westMJim

While we are enjoying a sunny and pleasant week that is not the case in much of Europe. “On Tuesday, Meteo France registered 41.2C (106.1F) in the south-western city, breaking a 2003 record of 40.7C. Forecasters predict a record-breaking run across Europe this week, including Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Much of France has been issued with an orange alert - the second highest level of warning. Meteo France said Paris temperatures might hit new highs on Thursday. The record, set in 1947, stands at 40.4C. Comparisons have been drawn to a heatwave France experienced in August 2003, during which heat contributed to almost 15,000 deaths. The mercury is also expected to climb to 40C in a string of countries:” BTW that 40C is about 104F

After the cool spring we had July has surprised me on how warm it has been. For what it is worth the string of 80 or better at Grand Rapids and Lansing has ended at 27 days. As far as I can tell this is one of the longest string of 80 or better days for Grand Rapids. The longest I can find was 52 in 1921. 47 in 1988 and 34 in 1947. as of this morning Grand Rapids July’s mean is 76.1° and that is good for a departure of +4.1° If this carried out to the end of the month that would be good for 11th all-time warmest July at GR. In the last 10 years GR has had 2012 (79.2°) in 2nd place 2011 (77.0°) in 6th place and 2010 (75.5°) in 13th place. We will know in 9 days how July 2019 ends up.

At this time there are many very high dew points around the Great Lakes area here in Michigan some of the highest DP’s I have ever seen. Here are some of the current DP’s around the State of Michigan. . Ann Arbor 79, Battle Creek 78, Coldwater 80, Jackson 79, Monroe 84??? Sturgis 81 Grand Rapids 77 And drum roll please here at my house I have a current DP of 80 giving a (according to my weather station) a heat index of 111 with a air temperature of 88.

With it this humid it is very hard to get even in the mid 90's Some people think that Florida gets up to 100 in the summer time well if it does it on days that are less humid. The clouds and rain to the west should keep the temps down here a little for today.

Just got back home from my walk. It is a very warm and humid morning. If you have not been way down south in the summer time get out side and feel the humidity in the air it is very close to what it feels like in Florida in the morning the one big difference is that it is very cloudy here at this time. The overnight low here at my house was just 77 the current temperature both here at my house and out at the airport is 80 and the DP is at 76 it is very cloudy at this time with showers to the west.

I took my walk early today with the temperatures in the low 70’s (73 here at my house and the airport) and the Dew Point around 70 (70 at the airport 68 here at my house) it was a very nice morning for a walk. There has not been much rain here on the NW side of GR but the grass is still mostly green even in the areas that have not been watered. Grand Rapids remains in a thunderstorm drought as there have only been 4 reported for June and July. Today will be the 24th day in a row of 80 or better here at Grand Rapids. That is a long streak for this area

We are now at the half way point of the meteorological summer of 2019 and here are some facts as to where Grand Rapids stands here at the half way point. For June the mean temperature was 66.8° and that was a departure of -1.6° there was 4.36” of rain fall in June there was just 1 day of reported thunder at GRR. Of the 30 days the mean temperature on 19 were below average and 11 were above average. In July the mean so far is at 75.8 ° and that is good for a departure of +3.3° This month so far there have been just 4 days of below average mean temperatures and one day of a average mean and 10 days of above average. There has been just 1.96” of rain fall so far. For the meteorological summer season so far there have been 26 days of 80° or better (today will be 27) and of those 26 days 5 have been 90 or better for the met season there have been 5 days in the 60’s and 6 more days where the high was under 75. The coldest low so far this summer is 40. There have been 5 nights were the low did not get below 70 so far with the warmest being 72.

Today is the 20th day in a row of temperatures of 80 or better and here in Grand Rapids we have only had 3 thunderstorms since May 25th, There were 4 in May and 3 in April and that is is for the year so far. We did not have very many last year either here in GR we are in a thunderstorm drought for sure.

Had a nice clear and cool night last night. The low here at my house was 54 while the official low at the airport was 57. So far this July the mean temperature is 76.2 and that is a departure of +3.8 the warmest so far is 91 and the coolest so far is 57. So far there has not been a day when the high did not reach at least 80. With that mean of 76.2 Grand Rapids at this time is on track for a top ten warmest July’s on record we will see how the next 20 days of this month play out.

I see you are out of Marshal but I will toss this at you just the same. A report of a Dew Point of 82° was reported at Marshal's Brooks Airport today (July 6th ) I have sent a email to the NWS to see if that can be verified

How did this years July 4th stack up compared to past hot July 4ths? Yesterday the official H/L at Grand Rapids was 90/71 There have been 23 years where the high at Grand Rapids reached 90 or better on July 4th two of them were at 100 (1897 and 1911) two more were at 99 (1921 and 2012) 5 at 94, 4 at 93, 2 at 92, 4 at 91 and now 4 at 90. There have been 18 times when the low did not get below 70 with the warmest being 78 in 2012. Last year the H/L was 94/73 the coolest high was 64 in 1970 and the coldest low was 45 in 1972 The current temperature at GRR is a very warm and humid 86 with a DP of 74 here at my house I now have 87 with some sun and clouds off to the north

A lot of rain in parts of the GR metro area here at my house I recorded 1.25” of rain yesterday afternoon to this morning. While at GRR the total was 1.16” But at Lansing it was just 0.19” and at Muskegon no rain fell at all. At this time here at my house I have a temperature of 74 with a DP of 72 once again it was a nice warm walk this morning with clear skies and a good touch of humidity in the air. Summer is here.

The total rain fall here at my house yesterday was 1.11” it came in two events one in the morning of 0.55” and another in the evening of 0.56” The evening event had some wind with it but nowhere near the 55 MPH reported at GRR. Around the area Muskegon set a new record for July 2nd rain fall with 2.12” but GRR only had 0.46” Lansing 0.47” and down at Kalamazoo just 0.10” fell At this time the temperature is 70 both here at my house and at GRR. With all of the rain so far this year the grass is still very green and my tomato garden (and flowers) are doing real good at this time.

There has been a reported DP reading of 77° today at Marshall, Michigan now that is very high for Michigan and in fact it is among the highest so far today in the US. Today there have been several locations in Florida and Texas with readings of 79 (Perry and Daytona Beach) with the highest today anywhere in the us being 81° in Brownsville Texas. I thought Jaster would bring this up LOL

Here are some averages and past history for the month of July. At Grand Rapids, MI. July of course is generally (but not always) the warmest month of the year here at Grand Rapids. In 1971, 2009 and 2014 June was warmer then July and in 1900, 1937, 1974 and 1959 August was warmer then July. During the month the average High and Low are very stable starting out at 83/61 on the 1st 83/62 on the 15th and by the 31st the average H/L is 82/62. Most days even in July are on the comfortable level (compared to most of the United States) with most days having a DP of less than 65% about 30% of the days have a DP of over 65 and only 7% have days with a DP of 70 or better. The hottest day was 108 on July 13, 1936 and the coldest low was a cold 41 on July 6th 1983 The coldest mean was a cool 67.1° in 2009 with 67.2 coming in 2nd in 1992 the 3rd coldest July was 68.4 in 2014. Odd that the top 3 coldest July’s happened more recently. The warmest July on record was 79.7 in 1921 with 79.2 in 2012 coming in in 2nd place and 77.0 in 2014 is in 6th place. The mean number of days with highs of 80 or better is 22 and has ranged from 31 in 1955 to just 10 in 1992 (2009 is has the 2nd lowest with 11 and 2014 had just 13) On the warm side 4 Julys had 30 days of 80 or better that last time was in 2012. As for the number of hot days the mean number days in July with 90 or better is just 5 there have been 11 Julys where the temperature did not reach 90 here in Grand Rapids 18 is the most and that has happened 3 time with the last being 2012. As for 100° they are rare here in GR and there have only been 11 Julys were it has gotten that hot. The most was in 1936 with 6. 1934 and 1916 had 4. 2012, 1911, 1897 and 1894 had 2.

Today should be the warmest day of 2019 at Grand Rapids so far. There is even a chance that it could reach 90 in spots and I am sure there will be some back yards where that will happen. Here is a fun fact. Even if all of the remaining days of June get above 80 (there is a good chance that will happen) the total number of days that warm so far this year will total 11 well here is a list of the years when Grand Rapids has only had 11 days or less of 80 or better in recorded history. 1917, 1924 and 1974 had 7. 1935 had 9 and 1897, 2003 and it looks like 2019 had 11. So this year will be tied for 3 place with the fewest 80 days as of July 1st (that is if the last 4 days all reach 80 or better)

It has been very cloudy here in Grand Rapids for the past 10 months (June could be the 11 month) in the past 10 months every month has been cloudier than average. Here is a rundown August 2018 GRR reported 50% of possible sunshine (63% is average) for September it was a little better compared to average with 53% (56% is average) October GR had 36% (44% is average) in November there was just 9% (28% is ave) in December there was just 13% (23% ave) in January we jumped up to 22% but 28% is average, In February back down to 17% (38% is average) in March we seen the sun 42% of the possible time (46% is average) in April we seen the sun 49% of the time just below the average of 51% May was a very cloudy and cool month with just 36% (54% is average) and so far this June GR is at 46% with 58% being average.

I did not receive a lot of rain last night only 0.24″ here at my house. Finally a nice warm summer like night with a good touch of humidly in the air and a overnight low of just 67 here at my house and 68 at the airport. I know there are a few people who do not like it this humid but I love it with temperatures in the 65 to 85° range and somewhat humid. Even with yesterdays official high of 82 and low of 56 GR was still below average for the day and is still -3.0 for the month of June. Also there have been 15 days in a row of below average mean temperatures at Grand Rapids and 17 days below average and just 5 days above average.

While we here in the central US are just starting to get some nice warm summer weather in much of Northern Europe it has been warm for much of June and looks to get very warm to hot this coming week. Locations from Madrid to Paris, Belgium, Frankfurt and Berlin can expect a multi-day heat wave, with daily temperatures near or above30C (90 F). The average high is between 24C (74F) and 26F (78F) Some of the hottest locations may reach 38C (100F) Even in England the highs may reach up to 27C (80F) the average high in London in June is around 21C (70F) While that type of temperatures in much of the US are not unusual in the US they are more unusual in Europe The 11 am reading at GRR was 69 and here at my house I now have 75 and lots of sunshine

For a change the sky is clear this morning with a temperature of 56 here at my house and 57 out at the airport. At this time the mean temperature at Grand Rapids is 64.0 and that is a departure of -3.0° Officially at GRR the rain fall yesterday was 1.57″ and this has been a cloudy month so far also. According to Bill Stiffen as of June 17th GR has only had 46% of possible sunshine this month 63% is average for June. With June now looking like it will end up being the 6th month in a row of below average temperature wise one might wonder just how rare that is. Well from October 2002 to August 2003 Grand Rapids had 10 months in a row of below average temperatures August 2003 was just about average (+0.3) with September and October back to below average and November being above average at +1.0 then December being +2.4 then back to below average in January and February 2004.

Welcome back to GR

Today looks like it will have a chance of being the 5th day this June that Grand Rapids did not reach 70° So far this month there have only been 4 days where the high reached 80 or better with the warmest so far just 82. This month so far the average high has been 73.9 and the average low has been 54.2° The mean so far is at 64.0 and that is a departure of -2.9° So far there have been 2 clear days (less then 30% cloud cover) 14 partly cloudy days (between 40 and 70% cloud cover) and 3 cloudy days (between 80 and 100% cloud cover) Hey the good news the rain looks to have stopped and there seems to be some breaks in the clouds here with a temperature of 63

Yet another cloudy cool June day. So far this month has a mean temperature here at Grand Rapids of just 63.5° and yesterday for the 2nd time is just 5 days Grand Rapids had a top coldest maximum day. With yesterdays high of only 62 Grand Rapids had its 3rd coldest maximum for June 16th in recorded history with only 55 in 1974 and 61 in 1982 being colder. At this time it is cloudy and a cool 57 here at my house.

Yet another cloudy day here in our neck of the woods. So far here at my house no rain yet today but rain was reported at the airport. Also while we have seen a lot of rain this spring and early summer thunderstorms have been few and far between. We are now at the half way mark for June and yes it is been wet 2.24” vs a normal average of 1.93 by this date. And it has been cooler then average with a mean of 63.8° and that is -2.5 below average. The warmest so far is just 82 and the low for the month is at 40° There have been 10 days below average and just 5 days warmer then average. I have yet had to run the AC not even had to have the windows open that much but did have the heat on a few mornings to take the chill off in the house. One thing it has been cloudy so much that it has held the overnight low up so it could have been colder this month if we had more clear calm nights.

We are now almost at the half way point for June 2019 and here for Grand Rapids the official mean temperature so far this month is 63.6 that is a departure of -2.5° the average H/L so far has been 74.1/53.1 the normal average H/L is 76.8/55.4 The warmest it has been this month is just 82 and the coldest it has been is 40. And Grand Rapids has officially reported 2.21" of rain fall so far. The sun has now broken out and the temperature is now up to 72 here. Here at my house I have not had the AC on yet (have turned it on just to make sure it is working OK) Heck we have not had the windows open all that much let this year. I have had the furnace on for a short while just to take the chill off in the house. But hey everything sure is green this year so far.