Unusually Warm into Friday, then over the next week, the colder air returns over most of the CONUS.

This past 15 days ( Jan. 23- Feb. 7) in Grand Rapids, Michigan were the warmest on record (34.8F) that exceeded the 34.7F for the 15 days ending on January 6th 2012.

It will be unusually warm till next weekend. Then the cold and snow return. This time the cold will not move out as quickly as it did in January.

The bottom line is it will be very warm, relative to normal until around Valentine’s Day, the it will get cold across most of the central and eastern CONUS with a significant amount of snow over the Great Lakes and New England.

January and Seasonal Snowfall Totals for Both Michigan and then the CONUS

Over Michigan, November and December featured well below normal snowfall. The first 2 1/2 weeks of January seem to be making up some of that deficit. Over the rest of the CONUS, seasonal snowfall mostly remains below normal.