Holiday travel forecast: Fog, drizzle, and light rain biggest travel concerns locally

 

Planning a holiday trip can be stressful enough, but when you add in the impacts that could occur due to weather then the stress level can reach an all-time high. Thankfully, it looks like our travel impacts locally will be kept to a minimum through Christmas and the day afternoon, but we won't go completely without any bumps along the way.

If you're planning on hitting the road Wednesday, the first half of the day will bring with it plenty of

cloud cover. Temperatures early in the morning will be starting out in the upper 20s but will climb into the low 30s a little after sunrise as clouds increase from the west. Winds will remain somewhat light from the southeast with an occasional gust or two around 15 mph. A weak upper-level disturbance will move in from the west during the afternoon and evening and this will bring with it a surge of moisture northward. As this occurs, drizzle will begin to develop most likely after 2pm. Periods of drizzle and light rain showers will take us through

the evening before slowly coming to an end late Wednesday night. Rainfall amounts won't be much and under a tenth of an inch, just enough to have to use the windshield wipers from time to time and make the roads wet. Temperatures during this time will be above freezing, so there is no ice threat.

Once the light rain comes to an end there could be a period of fog and drizzle/mist that carries over into Christmas morning. So, if you're up early and planning on doing any traveling there could be some restrictions due to visibility.

Christmas Day will feature mostly cloudy skies and a breeze coming in from the east with temperatures in the upper 30s and low 40s. It won't be the warmest Christmas Day on record, and it won't be the coldest, but our temperatures will be above the average high of 32 degrees. While most of Christmas Day will be dry there will be a period of rain that develops late in the evening, most likely around/after Midnight. For us, this precipitation will come down in the form of rain. But for those further north and east (east of Lake Michigan) impacts from more wintry weather, including freezing drizzle and rain, will occur. This will carry over into Friday morning and likely cause slow or delayed travel in central and northern Wisconsin, parts of Minnesota, Michigan, and Indiana. Another period of wintry weather looks to occur during the weekend, specifically Saturday night into Sunday, as another system moves across the Midwest and Great Lakes. Locally, we could see a few light rain showers with the arrival of low-pressure Saturday evening.

Following that low Saturday evening a strong cold front will quickly move across the western Great Lakes causing temperatures to fall throughout the afternoon Sunday. Northwest winds will increase with gusts approaching 30 mph (if not higher). This will bring afternoon temperatures down into the 20s Sunday and wind chills below zero when you wake up Monday morning.