Heavy snow, originally not expected to start until afternoon, building in this morning

This might serve to push those storm total accumulations up quite a bit higher. A special weather statement was issued a bit ago for the counties in the main bullseye area:

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI
848 AM EST TUE MAR 1 2016

MIZ047>049-053>055-011600-
MIDLAND-BAY-HURON-SAGINAW-TUSCOLA-SANILAC-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...MIDLAND...BAY CITY...BAD AXE...
SAGINAW...CARO...SANDUSKY
848 AM EST TUE MAR 1 2016

...LOCALLY HEAVY SNOW THROUGH THE MORNING...

WIDESPREAD MODERATE SNOW WITH EMBEDDED HEAVY SNOW WILL IMPACT THE
AREA THROUGH THE MORNING INTO THE AFTERNOON. SNOWFALL RATES UP TO
1 INCH PER HOUR ARE EXPECTED. MOTORISTS WILL EXPERIENCE RAPID
DETERIORATION IN ROAD CONDITIONS AND REDUCTIONS IN VISIBILITY TO
ONE QUARTER OF A MILE.

That ominous ¼ mile visibility statement leads me to believe that schools that have not yet closed in Huron County (there are actually quite a few) will be closing early (shame, shame, administrators - do not open when there's a warning in effect!). It also means blizzard-like conditions may be possible due to the sheer snowfall rate. This may be an even bigger factor when the winds start to build in this afternoon, too. The snow is going to be very light and fluffy this time around, which means it won't need much wind to whip it up. If winds get going above 35mph for any length of time, Blizzard Warnings could come, though I don't see it happening just yet.

The big factor is the temperatures that are struggling to approach 25° which means the snow to liquid ratio is going to be much higher than 10:1. This in combination with any persistent snow bands is going to drive the totals quite high. Some colleagues of mine who were in Midland this morning reported that two inches may have already fallen there, and that winds were making for low visibility and slow going. Be very careful if you're going to be on the road today, and consider staying home once there.