westMJim

Here are the updated snow totals for Grand Rapids March 2.8” for the season 51.3” Over at Muskegon the totals are March 1.6” season 51.9” and to the east at Lansing March 2.0” season total 44.7”. At this time it is cloudy and 34 here at my house

At this time it is clear here and the temperature is a rather cold 19 here at my house.

Tom are you planing on staying in Arizona?

I just got back from my daily walk and boy that wind feels cold out there. The current temperature here is now down to 33. That is down from the overnight “high” of 60 here at my house.

Officially it reached 60 at GRR yesterday that was just before midnight. Then between midnight and 2 AM the official reading reached 62 for the high for today. That is what I call a backward maximum for both days. So Grand Rapids had back to back "highs" in the 60's but very few even knew it. I had a maximum overnight of 60. and here I recorded 1.15" of rain fall.

Take care. I am home and I will not be working for what now looks like a long time. I am retired but still work for the local minor league Hockey and Baseball teams. At this time the hockey is done for the season and baseball may or may not start their season. Any way I have been getting out every day and going for a walk so that helps and we have enough food as such to last for a few weeks. As for the weather At this time it is now 46 here with cloudy skies. There is rain to our SW that should move in later today. Not so sure how warm it is going to get or if we will have any thunder with the rain or not.

I was in the yard setting my two rain gauges and there they were the springs first seen robins (that I have seen) so spring had arrived.

The rain that is expected this week should help green up the grass and help the spring flowers along. That means we may have the grass to cut (if you feel up to it) for a little exercise and get out and get some fresh air. I have been out walking ever day and it has been nice. At this time it is cloudy and 47 here at my house. Slim

The sun has just broke thru the clouds here and the current temperature here is 39. We are now more than half way thru March and the the calendar spring will start on Thursday. There has only been a trace of snow fall so far this month and for the season Grand Rapids is still at just 48.5" If that 48.5" holds for the rest of March and April that would be the least amount of snow fall for a season at Grand Rapids since 1982/83 when just 35.9" fell. The mean for the month is 37.8° and that is +5.0°

It is just cloudy here now with a temperature of 41 and while not weather related I will toss this up anyway as it received my attention. On a note on the coronavirus testing Here is something to toss around in your head. This is from the WOOD TV8 web site. “The Greenville Daily News reports the Montcalm County patient, a woman in her 60s, had traveled to southern Italy with her husband and believes she was exposed on her flight. Both she and her husband were tested at a local hospital and while she tested positive for coronavirus, her husband, although he had symptoms, did not. She is under quarantine for two weeks.” Ok why did the woman test positive and the man did not??? I would think I would do a retest just to be sure. One has to wonder how may false positive and false negative test are taking place???

March update: The first 10 days of March 2020 have been warmer than average with much less snow fall. At Grand Rapids the mean is 38.3° that is good for +6.5° and just a trace of snow fall so far. At Muskegon the mean is 36.9 that is +5.4 with just a trace of snow fall. At Lansing the mean is 39.3 and that is a departure of +8.3 with just a trace of snow fall. Speaking of snow fall the seasonal total so far at Grand Rapids remains at 48.5” At Muskegon it is at 50.3” both much below the average. At Lansing the total remains at 42.7” over at Detroit it is at 36.6” At Flint it is 49.8” Saginaw it is only 32.8” Here are the latest snow falls in northern Michigan https://www.weather.gov/apx/snow And at Marquette the total for the season is at 170” There is still a lot of snow on the ground in the UP with 34” still on the ground at Marquette and 22” at The Sault. And even Alpena still has 5” on the ground.

At this time it is 51 both here at my house and at GRR a very warm morning for early March here in west Michigan

It is now at 65 here at my house. Officially 62 at GRR Today will be at least the 5th (tie) warmest March 8 in Grand Rapids history. (64 in 2012 is the 4th warmest) 78 in 2000 is the warmest, 71 in 2016 is the 2nd warmest and 70 in 1987 is the warmest.

It was a rather cold night last night. While the official low looks to be 18° here at my house the low as just 15°. I think it is now safe to say the lowest low for Grand Rapids for the winter of 2019/20 will be a rather mild +4° That is in a 3 way tie for the 5th warmest minimum for a winter season. Also Grand Rapids is still at just 48.5" of snow for the season here is a list of some past lowest snow fall seasons at Grand Rapids 35.9" in 1982/83. 47.6" in 1986/87. 48.5" in 1979/80. In more recent times the winter of 2011/12 just 51.2" fell. So the next few weeks will tell just where this winter well set in for the lowest snow fall totals at Grand Rapids.

As always "Beware of the Ides of March"

35 here with a light rain falling. This is the weekend of the time change. Not being a morning person and working outside during the summer time I like the so called DST the better of the two. Now why is it still called daylight time and standard time? It used to be we did not change the time until the last week of April and now it is done in the 1st week of March. So that said why not have daylight time as the standard time and what is now standard time as the new "Winter Time" that would make more sense.

Cloudy and rather windy with rain just to the west. At this time the temperature is at 48.

While the snow might not last for many days there have been some very big spring snow storms in east and south east Michigan in mid March and into April. Here is a list of some of them. Detroit April 6, 1886 24.5" White Lake April 24, 2005 14.5" April 5, 2009 7.8" Flint April 3, 1975 17.3" March 17, 1973 13.7" March 23, 1947 10.8" March 23, 1983 9.6" March 21 1940 9.5" Saginaw March 17 1973 22.5" April 3 1975 14.4" March 23 1968 11.0" April 6 1952 10.9" So yes there have been some big time snow storms in late March and into April.

Grand Rapids is very cloudy in the late fall and into the winter season and this year was even cloudier then average. At GRR the report for February is 37% of possible sunshine. With 16 cloudy days. 8 partly cloudy days and 5 clear days. For the past meteorological winter at GRR 22% of possible sunshine 61 cloudy days 23 partly cloudy and 7 clear. Note that 5 of the clear days were in the last half of February.

At this time it is clear here but there are some clouds to the NW not sure if they are system clouds or lake clouds. With a lot of frost it is 28 here.

A few items on a Tuesday morning. There was a fantastic red sunset last night. At this time it is cloudy here with a temperature of 35. While there is a good chance of more snow this winter season yet but at this time the total of 48.5" would place this winter in the 3rd least snowy winter at the new location of the airport (1963) at this time the least snowy winter seasons are 1982/83 35.9". 1986/87 47.6" and 1979/82 48.5" Unless GRR reports more then 2.7" in March or April this winter will tie for 3rd place and unless GRR reports 12" of snow it will only be the 9th time in the last 62 years that Grand Rapids has not received at least 60" of snow fall in a winter season.

The mean meteorological winter temperatures were well above average across west Michigan and that keep the lake effect snow fall down. The 3 month mean at Grand Rapids was 30.7° At Muskegon it was warmer still at 31.4° and to the east at Lansing it was 30.0° all were well above average. For meteorological winter the snow fall was 41.7” at Grand Rapids for the winter season so far it is 48.7” at Muskegon the meteorological winter snow fall was just 39.4” and for the season they are now at 50.3” and to our east at Lansing the meteorological winter snow fall was 36.9” and for the season they are at 42.7” While Muskegon and Grand Rapids are much below average in the snow fall department Lansing is near average.

You know here in west Michigan there has been a lot of talk about how little snow that has fallen this winter season. Well yes compared to the averages for our area it has been much less than average but for locations at our latitude this winter has been very much a average year for total snow fall. Grand Rapids officially at the airport is at latitude 42.8825 (I live at 43.0128) and officially recorded 48.5” of snow fall. Well to our west at Madison latitude 43.1406 their 30 year average snow fall is 50.9” at Milwaukee latitude 42.9550 their average snow fall is just 46.9” and to our east at Port Huron at latitude 42.9750 their average snow fall is just 37.1” so yes Grand Rapids is well below average for snow fall this year but is still in line with other locations at our latitude.

The official snow fall at the airport yesterday was 1.9” while here at my house there was just a trace. And this morning the depth at the airport was reported as 1” while here at my house there is NO snow on the ground just the old snow piles. Now for the official readings for Grand Rapids are for February 15.9” for meteorological winter 41.7” and for the 2019/20 season 47.5”

The snow that fell here is now ALL gone. Down to just the old snow piles. Of course there was just a trace that fell here.