A winter storm that could bring up to9 inches of snow is expected in Metro Detroit, starting tonight and pushing into Wednesday afternoon.

The storm will start with rain but move to snow between 10 p.m. tonight and 2 a.m. Wednesday. The morning commute is expected to see heavy snow, the National Weather Service said. Commuters also will be hampered by blowing snow from increasing northeasterly winds.

A winter storm warning is in effect from 2 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday.

The storm’s peak will be from 4 a.m. to 11 a.m., said Dan Thompson, a meteorologist with the weather service in White Lake Township. Snowfall is expected to be between 2-6 inches between M-46 and M-59 and between 6-9 inches south of M-59.

“It’s probably going to be a mess. It’s going to be at the peak of the storm. It’s not going to be fun,” Thompson said.

The southern portion of Wayne and Monroe counties are expected to get the biggest portion of the snow at this point, Thompson said.

Temperatures are expected to be in the 30s Tuesday night and will steadily drop into the 20s by Wednesday morning. They are expected to drop into single digits by Wednesday night, Thompson said.

The additional snow will push Metro Detroit closer to breaking the all-time record for snow.

Currently the metro area has received 84.1 inches of snow, putting it just behind the all-time record of 93.6 inches set during the winter of 1880-81.

Ypsilanti resident Anthony Weatherspoon, 57, was out enjoying balmy temperatures and sunny weather at Campus Martius in Detroit Tuesday .

“I just got out of shoveling mode,” Weatherspoon said. “We don’t need to break (the record). I just want to be able to see the pavement and the potholes while I’m driving.”

Weatherspoon said he’s fortunate to have his two sons to help him shovel the driveway for the worst winter he said he can remember.

Others, such as A.J. Winters of Ypsilanti, said Tuesday he wants to see the all-time snowiest record fall this year.

“I want to break the record, and I want a T-shirt that says you have survived the winter of 2013-2014,” Winters said. “My co-workers won’t talk to me because I keep saying I want to break the record, but I say if you can’t handle Detroit, get out.”

County road commissions are feeling the economic squeeze caused by the severe winter, but they’re hanging in there. Macomb County’s overall road budget is about $100 million, according to Robert Hoepfner, director of the Macomb County Division of Roads.

“We are under water on our winter maintenance budget, which is understandable,” Hoepfner said. “We have a winter maintenance budget of $4 to $5 million, and we’re currently $2 million over our budget. We don’t know yet what kind of an impact this will have on future projects.

“At the end of the winter, we’ll add up all the numbers and see where we stand.”

According to Hoepfner, Macomb County has sufficient road salt for the rest of the winter.

The Wayne County Department of Public Services is also feeling the economic pain caused by the winter.

“We don’t maintain a winter maintenance line item budget, but the latest figures I’ve received shows that our direct winter costs are up by 196 percent and overtime is up by 125 percent,” said roads division spokeswoman Cindy Dingell.

“As of last week, we have used just over 103,000 tons of salt for the season, and we are set for the rest of the winter.”

In Oakland County, road crews have used about 93,000 tons of salt so far but they expect that number to grow.

“We don’t have all the hard numbers because our accounting processes lag by a couple of months,” said Craig Bryson, spokesman for the Road Commission for Oakland County. “However, we budget about $12 million for winter maintenance, and we have exceeded that. But that doesn’t mean we are going to stop winter maintenance.

“In another month or so, we’ll sit down, go over the numbers and decide what has to be cut in the spring.”

But there is hope on the horizon for county road commissions as the Senate and House prepare to negotiate over differences in a supplemental funding bill. The House approved $215 million — with $115 million for special road projects and another $100 million to patch state, county and city budget overruns from this winter’s record snowfall and near-record cold temperatures. The Senate approved a plan to earmark $100 million for snowfall removal from a previously approved $115 million for unspecified special road projects.

The high temperature for Tuesday is expected to be about 44 degrees with a nighttime low of 25. Normal temperatures for this time of year are 43 and 27.

Colder temperatures will return on Wednesday with a day-time high of only 26 degrees and a low of 20. Wednesday night will see a return of subzero temperatures with a low of minus 1 to 5 above.

“We should start to warm up on Friday when temperatures return to the 40s,” Kulik said.