Meteorologists are predicting a significant change in the weather today and tomorrow, which might disappoint students hoping to avoid harsh winter weather.
National Weather Service meteorologist Nathan Jeruzal said East Lansing residents can expect up to 5 inches of snowfall by Thursday evening. The snow will fall in phases over several days, and will not be one large sum, he said.
“It is one of the largest storms to start (the winter season) that we’ve seen in the past several years,” said Jeffrey Andresen, an associate professor of geography.
Jeruzal said residents should expect to see the start of the snowfall this afternoon and early evening, and precipitation will shift to rain and sleet by tonight. He said snow will continue Thursday, but the biggest issue will be wind.
“Winds will pick up to about 40 miles (per hour) in the afternoon,” he said. “The biggest problem will be visibility.”
Andresen said he agreed the wind will produce the biggest problems for residents, and the stronger gusts can be attributed to the sudden drop in temperatures.
“People (won’t) want to be outdoors (today); it’s not a good day … because of the quickly changing winds,” he said.
Jeruzal said temperatures are expected to drop to about 28 degrees by 7 p.m. Thursday. However, Andresen said he expects temperatures to be as low as the mid-teens with windchill.
“It will be a real nasty windchill as the temperature drops,” Andresen said. “It’s not the worst we could see, but compared to what we’ve seen so far, Thursday and some of Friday will be worse.”
He said the northern and western areas of Michigan will be most affected by the approaching blizzard, and people might want to reconsider traveling over the weekend.
“Travel will be seriously impacted by this event,” he said. “Driving west will not be possible for travelers. People will have to change their travel plans.”
He said other Midwestern states already were feeling effects of the blizzard Tuesday.
Preveterinary medicine freshman Julia Bergen, who is from New Jersey, said she never has experienced a Michigan winter and is nervous about the snow. She said her mom sent her a bunch of winter accessories to prepare for the weather, and she isn’t considering skipping classes with finals approaching next week.
“The weather might make me want to sleep in more, but I probably won’t skip class because it’s so close to finals,” she said. “If it was any other week, I probably would.”
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