6:11 p.m. update
The National Weather Service has upgraded the winter storm watch to a winter storm warning for the entire Eastern Upper Peninsula Friday afternoon to Saturday evening.
Snow is expected to increase late Friday afternoon through the evening and remain heavy into Saturday morning. Strong northeast winds could gust to 50 mph at times, creating whiteout/blizzard conditions through Saturday morning.
In terms of snow amounts, widespread 6 to 9 inches is likely through Saturday afternoon with locally higher amounts possible especially in far southeast Chippewa and Mackinac counties.
Moderate to heavy lake effect snow off Lake Superior and Whitefish Bay is expected for Saturday night through Monday as the storm pulls away and west-northwest winds develop.
Original 12:49 p.m. information:
A major winter storm is expected to affect the entire state of Michigan in some way Friday through Sunday with strong winds and heavy snow.
Specifically for the Eastern U.P. including Sault Ste. Marie, the widespread system snow will increase Friday evening and stick around through Saturday afternoon. Northeast winds Friday afternoon through Friday night will be strong 15-25 mph with gusts nearing 50 mph possible.
As the storm pulls away Saturday, winds will become more north-northwest 12-22 mph with gusts near 40 mph possible.
Heavy snow squalls off Lake Superior and Whitefish Bay are likely Saturday night through all of Sunday giving the area several more inches of snow.
As for snow amounts, widespread 5 to 8 inches is expected for much of the EUP Friday evening through Saturday morning. Locally, higher amounts to around a foot are possible for the Pickford, Raber, Detour, and Drummond Island areas.
No matter how much snow we see, the strong northeast winds will create blizzard-like conditions Friday night through Saturday.
