westMJim

The snow fall and wind have now picked up here as well, Getting moderate snow fall and a good amount of wind

Not sure how much snow as fallen the temperature is still at 33.4° (more has fallen then has accumulated) but here at my house there is now a solid one inch of snow cover. It is now on the grass, roofs, trees and now even on the road and sidewalk. With today's snow fall Grand Rapids will go above average for the month of April. Today may set a new record for snow fall for April 14th (1.6" is the record for today) and for the 2018/19 season we will have to see just how close Grand Rapids gets to 80.0" As before today's snow it was at 77.1"

Had a light shower the temperature here at my house is now at 37 so kind of warm for any snow to stick (if any falls) the wind has picked up and is now out of the east at around 20 MPH so the wind chill is in the mid 20's The forecast is still for 2 to 4" for today and early tonight we shall see.

If that 2/4 happens it would be a record for the date for most of west and central Michigan.

If the forecasted 2-4 inches of snow fall happens then there could be a new record snow fall for April 14th in west Michigan. Here are the record snow falls for April 14th At Grand Rapids the record is 1.6” in 2014 with 1.4” in 1939 in 2nd place and 0.5” in 1905 in 3rd place. At Lansing the record is 1.5” in 1939 with 1.0” in 1892 in 2nd place and for Muskegon the record is 2.0” in 1905 and in 2nd place is 1.6” in 2014. Of note of the above years 1905 and 2014 had very cool summers.

It is sunny and 51 here at my house, I now have Crocus, Daffodils, and Hyacinths in bloom. And with the rain the grass is now turning green so all in all spring is showing its self around here, BTW there are still some parking lots snow piles left as well. If we do get any snow it will not last too long. Remember the sun's angle is now the same as September 2nd

Yesterday’s high of 65 at GR was the warmest high since October 10th of last year. And if the low so far today of 48 holds until midnight it will be the warmest low also since October 10th when GR had a low of 62. So this has been a rather long cold season that is for sure. Here are some snow depths in the UP as of yesterdays AM The Sault 23”, Marquette 20” Munising 28” Herrman 24” Here in Grand Rapids the snow has been gone for a long time but here on the north side of town there are still a lot of parking lot snow piles left. There are a lot fewer of them on the south side of town. I have worked for the West Michigan Whitecaps (the local minor league baseball team) for 13 years and the yesterdays home opener was the warmest in that time and was told it was the warmest home opener since 1997

Today is opening day at Detroit. Today looks cold once again Here are the opening day temperatures going back to 2000. 2018/39. 2017/42, 2016/28,2015/52, 2014/52, 2013/45, 2012/43, 2011/43, 2010/38, 2009/51, 2008/51,2007/62, 2006/54,2005/68, 2004/46, 2003/35, 2002/37, 2001 and 2000/36. So the range has been from 35 to 68.

A little weather history for April 3rd Today is the 60th anniversary of the biggest tornado to hit the Grand Rapids area. It was a cold spring in 1956 and on this date the temperature soared to 78 here. Then in the late afternoon a strong cold front crossed Lake Michigan and brought a large tornado that crossed the western and northern suburbs of Grand Rapids there were 18 people killed and over 300 injured. Note I did not live in GR at that time but the storm pasted less then a half mile to my NW. Also on this date in 1975 a big snowstorm came thru Bay City, MI (where I was living at that time) and dumped 15” of snow along with high winds and a lot of thunder and lightning.

Here is the preliminary March wrap for west Michigan. At Grand Rapids the mean was 32.2° that is a departure of -3.4° the highest for the month was 61 on the 28th the lowest for the month was +8° on the 8th the maximum of 14° was the 2nd coldest maximum for that date. There was 7.9” of snow fall (average is 8.3”) the most on the ground was 6” While the ground has been mostly snow free since mid month there are still a lot of parking lot snow piles around the area. The total precip for March was 2.23” (2.37” is average) there were 8 clear days 12 partly cloudy days and 11 cloudy days. At Muskegon the mean was 31.8° that is a departure of -3.2° the highest there was 61 on the 14th and the lowest was 6 on the on the 8th snow fall there was 5.2” (9.0” is average) the most on the ground was 5” precip for the month was 3.19” (2.25” is average)

Now that we are in April here is a preliminary March wrap for west Michigan. At Grand Rapids the mean was 32.2° that is a departure of -3.4° the highest for the month was 61 on the 28th the lowest for the month was +8° on the 8th the maximum of 14° was the 2nd coldest maximum for that date. There was 7.9” of snow fall (average is 8.3”) the most on the ground was 6” While the ground has been mostly snow free since mid month there are still a lot of parking lot snow piles around the area. The total precip for March was 2.23” (2.37” is average) there were 8 clear days 12 partly cloudy days and 11 cloudy days. At Muskegon the mean was 31.8° that is a departure of -3.2° the highest there was 61 on the 14th and the lowest was 6 on the on the 8th snow fall there was 5.2” (9.0” is average) the most on the ground was 5” precip for the month was 3.19” (2.25” is average)

Here is the snow on the ground as of Friday AM in Michigan: 38" 5 miles west of Michigamme, 37" Painesdale, 28" Munising, 27" Calumet, 26" Kearsarge, Herman, 24" S. Ste. Marie, Marquette, 22" Newberry, 21" Champion, Houghton, 20" Atlantic Mine, 16" Moran, 14" Covington, Garden Corners, 13" Harvey, Gladstone and Parent Bay, 12" Watersmeet, 11" El Jordan, Paulding, Jacobsville, Watton and Ishpeming, 10" Mancelona, Manistique, 9" Lewiston, Amasa, Green Garden, 8" St. Ignace, 7" Gaylord, Ironwood, Stambaugh, Norway and Stonington, 5" Chatham, 3" Escanaba, 2" Charlevoix, Maple City and Onaway, 1" Mio and Alpena.

"Cooler by the lake" is very common here on the Michigan side of the lake as well. And we get it from 4 of the Great Lakes. one of the biggest differences I have seen with the cooler by the lake was in June in Manitowoc, WI we had taken the boat across the lake and were staying in the downtown area and we went out to eat at a location just 3 miles from the motel. Downtown the outside reading in the car was just 42 but at the restaurant it was 86 after dinner back at the motel it was still just 45.

With clear skies it has now gotten down to 18° here at my house. The low so far at GRR is 23° There are still a few snow piles in my yard yet I would think they will be gone my Sunday but we shall see. The spring flowers are popping up around the yard and if you have any in your yard I am sure they are doing the same. It still has not reached 60 or better (the last time was way back on October 14th) here in Grand Rapids

With yesterdays official 0.6″ of snow fall Grand Rapids is now up to 7.4″ for March and 76.4″ for the season. Muskegon only reported a trace of snow and at Lansing it was all rain. Here at my house there was enough snow to cover the grass about a half inch the road was just wet. This has been a cold March so far with Grand Rapids being -4.8° below average, other locations Lansing -4.4, Muskegon -4.4, Detroit -4.1, Flint -4.2 and Saginaw -4.7° Here are some snow fall reports from Northern Michigan https://www.weather.gov/apx/snowgraph_ytd At Sault Ste Marie they still have 32” of snow on the ground and at Marquette it is 33”

The rain here has just changed over to light snow. Welcome to spring.

It might be hard to believe but Grand Rapids is in record territory. The last time it reached 60 or better at Grand Rapids was back on October 14, 2018. That puts GR in 3rd place for the longest time between days that did not reach 60 or better. The longest was 183 days from October 13, 1925 to April 13, 1926 in 2nd place is 178 days from October 13 1969 to April 8, 1970 and this year so far we are now at 158 day. Note the earliest last 60 or better dates are October 13 1925 and 1969 and last year it was October 14 the 2nd earliest.

The snow piles here could stick around until April. There are still piles in my front yard and the parking lot piles some are still huge. And yes there is still snow in the woods around here yet.

Not only are we gaining daylight at a rapid rate we are also gaining temperatures also. The average H/L today at Grand Rapids is 45/27 and by Saturday it is 48/29 and by next Monday it is 48/30. One thing to keep in mind is that there is still a lot of snow and ice to our north so anytime we have a NW or north wind it will be a cool one. Also a term we will hear a lot of for some time is “cooler by the lake” It looks like the official low at GRR last night was 20 while here at my house I dropped down to 17.

As Tom mentioned above. Today is the first day of the year with 12 hours of daylight (I know many think it is the spring and fall equinox) https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/grand-rapids?month=3&year=2019 At this time of year we are gaining almost 3 minutes a day. The start of this week will be on the cool side and March 2019 is still running well below average At this time the mean at Grand Rapids is 27.6° and that is -5.2° at Lansing the mean is 27.2 that is -4.9 and at Muekegon the mean is 27.5 and that is also -4.9° we shall see how the rest of March goes. So far the warmest it has gotten at Grand Rapids is just 59 the average warmest maximum for March is 67° At Lansing it touched 62 and the average March warmest maximum there is 66 and at Muskegon it reached 61 and their average March maximum is 62.

Michigan recorded its first tornado’s of 2019yesterday at Vernon a small town NE of Lansing. And more to the of west of Flint https://www.mlive.com/weather/2019/03/video-shows-tornado-churning-through-central-michigan.html

Here at my house I recorded 0.52″ of rain yesterday the high here at my house touched 60. The official readings at GRR was 0.48″ of rain fall and a high of 59° the total snow fall is now 7.3″ for March and 75.8″ for the season. Over at Muskegon they had a record rain fall amount of 1.53″ For March their snow fall is 5.2″ and for the season they are now at 69.4″ and to the east Lansing reported 0.45″ of rain and their snow fall amounts are just 0.6″ for March and just 37.2″ reported for the season. The last time it has officially reached 60 here in Grand Rapids was on October 14th

If Grand Rapids reaches 60 or better on Thursday it will be the first time it has reached 60 or better here at Grand Rapids since October 14th That’s 151 days so it has been a long time since we last seen 60 here in Grand Rapids. I had a low here at my house overnight of 14 and the official low was 17 at GRR.

There is a big difference in the snow pack here in the Grand Rapids area. Here at my house there is still a good 5”of snow on the ground but in the just to the south and east of here there is a lot of bare ground. Any way the one day big warm up is coming and most of the snow will be gone by this weekend. The big snow piles will hang on for some time yet. Here are the warmest and lowest temperatures by month here in Grand Rapids since last September March (so far) 42/8, February 48/-2, January 51/-10, December 53/13, November 52/20, October 84/27, September 90/40. It has not been 60 or more since October 14th

Welcome to "spring-time" of the two times we use I would like to stay on this time all year long. But then I am not a morning person and I would rather have the extra hour of daylight in the evening. It is kind of winy this morning and here in my area there is still a good amount of snow on the ground. The current temperature here is now 35.