Issued by The National Weather Service
Alpena/Gaylord, MI
12:14 pm EST, Thu., Nov. 20, 2008

... LAKE EFFECT SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST FRIDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GAYLORD HAS ISSUED A LAKE EFFECT SNOW ADVISORY... WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST FRIDAY.

LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE OFF LAKE SUPERIOR TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY... IMPACTING AREAS PRIMARILY WEST OF BRIMLEY AND TROUT LAKE. WITHIN THESE AREAS... EXPECT VISIBILITIES REDUCED TO LESS THAN ONE QUARTER MILE AT TIMES AND ACCUMULATIONS RANGING BETWEEN 5 AND 10 INCHES THROUGH FRIDAY WITH LOCALIZED HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE. GUSTY WINDS WILL ALSO LEAD TO SOME BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW FURTHER REDUCING VISIBILITIES.

A LAKE EFFECT SNOW ADVISORY MEANS LAKE EFFECT SNOW IS FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DIFFICULT IN SOME AREAS. SLOW DOWN AND EXERCISE CAUTION IF TRAVELING.

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... SIGNIFICANT LAKE EFFECT EXPECTED THROUGH FRIDAY...

.VERY COLD AIR WILL SPREAD OVER THE STATE THROUGH FRIDAY. COMBINED WITH PERSISTENT NORTH-NORTHWEST WINDS WILL PRODUCE WIDESPREAD LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS OVER PORTIONS OF EASTERN UPPER AND NORTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY. LOCALLY VERY HEAVY SNOW IS EXPECTED... PRIMARILY ALONG AND WEST OF M-66.

The bitterly cold air pouring out of the Arctic will spark what one AccuWeather.com meteorologist calls a "tremendous lake-effect snow event" in the snow belt areas of the Great Lakes.

The Winter Weather Center reports that the cold air mass from high in the Arctic will blanket the country east of the Rockies. While the core of the cold air will move from the Midwest into the East, cold air filtering into Texas and the Deep South will make it feel more like the middle of winter than the weekend before Thanksgiving.

The cold air is trailing a weak clipper system that has moved from the Midwest to the East Coast. The clipper produced little or no snow but has set the stage for a new round of heavy lake-effect snow to the lee of the Great Lakes.

According to the Winter Weather Center, strong winds blasting across the open water of the lakes will peak on Friday, leading to lengthy periods of heavy snow squalls in the usual snow belt regions.

Snowfall rates of 2-3 inches an hour will be possible in narrow bands of squalls streaming off the lakes. The heaviest snow will stream off Lake Michigan into northern Indiana and off Lake Erie into extreme western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania.

As much as 18 inches of new snow is forecast on top of the heavy early-season snow that has fallen over the past week. Expert Senior Meteorologist John Kocet says that it is not inconceivable that some areas could get close to another 3 feet of snow into the weekend