Next week will bring some bitterly cold days, but there is light at the end of a very cold tunnel.
Arctic air will sweep into Michigan on Sunday night and remain for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Even Thursday and Friday will feel like we are in the midst of winter cold.
Next weekend should see a gradual climb out of Arctic air, leading into the end of the month with some days above freezing. If we look ahead to the first week of March, we can see a temperature pattern shift developing.
Here are the high temperatures from Monday to Wednesday. All you need to know is that those days will be mostly in the single digits and low teens, with brutally cold temperatures. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings should be zero to ten below zero.
Wednesday morning should be the coldest, with absolutely brutal arctic temperatures.
By late next week, many Michiganders will have had enough of winter. While I’m referring to a pattern change, it’s not a transition to full-fledged spring weather. It’s a change from regularly warming above freezing in the afternoon to a few days in early March reaching 40 degrees.
When will a large portion of Michigan experience freezing temperatures? It won’t be until around February 24.
Let’s look a little further out at what appears to be a gradual shift to slightly warmer than normal temperatures in the first week of March. Again, I don’t want you to think it’s a permanent, spring-like warm-up. It’s likely that some afternoons in early March will reach 40 degrees or warmer.
The forecast above shows that a large bitter cold blob will dissipate late next week before transitioning to warmer-than-normal air at the beginning of March.
When we reach March 1, Michigan is still wintry, but the sun has much more power. We will experience warmer temperatures and melting.
It’s incredible to me how the first 40-degree day in early March feels warm and a 40-degree day in late March feels like the middle of winter.
Hang in there for another week, and the deep Arctic cold should be gone. Winter is far from over; it is only beginning to let go of us.
