Snow to Accompany Arctic Blast Into the Great Lakes

The arctic blast headed to the Great Lakes will be accompanied by accumulating snow and the risk for icy spots.

A band of rain and snow pressing through the Great Lakes--in a northwest-to-southeast fashion--through Monday night will signify the arctic air's arrival.

The arctic blast will be strong enough for the rain to change to a general coating to an inch of snow in many communities.

Cities in line to be lightly whitened by the snow include Chicago, Ill., Grand Rapids, Mich., and Syracuse and Binghamton, N.Y.

In the wake of the initial band of rain and snow, places downwind of the Great Lakes will see more snow through Tuesday as the arctic invasion activates the lake-effect snow machine.

In the heaviest lake-effect snow bands, the potential exists for 6 to 12 inches to accumulate across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and 3 to 6 inches elsewhere downwind of the Great Lakes.

Outside of the Great Lakes and central Appalachians, wet snowflakes are only expected to make an appearance and not accumulate along the I-95 corridor of the Northeast Monday night through Tuesday.

Snowflakes could even been seen in Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta, Ga., Tuesday night as an inch or two of snow whitens the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians.