Winter over? Quiet, warm weather into the weekend

Winter may finally be over for the Great Lakes. The past several days and even the past week and a half or so have been very mild. Highs today headed into the lower-mid 60s! It will stay nice through Friday, with highs in the upper 50s and lots of sun, but as we head to Friday night and Saturday, there is almost a guarantee of rain and cooler temps, dropping back into the 40s. It will be an all rain event for Chicago, Detroit, Mid-MI, but back further west into Kansas and Nebraska they could see one last shot at accumulating snow.

The long range is similar - quiet with no huge storms in sight. Next week will defineltey be cooler than this week, however, temps should stay stick around 40 with a few chances or rain towards the middle parts of the week.

Overall, I'd say our shot at anymore snow is gone. Infact, this week is going to be so nice that most golf courses plan on opening this weekend (and I'll be out there!!) so hopefully this nice weather sticks around and just continues to improve.

TUES UPDATE: Some rain this week, otherwise quiet weather

All of the storms we've been watching the on the models have all but turned into almost nothing. The only system that will make of anything will be the low pressure heading towards the lakes towards the middle or end of the week.

We'll see on and off rain from Wednesday through Friday. Rain could be heavy at times, and up to 3/4 of an inch could fall over those few days.

Other than a few showers, we'll enjoy 50+ degree weather for the next several days. Into the weekend things quiet down a bit, and as we head on into next week things cool down a bit. A few more systems are showing up on the models but they are all day to day things that one day they're there, the next they're gone.

Stay tuned.

SATURDAY UPDATE: Quiet weekend, interesting next week

We've been watching the models and nothing interesting has really been showing up in them. Looks like quiet weather through the weekend, and the storm for early this week will pass to the south of us, and likely leave us completely dry. The best thing about this system is the ridge that will be moving through; temps will rise into the mid and upper 40s for much of the weekend and most of the week.

Uncertainty comes into the long range outlook. The GFS has been showing numerous storms showing up for next week and the following, but hasn't been very consistant on where they will move. For example, the system setting up for this week was first forecasted to move well to the north through Wisconsin and bring heavy snow on the northwest side, and heavy rain for everyone else; now it looks like it will spin itself out and not be a factor. A second system which looked like it would be strong will likely pass well south of us and just be a smaller system with some light rain.

I would say winter is not over yet even though we're heading into the second week of March. We'll see warm temps for the next 7+ days, however a cold spell can come back for a brief period at any time which means snow could still happen. Much of the upper part of the state is way below normal, while the Metro Detroit area is within just inches of there normal average. And just to throw in a fun fact would just proves heavy snow can still fall in March (and even April!) Detroits heaviest snowfall of all time of nearly 2 ft of snow fell in early April!