Major winter storm expected to hit SE Michigan on Friday

Southeast Michigan could see a repeat of stormy, wintry weather within days.

A strong low pressure system arrives Friday in the Great Lakes region, with heavy precipitation and "significant mixed precipitation and snow amounts" possible, the National Weather Service reported in an outlook. Mid-Michigan through northern Michigan could see as much six inches of snow.

"Be sure to monitor future updates, as this low pressure system has the markings for a major winter storm across portions of the state," officials said.

Before that, a "brief, light wintry mix of rain, snow or freezing drizzle is possible north of M-59" in southeast Michigan into Wednesday morning, according to the weather service.

"A small window for rain/snow showers are expected tomorrow in the late morning hours as a warm front pushes through, which will create a strong temperature gradient over SE MI for afternoon highs," the weather service said on its website.

Highs could reach the 50s on Wednesday.

The average high for March 1 is 40, weather service data show. The record high is 64, set in 1992.

Temperatures are set to top out in the low 40s on Thursday and drop into the 30s at night.

The forecast follows an ice storm that spurred hundreds of thousands of outages across Michigan on Feb. 22, then another system Monday that resulted in more outages.

DTE and Consumers Energy remained working around the clock to restore power to 42,000 customers still in the dark early Wednesday afternoon.