Workweek Outlook: A winter storm could impact Christmas travel

One of the most important things I do as a meteorologist is to help keep friends and family safe during winter travel.  For the cold season, I help people avoid all kinds of winter hazards when hitting highways out of Sault Ste. Marie. Unfortunately, that sometimes means that plans need to be changed or cancelled. 

This week I hope all of you pay close attention to the forecast if you plan to travel for the start of your Christmas break on or after Friday. There could be more than 50cm of new snow on the ground by the end of this workweek and with that comes a potentially wintry mess with the storm on Friday.

On Monday the temperatures will climb up to the freezing mark later in the afternoon. 4-8cm of light snow arrives in the evening and overnight.

Tuesday brings gusty west winds that will move colder air into the region. This will kick in the lake effect machine during the afternoon and cause snowsqualls to set up for the evening and into Wednesday. Total accumulation by Wednesday night could be 15-30cm, depending on where precisely the squall lines linger. 

The winter storm starts out in Colorado Thursday morning and tracks towards the Great Lakes. This will bring light snow on Thursday and early Friday. A risk of freezing rain moves into the region by Friday afternoon and evening.

There is the risk of snow mixed with rain late Friday night, and this wintry mix will be in place from Lake Superior all to way to southern Ontario. Anywhere from 15-30cm of snow could arrive from Thursday into Friday. Snow squalls come later in the weekend as colder air moves back in.

Stay tuned to the daily forecast discussion in the days ahead here on SooToday for more details on the timing and impact of this winter storm. Right now it appears that late Friday would be the worst time to travel, but that could change. Stay tuned.