both hinting at a possible winter storm for the area once again. Models are currently showing the storm building in the south and running up the the east coast, but due to recent factors, the northern and southern stream along with high pressure building in the northern plains, may cause this storm to drift further north and east. Along with that, arctic air will already be in place which would cause another shift.

As of now, we'll put the optimism level at about a 5 on a scale of 10. The next few days will be crucial in determining where the system moves. Nevertheless, this proves that the first forecasts for this winter may have been wrong, and that many storms may ride up the Ohio Valley and affect areas further west, rather than the east coast.