Latest ECMWF run predicts Saturday snowfall rates of more than 1" per hour in Thumb, SE Michigan

The latest ECMWF is out, and it's predicting that this weekend's storm won't merely drop accumulating snow, but even more than I would've thought possible.

The picture above shows hourly snowfall rates as forecast by the 12z run of the ECMWF. This is measured in centimeters, as Europe uses the metric system. 1 inch is equivalent to 2.54 centimeters, and the model is predicting that up to 3cm per hour will fall in some areas of the thumb. This equates to an inch to an inch and a half per hour.

If that kind of snowfall continues to show up in concurrent runs, I fully expect a winter storm watch to be issued within the next 24 hours, with warnings to follow for those areas soon after. Other models aren't quite as aggressive, and the ensemble still isn't quite consistent enough to put my confidence to the level of changing my outlook. I'm going to wait until morning to make any adjustments.