GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – Winter may have “officially” arrived in the calendar on December 21st, but it looks as if it will take nine more days before seasonal weather comes to the Lakeshore.
The National Weather Service office at Ford Airport in Grand Rapids on Sunday evening posted a Winter Weather Advisory for Allegan and Ottawa counties. Through 7 PM tomorrow, forecasters are expecting snow to accumulate from four to seven inches, with winds gusting as high as 50 MPH along the shoreline, in an area bounded by Ludington to the north, Grand Rapids and Hastings to the east, and South Haven to the south. “The most hazardous winter weather conditions will be late Monday night into Tuesday morning,” the weather service noted in its advisory.
In addition, high water levels and previous erosion damage from waves “since June,” according to Ottawa County Director of Emergency Management Nick Bonstell, has led the NWS to issue a Lakeshore Flood Advisory from Ludington to South Haven to 7 AM tomorrow. Onshore winds will likely generate, “minor beach and dune erosion, as well as flooding along the Lakeshore,” the forecasters said.
Rains, of between a half inch and a inch and a quarter, that hit the region yesterday morning are expected to continue through Monday morning. Before the raindrops turn into snow then, up to another inch to an inch and a half of rain is expected, which NWS officials say will lead to “areas of standing water on roads, flooded fields, and flooded intersections. Nighttime driving may become hazardous with a risk for hydroplaning. Rainfall is expected to be heaviest between 1 AM and 7 AM on Monday.”
