westMJim

Going back to 1950 the winters with the least amount of seasonal snow fall at Grand Rapids, MI are 1. 1982/83 35.9" 2. 1952/53 39.7" 3. 1986/87 47.6" 4. 1979/80 48.5" then 5. 2011/12 51.2" in even more recent times the winter of 2016/17 just 60.1" fell. So far this season 15.2"

It being a very mild end to December 2019 and for the first time that I can recall there are Dandelions in bloom this late into December. I also have some of my spring flowers popping up not sure how far they will get over the next couple of days we shall see. Over the last week Grand Rapids has seen some very warm temperatures. Christmas 2019 was the 3rd warmest on record at Grand Rapids 55° and Lansing 57° and the 2nd warmest at Muskegon 50° Then on the 26th new record highs were set at Grand Rapids 61° and Lansing 59° and at Muskegon it was the 2nd warmest December 26th with a high of 54°

It is now officially reached 60 at GRR. Here at my house I am now at 63 and the sun is out. I went for a walk and there are dandelions out in bloom. In my yard there is a crocus while not in bloom one is popping out of the ground. I will keep a eye on it as if it blooms I will post in on Saturday. Also I seen a couple of flies out on my walk. This is one warm end to this December.

I was thinking more like 1982/83 or 1933/34

It is now up to 60 here at my house and sunny. It looks more like late March or early April then late December.

yes, 55 looks to be the days official high at Grand Rapids.

With a official reading of 54° Grand Rapids now has a new 3rd warmest Christmas in recorded history. At this time here at my house I am up to 60 so will have to see what GRR has at the 3 PM reading.

Here at my house the temperature is now up to 52 with sunny skies. The last official reading at GRR was 49

For anyone dreaming of a white Christmas https://www.mtu.edu/webcams/ Even there the temperatures are will into the 30's

Merry Christmas!!!! The GRR NWS for some reason keeps pointing out that this will not be a record warm Christmas. That said it very well could be a top 5 warmest. Here are the rankings for Grand Rapids 1. 65 in 1982 2. 57 in 1893 3. 50 in 1936. 4. 49 in 1932 and 1885. 5 46 in 2015. At This time it is hazy and 29 here with a lot of frost. GRR reported temp is 35.

There is a dandelion in bloom in yard this is the first time that I have seen one bloom this late in the season and no it is now on the south side of a building. This December will go into the record books as warmer then average will much less snow than average as at this time the mean at Grand Rapids is 30.8° and that is +0.6° there has been only 8.4” of snow 15.6” is average as of this date. At Muskegon the mean is at 31.4° while this is just a departure of +0.1° there has only been 6.3” of snow fall and that is well below the average of 19.9” and at Lansing the mean there is at 30.7 that is a departure of +1.3 and just 2.9” of snow fall there. Earlier on I had a guess of between 65 and 75” of snow fall for this winter at the time I thought that was a good guess will that may be too high and maybe way too high. At this time it is 31 here with a lot of frost but no fog.

Christmas dandelion! Out in my front yard there is a dandelion in bloom. While I have seen them is late November and even in early December I do not recall seeing one in bloom in late December.

And there were thunderstorms on that afternoon as a "cold" front swept thru. The next day the high was only 41. But it was back up to 61 on the 28th

We are back from a short trip up to Bay City. Had a nice time visiting several relatives. Boy with the warm temperatures and sun I have to say it looks and feels more like March than December. From Grand Rapids to Bay City there is just a very few snow piles and that is it. The high here in Grand Rapids yesterday of 52 was the 6th warmest December 22nd on record. And this whole week could be one of the top 5 warmest Christmas weeks on record here in GR. But I can say I will be able to walk outside ever day so that is a good thing and it will lower the heating bills for everyone.

Good morning and welcome to the start of the calendar winter (later today) The start of the “official” winter season will be on the mild side. The little snow we have on the ground will be long gone before Christmas and this year will be the 2nd Christmas in a row (we did have snow later in the day last year) and the 6th Christmas in the last 10 that have be green. As the average chances of a white Christmas here at Grand Rapids is at 65% we have not been doing good the last 10. The pattern we are now in looks like a El Nino. And of course it that keeps up there could be a lot less snow and cold this winter we shall see. If so it would not be the first time the CPC (and other long range) guessers have made a mistake. At this time it is clear and 22 here at my house and that is colder than the official 28 at GRR.

We are now at the time of this shortest days and next week the days will start to get longer. So far this month the theme has been colder that average with less then average snowfall. At Grand Rapids the mean is now at 29.5° and that is -1.3° and there has been just 8.4” of snow fall average as of December 19th is 12.5” At Muskegon the mean there is now at 30.8° that is a departure of -0.9° and there just 6.3” of snow fall the average there should be 17.0” by this date. To the east at Lansing their mean is at 29.3° and that is a departure of -0.7° and just 2.9” of snow has fallen and that is below the average for the date of 7.5” so bottom line is colder then average and less snow and now the warm up will begin.

At this time the December snow fall total here at Grand Rapids is at 8.4" this is below the average at this time of 11.8" For the season the total is now at 15.2" and this is also below the seasonal average as of this date of 19.3" and it looks like this will stay the same for the foreseeable future

Had a official low of +7 (+5 here at my house) before the clouds move in and the temperatures just up. This morning the temperature is up to 15 here at my house. At this time there is 2"of snow on the ground.

At this time it is now down to +7° here at my house and then next week there is a chance that 50 might be reached. So while Grand Rapids has over the years seen a 65% chance of a white Christmas this year will be the 6th time in the last 10 it has seen a green/brown Christmas.

Here at my house 2" of fluffy lake effect snow fell last night. With partly cloudy skies the temperature here is 15° The fluffy snow will not last long with the warmer temperatures later this week and will soon be gone.

One of the biggest weather events of the year 2019 for Grand Rapids will be...... ...RECORD FOR ANNUAL PRECIPITATION SET AT GRAND RAPIDS MI... THE ANNUAL PRECIPITATION RECORD FOR GRAND RAPIDS, MI WAS BROKEN THIS MORNING. TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR 2019 NOW STANDS AT 48.81 INCHES. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 48.80 INCHES SET IN 2008. THIS IS THE MOST PRECIPITATION THAT HAS BEEN RECORDED IN A CALENDAR YEAR IN GRAND RAPIDS SINCE RECORDS STARTED BEING KEPT IN 1892. THE NEXT RECORD REPORT FOR ANNUAL PRECIPITATION FOR 2019 WILL BE SENT AT THE END OF THE YEAR. PLEASE SEE THE DAILY CLIMATE REPORTS FOR THE MOST RECENT TOTAL. As of today December 17 the total for the year is at 48.82" At this time it is clear here with a temperature of 23 and just a trace of snow on the ground.

With the total precipitation now at 48.82″ 2019 is now the wettest year in recorded history here at Grand Rapids!!! It is now the 2nd wettest year at Muskegon. We are now at the half way point in December 2019. While temperatures so far are near average the snow fall has been well below average. At Grand Rapids the mean at this time is 31.0° average is 31.4° a departure of -0.4° the high for the month so far 48° on the 9th and the coldest so far is 10 on the 11th and 12th There has been only 6.0” of snow fall with 9.5 being average as of this date. At Muskegon the mean so far is at 32.3 that is +0.1° There has been only 4.8” of snow fall well below the average of 12.8” and at Lansing the mean there is 31.3 that is +0.6 above average. And for snow fall just 1.6” has reportedly fell there with the average as of this date being 5.7” With a green Christmas looking more and more likely this would be the 3rd time in the last 10 years that Grand Rapids has seen a back to back green Christmas.

While here in southern lower Michigan there is not much snow at all that is not the case in the UP and northern lower, here are some reports in the north. Painesdale 36”- Kearsarge 29″- Marquette (airport) 28”-Michigamme 27”- Sawyer 26″ Hancock and Paulding 25″ -Watersmeet, Ishpeming 22″ Ironwood, Gladstone, Munising, Green Garden 24″ Marquette (downtown – which usually has less snow than the Marquette Airport) 19″-- Iron Mt. and Champion18″-- Norway and Jacobsville 16″ Watton 15″ Detour Village, Garden Corners 14″-- Moran 13″ St. Ignace12″-- S. Ste. Marie, Drummond Is.11″-- Mancelona, Manistique 8″ E. Jordan 7″-- Charlevoix, Gaylord 4″-- Grayling 3″-- Alpena and Benzonia 2″ Fife Lake, Atlanta, Mio and Lewiston 1” Here at my house

Ok, first off it looks like GRR has recorded 0.01″ of precipitation so that means Grand Rapids has at least tied the most precipitation for any year on record. Here at my house I have just under a half inch of snow on the ground and at this time light snow is falling. The current temperature here is now 27° For the° month GR is near average at -0.3° the snow fall is below average with just 5.6″.

Just got back from my walk outside. Boy today is a nice and mild mid December day. The sun is now out and the temperature is at 44 here at my house and there is no wind.