Christmas blizzard forecast coming into focus with intense winds, freezing temperatures expected

Extreme Winter Weather on the way

A Winter Storm Watch is in effect for possible blizzard conditions Thursday - Saturday

(FOX 2) - An extreme winter storm is headed our way and the timing couldn't be worse. Before we get into that though here's what you need to know about today:

Mostly cloudy and 33 degrees on Wednesday - pretty quiet, right? Ok good, now that that is done, let's get to the important stuff.

Beginning early Thursday night we'll see the storm start to move in, arriving initially as rain for some spots in Southeast Michigan. This rain will quickly switch over to heavy snow later Thursday night, and then it will continue, almost steadily until Saturday morning.

A strong low pressure area will go through a weather process called "Cyclogenesis" meaning the pressure of the system drops rapidly (24 mb) in 24 hours. This creates an intense wind storm and in our case it's combined with snow which will create blizzard conditions.

In order for a storm to be classified as a "blizzard" it has to meet three requirements:

- The wind has to be over 35 mph
- Falling snow has reduced visibility to under a quarter of a mile
- All of this lasts for at least 3 hours

I think we WILL see these bullet points on Friday.

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The winds are expected to gust to nearly 55 mph which will cause travel to be extremely difficult. Whether it's by car or plane, if you intend to travel on Friday I would strongly suggest you look at alternatives.

It's not just snow totals, but the strong winds and extreme cold wind chills near -10.

Speaking of snow, totals are coming into focus a little more, but there are still some questions.

For one, models have a hard time modeling "blizzard conditions" because they can change so quickly. As of now, it's safe to say that many of us will see 3-6 inches but the farther northwest you are, into Oakland, Livingston, Genesse and Lapeer Counties you could easily fall into the 4-8 inch range.

Close to Lansing and west could see double-digit snowfall where a full 12 inches is possible.

How to prepare your home and car for arctic conditions

The snow and wind sticks around on Saturday morning but gradually eases into Saturday late afternoon. How the roads will be will depend on how the crews can work, so Christmas Eve plans may need to be altered.

Christmas Day will be cold with a high near 19, but the wind chill will keep us feeling like 5.