Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Detroit Beach, MI

AVIATION

Arctic front on pace to sweep across southeast Michigan from north to south during the late aftenoon and early evening hours. This will maintain potential for brief higher intensity snow showers to develop, with accompanying reduction of visbility into MVFR/IFR and some lower of ceiling height. Outside of snow shower activity, prevailing MVFR cigs will continue to mark conditions as much colder air surges in. Notable increase in gust magnitude and frequency from the northwest during the evening hours, peaking in excess of 30 knots. Gusty conditions persist overnight as much drier air supports a clearing trend. VFR conditions with mostly clear skies expected through Saturday morning.

For DTW...Chance of snow showers with an increase in wind from the northwest between 20z and 23z with the passage of an arctic front.

DTW THRESHOLD PROBABILITIES...

* High for ceiling at or below 5000 feet through this evening. Low tonight.

* Moderate for crosswind thresholds to be exceeded this afternoon.

PREV DISCUSSION
Issued at 854 AM EST Fri Feb 6 2026

UPDATE...

Area of widespread light to moderate snow should end pretty much on schedule around 15-17Z late this morning with only scattered showers expected in it's wake for the next few hours. Attention turns toward the arctic front that will slide southward this afternoon from about 18Z (MBS) to 21Z (DTW). 850mb temps are slated to drop from -8C to -17C from 18Z to 00Z respectively with the strong cold advection behind the front. Hires suite still advertising a narrow band of broken snow showers with the steep low level lapse rates that will develop up to 5kft with decent saturation in the 2-5kft layer. With the strong wind field that will accompany the front, northwest winds pushing 40 knots below 5kft, there will be a chance of squalls with any stronger shower that develops. Should be a brief duration for any one location with the speed at which the band will be moving, mainly less than 1 hour, but we could get a quick half inch to an inch with these stronger cells. Then the cold air rushes in with the Cold Weather Advisory already in effect for tonight into Saturday morning.

PREV DISCUSSION...
Issued at 330 AM EST Fri Feb 6 2026

DISCUSSION...

Continuing weak vorticity advection within broader mid-upper troughing across the Great Lakes has provided just enough lift to capitalize on lingering low level saturation below the DGZ to support scattered freezing drizzle/mist overnight into early this morning. The primary shortwave coming out of the upper Midwest drives southeast across the southern Lake Michigan basin into the Ohio Valley between roughly 10-16Z this morning. Models are still holding firm in this track to our southwest keeping the bulk of heavier snow likewise to our west and south during the morning commute timeframe. That said, SE MI will reside under the broader albeit weaker isentropic ascent as the trough axis pivots overhead supporting widespread light snow over most the area. Given the track of the wave, areas south of I-96 stand the best shot at seeing some pockets of more moderate snowfall rates (around 0.25"/hr). Overall, most areas stand likely to pick up around an inch of snowfall by the end of the morning. Locales south of I-96, particularly towards Lenawee county, could see up to 1.5-2" dependent on the arrival of quarter inch rates. Switching over to temperatures, modest warm advection in southwest flow this morning allows temps to make a run for lower to mid 30s by midday marking the first time since mid January with highs above 30.

Increasing subsidence in the wake of the shortwave over southern OH by this point offers a break in snow early this afternoon before the arrival of the trailing arctic front between roughly 17-22Z.
Forecast soundings generate weak instability along the shallow frontal circulation supportive of at least scattered snow showers with fropa. High-res model solutions however diverge on overall coverage ranging from a somewhat broken line (HRRR) to widely scattered (ARW)- owing to shallow saturation depths only up to ~4kft, which are marginally saturated at that. For now, will hold with chance PoPs (30-40%) and accumulations from a dusting to couple tenths. Despite the shallow convective depths, weak instability combined with a healthy column wind field of 35-50kts in the lowest 5kft do support some potential for an isolated snow squall or two with modeled snow squall parameters around to just over 1. If any squall does manage to develop, it would be capable of a quick half inch or so of new snow (lack of residence time as the front quickly crosses limits higher accumulation chances).

Strong cold air advection follows the arctic front as mixing of lower level column winds will be capable of generating gusts on the order of 30-40mph late afternoon-evening into the first half of tonight. Temperatures plummet behind the front from 30s early this afternoon to single digits by late evening-early tonight. Coldest air settles over the Thumb, due to the core of the arctic airmass sinking over eastern Ontario, with negative single digit lows forecast. Rest of SE MI sees lows at 0 to low positive single digits. While winds weaken from the peak this evening, sustained 10- 15mph northwest winds with peak gusts up to 25mph result in wind chills ranging from -10 to -20, coldest in the Thumb. As such, all of SE MI is under a Cold Weather Advisory from late evening through Saturday morning.

Upper troughing begins to slide out over the eastern seaboard by late Sunday with weakening central CONUS ridging attempting to build in its place first half of next work week. This is expected to lead to a steady moderation in temperatures through midweek back to near normal for early February including a shot at above average highs by Tuesday.

MARINE...

A Gale Warning and Heavy Freezing Spray Warning are in effect this afternoon through early Saturday morning. The Gale Warning has been expanded to include all of Lake Huron and Outer Saginaw Bay as strong cold advection leads to northwest gale force gusts beginning this afternoon. Both ice cover and post-frontal subsidence still work to reduce mixing depths quickly in these areas, but given the magnitude of the cold advection and low level jet, thinking gales may linger past the 3 hour duration mark. General sentiment of the warning stays the same, with gusts peaking this afternoon and evening around 35 to 40 knots. For ice-free portions of the lake, sustained northwest winds of 30 to 35 knots and the arctic inbound airmass lead to heavy freezing spray. On top of this, periods of snow are likely throughout the day as the governing Hudson Bay low sends several disturbances across the Great Lakes. A much drier airmass floods into the region early Saturday morning, paired with building surface pressure to support quieter conditions for the weekend. That said, snow chances return Sunday as a clipper system glances across the Great Lakes.

DTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
MI...Cold Weather Advisory from 8 PM this evening to noon EST Saturday for MIZ047>049-053>055-060>063-068>070.

Cold Weather Advisory from 11 PM this evening to noon EST Saturday for MIZ075-076-082-083.

Lake Huron...Gale Warning until 10 PM EST this evening for LHZ361.

Gale Warning until 4 AM EST Saturday for LHZ362-363-421-441>443- 462>464.

Heavy Freezing Spray Warning until 4 AM EST Saturday for LHZ362-363- 462.

Lake St Clair...None.
Michigan waters of Lake Erie...None.