EARLY THURSDAY AM UPDATE FROM THE GRAND RAPIDS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE:  
  
BY 3 TO 4 AM MOST OF THE ACCUMULATING PRECIPITATION WILL BE EAST, LEAVING BEHIND JUST SPOTTY DRIZZLE/FREEZING DRIZZLE. AS THIS STORM PULLS EAST IN THE AFTERNOON THE WINDS WILL SHIFT AND BECOME WESTERLY WITH SOME GUSTS TOPPING 35 MPH. DRIER AIR WILL PUSH IN FOR THE AFTERNOON.   
  
STILL LOOKING AT SOME IMPACTFUL WIND GUSTS UP TO 45 MPH TODAY AS WEST-SOUTHWEST WINDS PICK UP QUICKLY OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE AREA TOWARD NOON. THIS WILL COINCIDE WITH TEMPS. BRIEFLY WARMING INTO THE 40S, BUT TEMPS   
CRASH BACK INTO THE TEENS THURSDAY NIGHT. WINDS RELAX LATER THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY BUT SOME LAKE-EFFECT FLURRIES MAY PERSIST. 

With falling temperatures Thursday evening, puddles will freeze and you'll have to watch for icy spots.

Jack-knifed semi. on I-96.

Freezing Rain totals:  0.80" Jackson, 1.12" Portage, 1.02" Battle Creek, 0.84" Grand Rapids - including 1.6" of snow/sleet, which brings our season snowfall to 86.1", 0.80" at Lansing, 0.75" East Gr. Rapids, 0.44" at Muskegon - including 1.9" of snow/sleet, bringing the season snowfall there to 74.4".  2" of snow, sleet fell at Cannonsburg with up to 6" around Big Rapids and Mt. Pleasant.  

As of early Thursday, there were 620,457 customers without power in Michigan, mostly south of a line from Holland to Port Huron.  That included 191,429 Consumers Energy customers.  Hardest hit was Hillsdale Co. with 90% of the county without power (Consumers customers).  59.5% of Jackson Co. was without power, 37% of Calhoun Co., and 34% of Kalamazoo Co.

*************************************************************************** 

We have a lot of schools closings.

There was a narrow band of 4-8″ of snow around and just north of Big Rapids

Along I-96, mixed precipitation occurred, with 1-3″ of snow/sleet and a period of very significant freezing rain.

Kent/Ottawa Co. Radar

Overnight, thunderstorms moved northeast through Illinois and Indiana. 3/4″ diameter hail fell at Gas City IN. There could be a rumble of thunder in southern Lower Michigan today (best bet for that would be south of I-94).

As the low pressure center moves east, our winds will shift to the west.

There were some severe thunderstorms in Illinois, far western Kentucky, southeast Missouri and far northeast Arkansas. This was mostly tree and power line damage, but wind gusts hit 70 mph in the St. Louis area.

Here’s a link to the latest Grand Rapids National Weather Service Forecast Discussion.

*****************************************************************************************************

ALSO: The first 20 days of February brought Grand Rapids nearly 60% of possible sunshine! What a contrast to Dec./Jan. which gave us just 11% of possible sunshine. Grand Rapids is running 5.3 deg. warmer than average for February. It’s also been a windy month, with an average wind speed of 12.2 mph. The peak wind gust on Wed. was 39 mph. – only had two days when the average wind speed has been below 9.3 mph.

Grand Rapids has had 3.00″ of precipitation, which is 1.38″ above average (February is the driest month of the year on average in West Michigan) and the airport has had just 5″ of snow this month. The season snowfall so far this winter is 86.1″.

AND: 7.9°C in Buenos Aires, Argentina – its the coldest temperature there in February since 1951. Extreme cold in N. Canada. -49.6°C in Shepherd Bay, Nunavut. The wind chill was -64. Pretty sunset. Snow in Newfoundland. Meteor crashes into South Texas. Beautiful Lake Michigan sunset.

FINALLY: There’s a BLIZZARD WARNING for Los Angeles County, California (in red on the map below)! This is for the mountains north and northeast of Los Angeles for up to 7 FEET of new snow at the highest elevations.