Traveling for Thanksgiving? You’d be smart to keep an eye on a storm system expected to pack “waves of snow” that could impact part of the Lower Peninsula.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service have been tracking the formation of a storm system that is expected to bring snow across the lower Great Lakes and into the Ohio River Valley. For Michigan, this system could impact the I-94 corridor during the Thanksgiving travel window.

“Planning to travel through the Lower Great Lakes region in the Tuesday night through Thursday night timeframe? Be aware that a storm system may bring waves of snow which may impact regional interstates,” NWS meteorologists in Chicago said this weekend when they posted a map (see below) of the area expected to see an impact. “It’s still too early to pinpoint where and how much snow will fall, but the blue shaded areas are where we are watching for travel impacts.”

Closer to home, NWS meteorologists in the Grand Rapids office were able to get a little more specific. They said the southern tier of the Lower Peninsula could see light precipitation develop on Wednesday and stick around for most of that day. This could mean light rain or snow. By Wednesday night, any rain would turn to snow.

“We are watching for the potential of some accumulating snow for Thanksgiving Day, especially for the southern half of the forecast area south of I-96,” the NWS Grand Rapids staff said in its forecast notes today.

What’s driving this weather? It’s a low-pressure system that is expected to work its way through the Rockies and Plains states, then funnel toward the Ohio River Valley.

The question mark is how much of the precipitation coming our way will be snow, and exactly where it will fall.

So far, the forecast shows most of the snow staying south of Michigan, “with I-94 getting clipped,” the NWS said.

“Real winter weather is set to arrive in Lower Michigan later this week, and it could slow down travel with slick roads, possibly starting Thanksgiving, then likely continuing through the long weekend with heavy lake-effect snow in some areas.”

After Thanksgiving, a cold front will bring higher chances for lake-effect snow. We could see up to a few inches of snow stacking up in counties along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

In the Upper Peninsula, lake-effect snow is expected all week. We’ll get a separate forecast ready for that area, as some places could see quite a bit of snow this week.