Alpena, MichiganLocal Weather Alerts
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Rain later tonight changing to snow Friday; Colder this weekend

Despite some areas of mist and drizzle this afternoon, high temperatures reached 41 degrees in Alpena with a light breeze out of the south about 10 mph. Winds will shift out of the northeast tonight, then out of the north tomorrow, bringing colder air into our area.

We saw some rain this morning because of a weak disturbance near Lake Superior. The next area of moisture is moving into Michigan from the south, arriving as rain. The system will continue to travel toward the northeast. As colder air enters tomorrow afternoon and evening, the precipitation type will change to snow.


Temperatures will remain mild overnight with lows around 34 degrees, then reach 37 degrees in the late-morning tomorrow. Throughout the afternoon, temperatures will cool to the lower 30s, then continue to drop into the 20s tomorrow evening. Rain is expected from the predawn hours until midday, then mixed precipitation briefly midday, until the changeover to snow by the mid-afternoon. The changeover to snow will occur a little earlier to the west of Alpena, while places along the shoreline south of Alpena will be the last to see the switch from rain to snow.

The other aspect to the incoming storm system is strengthening winds. Wind speeds tonight will be quite relaxed, about 5 mph. Wind speeds will increase tomorrow, reaching 15-20 mph in the afternoon and evening, out of the north. By Saturday afternoon, as calmer weather moves in, wind speeds will weaken to about 10 mph.

After tomorrow’s messy weather, calmer and colder weather will move in this weekend. Mostly cloudy skies are forecast on Saturday with early-morning lows around 22 degrees, and afternoon highs only reaching 29 degrees. Much of Sunday should remain dry, although there is a low chance of flurries late Sunday-early Monday. High temperatures will reach the lower 30s Sunday and Monday. At this point, the forecast for Christmas day appears mostly cloudy with highs in the lower 30s. For the rest of Northeast Michigan’s weather forecast, watch the latest weather video by clicking the weather tab at the top of the page.