Dennis Dennison
Currently in Arizona a line of heavy storms is just west of Phoenix, with speed of storms moving W -> E at 60+. Defiantly going to be some weather here very soon.
12z NAM, GFS, RGEM, and GGEM) all falling in line in terms of strength (970mb, 973mb, 968mb, and 972mb respectively) between 12z 12/09 0z 12/10 over lower MI / Lake Huron. In fact models drop pressure 10mb in 6hrs (17mb in 12hrs on the NAM) once the SFC low passes over Lake Michigan. At this point, I expect the SFC low to slow with a NNE track towards Alpena MI... or slightly NW.
With that said, I think the 12z NAM should be used for the wind forecast across the Great Lakes region. BUFKIT is now showing 60-70knts at the top of the mixing layer as potential T comes crashing down... with an average of 45-50knts. This slightly precedes the best pressure rise of 6mb in 3hrs, and coincides with the strongest PGF / pressure gradient force. I suspect the strongest winds - widespread high wind warning criteria - will occur in an envelope of 100-250 miles SE of the SFC low. Areas closer to the center will experience the weaker circulation flow.
To top it off, NAM shows 4-5 inches of snow falling after the occluded front screams through SE MI... with Lansing MI showing upwards of 5-7 inches. GFS is a bit more conservative, but still in the 3-5 inch range. Combined with the intense SFC winds... this could make for quite an interesting event.
I live in Jackson, which is about 30 south of lansing, it will be interesting to see how much moisture is left on the back side of the low once the warm front moves through and the winds change out of the North East. Normally being that far inland lake affect snow is minimal but I would mind about 5-6 inches if possible not holding my breath. GFS is stil showing a possible 5-8 inches total by Saturday for my area.
http://204.2.104.196/gfs/CONUS_GFS0P5_SFC_ACCUM-SNOW_120HR.gif
Latley it seems like most models tend over estimate espically in my case where rain is going to come into play and kill most of the accumulation that falls before the warm front reaches.