Sault Ste. Marie made out pretty good from storm number 1 yesterday, but another big storm is brewing for late Friday into Saturday and this one is dragging some arctic air with it.
The storm that hit Ontario Tuesday with strong winds, rain and then snow only left about 5 to 7cm in the Sault and not the 20 cm that was originally forecast, (areas east of the city saw substantially more snowfall) Storm number 2 will follow a similar storm track, once again pushing most of the active weather to our east – however, this storm will tap into an arctic blast of much colder air and that could stir up some heavy lake-effect snows for Saturday. Another 20 to 30cm could be possible along with daytime highs of only -11c. The cold air and additional threat of lake-effect will stick around for most of next week.
Computer forecast model shows the storm tracking east of Sault Ste. Marie, but storm tracks can change and thus change the forecast very quickly. Much colder air will follow as this storm moves out Saturday night.
Long range forecasts are calling for near normal temperatures to end the month with above seasonal temperatures for most of February. The long range forecast also calls for below normal snowfall for the month of February.
So far this year, Sault Ste. Marie is trending to well below normal snowfall along with above normal temperatures – with the exception of the upcoming week.
