Snow blankets Metro Detroit

Detroit— Metro Detroit could be in for up to 4 more inches more snow before Saturday morning, according to forecasters at the National Weather Service station in White Lake Township.

Two inches had fallen by 11 p.m., the weather service said, with temperatures in the mid-teens. Lenawee and Monroe counties are expected to get from 3-5 inches of snow, said National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Tilley.

The current accumulation is "a reminder it's January in Michigan," said Tilley.

Tilley said the colder temperatures have made salt treatments on area roadways pretty much ineffective. He said warmer weather is needed for the salt to work to clear the ice. There were few reported weather-related traffic incidents late Friday. Michigan Sate Police said there were some spinouts but no serious accidents on the roads. They are warning motorists to slow down as the snowfall makes the roads slicker.

"The flakes are really fine and small but (heavier snow) could be coming in later," said Debra Elliott, the observation program leader at the White Lake office of the NWS.

Elliott said the snowfall is part of a system coming from Kentucky and moving east through southern Michigan and northern Indiana.

The snowfall is expected to end at midnight, Elliott said. Saturday's high will be in the mid 20s and a low again in the mid-teens. Sunday will be in the upper 30-degree range.

Warmer temperatures are expected briefly Sunday and early Monday. Morning temperatures for Monday are expected to be in the 40s.

But, "it's going to be a very brief warm up," said Elliott.

Later in the day Monday, temperatures will dip back to the lower 30s and there's a chance of a wintry rain and snow mix.

Early morning commuters Friday awoke to single-digit temperatures, a closed section of Interstate 75 and a slim slice of orange moon hanging in a clear, cold sky.

An overturned truck on northbound I-75 closed the freeway between Fort Street (M-85) and Gibraltar/Flat Rock. There were no reports of injuries.

The suggested alternate route is northbound Fort Street to westbound Gibraltar Road and then back to I-75.

According to the weather service, Friday's colder weather crept into Metro Detroit on Thursday, bringing arctic temperatures. But a low-pressure system developing in the Plains is expected to pump warm weather into the Great Lakes area by the end of the weekend.

The normal high for Friday is 32 degrees with a low of 19, according to weather service records. Snow-wise before Friday, Metro Detroit had received just 10.5 inches since November.

Normally by this date, southeast Michigan would have accumulated 19 inches of snow.

tgreenwood@detnews.com

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