Metro Detroit weather: Quiet start to week before major winter storm brings snow, bitter cold

A major winter storm arrives late this week and opens the door for a blast of bitter cold air for Christmas, but the next few days remain pretty quiet. 

VIEW: Christmas winter storm timeline

We may squeeze a bit of sun out here or there, but clouds look to win out. In the meantime, precip breaks out as early as late Thursday as rain or a light wintry mix. 

We'll turn that over to snow at some point Friday and continue into Friday night and taper off Saturday, although lake effect showers continue Saturday. It's too early to start tossing out snow totals, but significant numbers are not out of the question.  

Whatever falls will be whipping around as the wind strengthens thanks to deepening low pressure. Our worst-case scenario includes possible power outages in the days leading to Christmas, with bitter cold air and subzero wind chill set to arrive for the weekend.