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Major winter storm to impact metro Detroit, bringing another round of snow, ice

Posted at 1:04 PM, Feb 11, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-11 22:13:22-05

Another major winter storm moves in overnight, spreading snow from south to north across southeast Michigan. It will affect all of us by the morning commute, but in different ways.

The storm will bring snow across the Ohio border around 11 p.m., and continue north to Detroit by midnight. These areas will change to sleet and freezing rain overnight after 1 to 2 inches of snow builds up. Roads will be icy for the Tuesday morning drive with as much as .3 inches of ice in Lenawee and Monroe counties. Around Detroit to Ann Arbor there could be up to a quarter inch of ice on top of the snow.

In the northern suburbs, up to I-69, it will take longer to get the change over to sleet and snow. However, roads will still be snow covered with a glace of ice on top in time for the morning drive. Around and north of I-69 there should be mostly, if not all, snow into the morning commute causing a slow drive with up to 3 or 4 inches of new snow on the roads.

I-94 and south, expect more ice tonight into Tuesday morning than snow. There will be enough ice to close schools and cause problems at the airport, and snow around an inch or two at the most. There will be chances for freezing rain alone for a while on Tuesday morning and then rain Tuesday afternoon. Then rain will turn to sleet and snow Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Another inch at most for snow will come Wednesday morning.

The northern suburbs around and south of M-59 will get an even mixture of ice and snow tonight into Tuesday morning, with 1 to 2 inches of snow and 1/4 inch of ice. That is enough ice to close schools and possibly bring power outages. Freezing rain will then move in through early afternoon Tuesday with another .1 inch of ice will be possible, then wil eventually change to all rain late Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the storm will bring in warmer air from the south to the north throughout the morning. Around 8 a.m., the thaw line (getting above freezing) will be in Lenawee and Monroe counties. By 10 a.m. it will move north to Detroit and Ann Arbor. The thawing will continue north to the M-59 corridor by noon. Finally, around 2 p.m., the thaw line will move to the I-69 Corridor.

When the thawing line moves through your area, the road conditions will start to improve.

There will be more snow for everyone starting Tuesday evening through Wednesday morning. I-69 and north will get another 3 to 4 inches, the metro area will get another 2 to 3 inches, and the southern counties of Lenawee and Monroe will get and inch or two of snow by Wednesday morning's commute.