westMJim

June Summery for Grand Rapids. The average Temperature was 69.9° (+1.5°) the average high was 79.1° (+0.1) the average low was 60.7° (+3.0°) the high for the month was 94° the low for the month was just 48° there were 4 days of 90° or better the average is 2. There was 2.50” of rain. there were only 4 thunderstorms at Grand Rapids for the month. There was only 52% of possible sunshine with only 3 clear days 19 partly cloudy days and 8 cloudy days. And the official snow for the 2017/18 season ended up at 77.7” and that was +2.8”

Not sure how much rain I got yet BUT did have a roll cloud and gust front come thru and with that it became very windy and quick wind and rain squall past thru. The sky is already clearing here and the temperature fell from 91 down to 74.

With that whole line coming in there is one break in the line and that is the area that is heading in my area. Current temperature here is 91 and cloudy with storms to the north and south of me,

With todays DP of 77° I took a look to see if I could find the record highest DP for Grand Rapids. Well sorry to say that Dew Points records are not kept. But with some research I found that on July 13th 1995 Grand Rapids had a Dew Point of 81° at 5 pm that day with a temperature of 97 giving GR a Heat Index of 119° on that date the DP reached 80 at 2PM and it was 80 at 3 and 4 PM before reaching that 81 at 5 PM it fell to 79 at 6 pm but did not fall below 78 that whole night and the over night low was just 81° the next day it was the same as the temperature reached 97 and the DP reached 80 at 1 to 4 PM While I can not say for sure but I would think that 81 DP could be the record for Grand Rapids.

11 Am temperature (10 AM Chicago) is 88° DP at both Grand Rapids and Chicago is 77° with a reported HI of 100°

The 1 am reading at GRR was 82° with a DP of 76 that is good for a reported HI of 89° The wind is out of the SW at 10 MPH. The record warmest minimum for today June 30 at Grand Rapids is 76 set back in 1931. That record is very much in play,

Off to work I go. It is going to be 3 hot days at the ball park. The latest temperature at GRR is 90 with a DP of 72 good for a reported Heat index to 98. Off to our SW it is even worse in Illinois the DP’s are in the upper 70’s with a couple of 81’s reported the same in Iowa. Missouri has DP’s in the mid to upper 70’s and in Wisconsin the range is in the low to upper 70’s and here in Michigan the range from 73 at Benton Harbor to 64 at Copper Harbor. There are even a few in the low 70’s in the UP so we are in for a humid night. here is a site for DP's and other information. http://www.usairnet.com/weather/maps/current/michigan/dew-points/

BTW I work for the local minor league baseball club. While it was warm last night I expect the rest of this home stand to be very hot. This might be the hottest days I have worked at the park since 2012 when we played several games in temperatures of over 100 and one day at 104.

I got my walk in early today. At this time here in Grand Rapids it is not all that bad out. The temperature when I left for my walk was a cool 64° and the current temperature at my house is 69 the last report at the airport 66 with a DP of 64. One thing that kind of surprised me is that I was the only one out running/walking even in the park. Only a few others walking their dogs. That is odd because it was nice and cool even if a little humid.

Wow, Talk about humid at 10PM there are many locations in Missouri, part of Illinois and Western Kentucky with DP in the upper 70’s with 79 being rather common, and several locations have a DP of 81 such as Poplar Bluff, MO Clinton, MO and Sparta, IL. That is some humid air to our sw

Parts the great lakes area are under a Excessive Heat Watch. Well I can not recall ever having one dose anyone recall have one in the Great Lakes area and if so when? or if that is a new NWS product

Here at my house I now have received 0.68” of rain. So for the most part a good late June rain fall. At this time I am getting a very heavy mist and a temperature of 68° the DP is also 68 so it is humid out. As for the talked about “heat wave” it still looks like a 2 to 3 days event (2 more likely than 3) and after that it will stay very warm. But all in all some very good summer weather.

For those who live or are planing on vacationing on the Michigan side of the lake here is some information on the Grand Rapids area for July. Remember the closer to the lake and the further north you go the cooler the averages are. For Grand Rapids the average high is 83° and the average low is 82° and there is around 60% chance of sunshine. At Traverse City the average high is 80° and the average low is 58° and up at Munising the average July high is just 74° and the average July low is 56° I would like to point out that anywhere in Michigan away from the lake that night time lows can be much cooler then near the lake shore and low is the upper 30's and low 40's do happen even in July.

Not much rain here overnight just 0.07″ Grand Rapids has had 10 days this month with less than 25% of possible sunshine. Broken down there have been 3 days with 0% 1 day with 5% 1 day with 10% 1 day with 16% 1 day with 17% 2 days with 20% and 1 day with 22% so far this June at Grand Rapids has only had just 45.7% of possible sunshine and at this time it is very cloudy here with a temperature of just 64°

Today will be the 5 day in a row with pleasantly cool daytime temperatures. Since the quick break from our “heat wave” of last weekend the temperatures have only been in the 70’s during the day and still mild for the over night lows. Here in Grand Rapids despite all of the clouds there has not been much rain in the past 4 days as only 0.02” has fallen and for the past 13 days only 0.32” has fallen.

This has been a very cloudy June here in west Michigan. So far Grand Rapids has only had 48.2% of possible sunshine and today it is cloudy and the rest of the weekend looks very cloudy. In looking at some recent past cloudy June’s 2001, 1989 were the only June’s that had less that 50% sunshine. The cloudiest June in Grand Rapids was in 1982 with only 36% At the current time it is cloudy here and a cool 68°

While your areas are getting a lot of rain here in parts of Michigan there has not been much rain at all as it has stayed just to our south. Officially at GRR there has only been 0.31" of rain in the last 12 days and here at my house about 25 miles NW of the airport I have only received 0.22"

One of the unusual items this year (and in the last 3 years) is the lack of thunderstorms and of course the lack of severe weather. The Grand Rapids National Weather Service has issued only 10 warnings total in 2018. The G.R. Office covers 23 counties from Mason Co. down to Van Buren Co. east to Clare Co. and Jackson Co. That is almost one third of lower Michigan. Here in Kent county’s 872 square miles there has only been one report of any severe weather events and that was of a tree limb falling. I think I have only seen lightning on two night this year and there were not that many last year either. I work at for a local minor league baseball team and during all of last season and the first half of this season there has not been one game that I have seen lightning or thunder remember that is 72 days last year (we played 2 home playoff games last year) and around 35 dates this year. On top of that we had 1 concert this year and 3 last year and last year there was 3 soccer games and 3 high school football games. That is a lot of days without seeing any lighting. In working there for the past 12 years I do not recall any period that long with out that happing. Of course this year we had 7 games postponed and 3 of those were because of snow.

While some areas have received a lot of rain the past few days here in the Grand Rapids MI that has not been the case. In the last 10 days GRR has only recorded 0.3" of rain and here at my house it has been even less at just 0.19". Today it is cloudy and cool with the current temperature here at my house of only 67°

There is a lot of flooding in the Houghton, Michigan area this morning, http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/content/news/Flooding-in-Houghton-County-485767571.html and from Ironwood https://www.facebook.com/AccuWeather/videos/10156400228517889/?comment_id=10156400993247889

Happy Fathers Day!!! Now a little update on our 1 day west Michigan “heat wave” The record high for today is 95° set in 1994 when we had 4 days in a row of 90+ the record highest reading on a Fathers Day (since 1950) at Grand Rapids is 92° on June 19th 1988 when we were in another 4 days in a row of 90+ days. I have to work today (yes it it outside) but will let you know if we break a record today.

Looks like today will not make the 90's but it should be very humid tonight and tomorrow. .

Storms to the NW and SW of Grand Rapids and here at my house it is dark to the NW and SW from the storms so far only 0.12″ of rain here. The current temperature is 73° I see the NWS has lowered the high for today to the upper 80’s I have to wonder if even that is too high for today? I guess it depends on when the rain ends and the skies clear out. My guess is mid 80’s and very humid both late afternoon and over night.

There continues to be a lot of thunderstorms to the west and northwest of Grand Rapids. So far here at my house only 0.08″ of rain fall. Have a current temperature of 70° with a lot of clouds. Have to wonder if the rain will hold today’s temperatures down some.

close to shore and the upper 5 feet or so, yes