AccuWeather.com

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

Jan 28, 2012; 6:10 AM ET

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Just enough snow to make slippery spots on roads and sidewalks is rolling eastward into the Midwest to start the weekend.

Colder air is moving into the Midwest in waves this weekend and will be featured by little flirts of snow.

In most areas, the system into Saturday will bring a mere coating to an inch of snow. However, that is just enough to partially melt then refreeze on some untreated surfaces.

Cool air in front of the snow will be replaced by colder air in its wake.

Minneapolis and Des Moines were just a couple of the metropolitan areas in line for a bit of snow with the system today.

During tonight, the system will spread its snow over Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Indianapolis.

Detroit, Cleveland, Dayton and Pittsburgh will get a bit of the white stuff.

While the system does not have a lot of moisture to work with and will barely bring a few flurries to some locations, gusty winds will be a trademark as colder air rolls in.

The strong winds, gusting to 50 mph in some locations, can catch up with the back end of the snow, resulting in sudden, brief poor visibility.

A push of cool air brought a brief period of snow from Ohio and western Pennsylvania to Michigan and southern Ontario this morning. However, that air is of Pacific origin and not all that cold. As a result, some of the precipitation from the new feature will fall as spotty rain or a light wintry mix over the central Plains and from near the Ohio River on south.

Even in areas where there is just enough precipitation to wet the ground, much colder air moving in tonight/Saturday can lead to icy patches, travel with care.

A second even weaker feature will swing into the Great Lakes this weekend from central Canada. While the system itself is unlikely to bring more than spotty flurries to most areas, it will cause lake-effect snow bands to shift back and forth rather quickly within the cold flow over the region.

Storm Next Week

AccuWeather.com meteorologists continue to keep an eye on the weather pattern for next week that could lead to a swath of accumulating snow from portions of the central and eastern Great Lakes to northern New England and neighboring Canada.

Since the storm is just under a week away, it is far from being set in stone. How much precipitation falls has yet to be determined since the energy from the feature is still way out over the northern Pacific Ocean at this time.

Up until that storm runs its course later next week, a series of weak, nuisance systems will swing through with teases of snow, ice and rain.