This weekend/next week - Potential winter storm

Now onto the more interesting topic. Both the ECMWF and GFS are predicting another Panhandle Hook-style storm system to develop this week and strike us by either Saturday or Sunday, depending on which run you're looking at. The ECMWF's solution is definitely more interesting right now than the last few GFS runs, to say the least. While the GFS has alternated between solutions with cold temperatures, which drop 6-7 inches of snow across Michigan, and solutions with warm temperatures, which would produce either a messy icy mix or flat-out rain, the ECMWF has consistently predicted snow over the last two of its runs.

This is from this morning's run, and those are some impressive snowfall rates being predicted to strike this coming Friday night into Saturday over many portions of the state. But it has NOTHING on yesterday's run, which predicts a more powerful storm which wouldn't strike until Saturday night:

Of course, this one is a bit insane in terms of snowfall rates and therefore should probably not be trusted. I do think that the ECMWF is a bit more reliable in predicting snowfall events than the GFS, however. It has predicted the last few storms fairly well. With this winter being what it is, though, who knows where that freezing line will be. One can only hope we don't wind up with more ice or sleet to deal with.

With the models being fairly inconsistent with both each other and different runs, we can't bet on anything just yet. Just be aware that this past weekend's storm is likely not the last one we've seen this winter.