Southeast Michigan at risk of 'Flash Freeze' as Christmas winter storm moves in
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - A winter storm is expected to impact Southeast Michigan Thursday evening into Saturday causing dangerous driving conditions.
RELATED: Metro Detroit Christmas snowstorm timeline: when to expect blizzard conditions
Thursday, we could see a "Flash Freeze" as temperatures plummet near midnight, according to FOX 2 meteorologist Derek Kevra.
A "Flash Freeze" occurs when there is a mixture of heavy rain and below-freezing temperatures. This mix will create a mess on the roads and dangerous driving conditions.
The storm is going to fall as rain throughout Thursday afternoon and until midnight. This rain will quickly switch over to heavy snow early Friday morning, and then it will continue, almost steadily until Saturday morning.
Winds will also start to gust to 55 mph Friday afternoon through Friday night. At this time the wind chill will be between -15 and -20.
Southern Macomb County, Oakland County, Wayne County and Monroe County will see snow fall in a range of 3-5 inches. Everyone else is in a 3-6 inch range, with northern and western areas potentially seeing as high as 7 and maybe 8 inches.
RELATED: Winter Storm Warning begins at 7 p.m. in Michigan - here's when the snow starts falling
The City of Detroit plans to have 50 trucks out doing plow work on the main city streets as crews work 12-hour shifts. They'll have some 673 miles of roadway to salt and plow.
If the snow accumulation is over 6 inches, then the department of public works will call up five contractors to assist with plowing snow on residential streets. There's around 1,800 miles of local roads to maintain.
The city says the highest priority roads will be cleared within 24 hours of the snow stopping. The rest of the major roads will be cleared within 48-72 hours of the snow ending.
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