FORECAST SUMMARY: Monday February 3rd, 2025, through Friday February 7th, 2025
PM-2.5:
PM-2.5 concentrations are expected to be in the Good to low-Moderate range.
FORECAST DISCUSSION:
The first week of February kicks off with a slew of weather across the Great Lakes state. For those in southern Michigan, they woke up to rather dense fog with numerous fog advisories across the state and surface temperatures nearing the mid-30s. These surface temperatures will eclipse the 40s later today, Monday. For those in northern Michigan, yet another clipper system is traversing across the state from west to east and will continue to drop snow throughout this Monday. The low-pressure system providing this snow will move off to the east later this evening and will cool down the rest of the state tomorrow, Tuesday. The entire state returns to early February norms for surface temperatures as we approach Wednesday with a high-pressure system entering the region. The high-pressure will usher in another system late Wednesday night into Thursday morning which will bring a wintry mix and freezing rain to southern Michigan and more snow for northern Michigan. As quickly the system enters the region is as quickly as it exits as come late Thursday, it is off to the east. Friday looks to have residual lake effect snow bands in the snow belts with temperatures hanging in the mid-to-upper 20s.
With the aforementioned fog in southern Michigan, PM-2.5 concentrations, across the board from Mt. Pleasant south, are well into the Moderate range. With above freezing temperatures also, this is causing snow melt to release particulates into the atmosphere and increasing PM-2.5 concentrations. There is a relatively strong surface inversion as well, trapping those PM-2.5 concentrations near the surface. Winds shift later this Monday afternoon which will help lower concentrations, especially for populated areas like Grand Rapids and metro Detroit. 24-hour average concentrations for those areas are expected to be in the Moderate range, but throughout the day there is expected improvement as air gets cleaned out. For the rest of the week, PM-2.5 concentrations will be in the Good to low-Moderate range as temperatures return to below freezing, eliminating additional snow melt. Also, for most of the week, we will have northerly winds which will help bring cooler, cleaner air to our state.
EXTENDED FORECAST:
The weekend continues where the work week leaves off—in the 20s for surface highs and relatively light winds. Air quality will remain in the Good to low-Moderate range.
Next Forecast update: Friday February 7th, 2025