April 2026 Observations and Discussion

[summerrules]

6 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Not sure I agree with pulling back the 5% tornado probs to west of the IL/IN border on the new SPC outlook.  Indiana and the southern half of Michigan area looks largely free of precip by late morning or early afternoon (earliest with southward extent), so should get a chance to destabilize to a degree.  Anything moving into those areas later in the afternoon into early evening could be more of a problem, imo.  No guarantees, but if I'm looking for a "sleeper" area, that would be the area.  

Hoping we see some clearing later to really fire things up.

[jaster220]

21 minutes ago, summerrules said:

Last few springs have been great around here (with 2024 in particular being exceptional), and our last cold April was in 2022, so wouldn’t be saying “finally”.

100% my thought too - unless he means the up-n-down temp swings??

[Tom]

Its the coolest morning out here in WEEKS as we have dipped into the mid 50's (55F) in spots across town.  I love sleeping with the windows cracked open and letting the fresh cool air inside.  I'm going to enjoy the next couple days of mid/upper80's.   Oh ya, PHX recorded a TRACE of precip yesterday while my area got a a few tenths of an inch.  Up north, places in the higher terrain got up to 1" of rain and Snowbowl scored about 5" of new snow. 

[jaster220]

36 minutes ago, westMJim said:

A quick summery for March 2026 at Grand Rapids the mean was 40.3 that is a departure of +4.3° the high for the month was 75 on the 31^st and the low was 11 on the 1^st there was 4.73” of precipitation that is +2.23” there as just 0.7” of snowfall that is a departure of -7.0” for the winter season Grand Rapids has had 75.4” of snowfall so far that is a departure of -0.3”

 

Shows the severe contrast between SMI and NMI wx zones during this March. My 11.6" was 29% above avg for the month. I'm actually home this morning enjoying an extra-long Easter holiday weekend and I'm glad to report that only the tiniest icicles can be noticed (gotta really squint to see 'em) on the deck railing. Otherwise just another overcast/grey/damp/wet/dreary NMI day here in Harrison. Temp at 32F so putting this headline in the "mostly a fail" category thankfully. With that issuance I've reached 20 snow and ice headlines this winter! (sixth calendar month now). Pretty sure I'd get the trophy if we were competing based on that, lol. This is my 7th for ice alone! Never seen such anywhere I've lived. Closest I remember (tho I wasn't doing a daily scorecard back then) was multiple icings in Marshall as we were just south of the snow swath on multiple good storms in a row during the winter of 06-07.

[Minny_Weather]

This system has been mostly rain for me, which I am fine with seeing as it's April.

Spirit Lake, IA (45 minutes south of me) has received 0.43" of rain, and I have no reason to believe that my number isn't similar. MUCH needed rainfall for here which looks to continue for the next couple of days.

[tStacsh]

1 hour ago, summerrules said:

Last few springs have been great around here (with 2024 in particular being exceptional), and our last cold April was in 2022, so wouldn’t be saying “finally”.

I've had snow every April, especially during spring break the last few years.   

[westMJim]

Moderate to heavy rain falling here with a temperature of just 34.  Not a very nice morning to say the least. Not sure if it will really get to the upper 60's today for some reason I do not think it will.

[jaster220]

53 minutes ago, tStacsh said:

I've had snow every April, especially during spring break the last few years.   

The typical April includes a minor bit of measurable snow for mby(s):

But of my past 5, only 2022 hit that number, the rest are BN to MBN. I'm sure GRR has some snow in a typical April. Would need a real torch month to avoid it 100% which I suppose is your point. You haven't had that, despite having mildness overall. I'm pretty sure 2026 will see some snow here. Those monthly outlooks from CPC show equal chances up here so that means more of this up/down swings and the BN periods will lean towards frozen unfortunately. 

[jaster220]

16 minutes ago, westMJim said:

Moderate to heavy rain falling here with a temperature of just 34.  Not a very nice morning to say the least. Not sure if it will really get to the upper 60's today for some reason I do not think it will.

Down to 31F here and holding. We actually got a bit more icing since my earlier post. Had a pretty good shower pass thru but that's ended and I think we may be finished. I'd call it 0.1" ice on elevated surf's only so not headline worthy imo.

[westMJim]

47 minutes ago, jaster220 said:

I'm sure GRR has some snow in a typical April. Would need a real torch month to avoid it 100% which I suppose is your point. 

The last time Grand Rapids did not have at least a trace of snowfall in April was in 1998. In that time 20 years have had over 0.1" with the most being 6.7" in 2007.  Going back to 1894 there have been only 8 years when April did not have a snowfall report. 

[Hoosier]

I called the SPC and told them to restore the 5% tornado area east of the IL/IN border.  j/k

[Hoosier]

3 hours ago, summerrules said:

Hoping we see some clearing later to really fire things up.

True clearing may be hard to come by, at least on a widespread basis.  May just have to hope for thin enough clouds to help out.  

[Hoosier]

Actually getting some filtered sunshine here now.

[jaster220]

2 hours ago, jaster220 said:

Down to 31F here and holding. We actually got a bit more icing since my earlier post. Had a pretty good shower pass thru but that's ended and I think we may be finished. I'd call it 0.1" ice on elevated surf's only so not headline worthy imo.

NOW per radar we appear to be wrapping-up but to my surprise, the heavier icing has happened with the last two rounds of rainfall despite "daytime warming". The trees are all silver again and icicles are very evident so guessing we've doubled to 0.2" here.

EDIT (Harrison local)

so maybe closer to 0.25?

[Hoosier]

A little messy in much of the warm sector threat area, although you can see an area of better clearing starting to move into the northern Missouri area.  

[summerrules]

3 hours ago, tStacsh said:

I've had snow every April, especially during spring break the last few years.   

Dude, your average April receives 2” of snow, that’s just your climo unfortunately (2024 did not record any snow btw). If you want it to be in the 70s and sunny every day in April, Michigan isn’t exactly the place for that.

[summerrules]

4 hours ago, jaster220 said:

100% my thought too - unless he means the up-n-down temp swings??

Every spring features ups and downs, especially early on. Morch 2012 really messed with some people’s perceptions of what spring is supposed to look like in the Great Lakes region I guess.

It’s funny though because I actually prefer spring 2024 over 2012 as spring essentially started in Feb that year and was more consistently warm/stormy on the whole.

[tStacsh]

27 minutes ago, summerrules said:

Dude, your average April receives 2” of snow, that’s just your climo unfortunately (2024 did not record any snow btw). If you want it to be in the 70s and sunny every day in April, Michigan isn’t exactly the place for that.

I like some warm days mixed in.  I know what April is like in Southern Michigan.   I like strong storms.  We've been devoid of consistent  thunderstorms in Michigan for a decade.    Dude

[PhiEaglesfan712]

Another torch pattern maybe in the cards for next weekend: 

[westMJim]

Well its 3PM and here in MBY I am still getting on and off rain showers and it is only 42 with a cold east wind.

[Tom]

@OttumwaSnomowlooks to be getting hit here soon.  TOR radar signature to your SW…

[Hoosier]

Good thing it's windy today.  I forgot what wind felt like after a lack of it so far this year.  

[Hoosier]

Seeing an uptick in activity around I-57 in Illinois.  Will see if that wants to do something more significant in a while as it gets into Indiana.

[Hoosier]

There really isn't a strong signal for a solid linear transition as storms move into northern IL later, so it may still tend to be discrete/semi-discrete/broken line well into the evening.  The question by then will be how much instability is left.  Given the respectably deep surface low, winds should stay up after dark and slow the rate of cooling, but there will be some cooling so the question is just how much.

[Hawkeye]

The potent line of storms that just went through Cedar Rapids was a huge disappointment.  For sure it was going to have strong wind, but it wasn't much.  The line is red, but even the rain was only briefly low-end heavy.

[Niko]

Beautiful day w temps in the 50s. Not alotta sunshine, but very decent tempwise.

[Niko]

3 hours ago, westMJim said:

Well its 3PM and here in MBY I am still getting on and off rain showers and it is only 42 with a cold east wind.

Yesterday was brutal w temps in the 30s all day. Light snowshowers were reported at nite. No accumulations, but a dusting here and there. April came in pretty coldish.

[Niko]

7 hours ago, jaster220 said:

The typical April includes a minor bit of measurable snow for mby(s):

But of my past 5, only 2022 hit that number, the rest are BN to MBN. I'm sure GRR has some snow in a typical April. Would need a real torch month to avoid it 100% which I suppose is your point. You haven't had that, despite having mildness overall. I'm pretty sure 2026 will see some snow here. Those monthly outlooks from CPC show equal chances up here so that means more of this up/down swings and the BN periods will lean towards frozen unfortunately. 

Was your pl in a WWA yesterday? I think i saw NOAA painted your area purple....crazy!

[Hoosier]

Sandwiched between tornado watches here with one west of me and one east of me.

[Hoosier]

Stuff has behaved in the LOT cwa so far.  Definitely had some concern about how the afternoon (say 12-6 pm) was going to go.  Haven't really dug into it much, but perhaps just ended up a little short on instability.  It can be a very fine line between not having enough instability and having enough for a bunch of low-topped tornadic cells.  We'll see how things go later on.

[beaugie]

2 tornado warnings 2 miles west of me. Storms always split around us it seems. My kids and wife are currently in the library basement at girl scouts and in an active tornado warning. Poor kids are not having a good time

[Hawkeye]

My rain total for the event is 1.73".

[OttumwaSnomow]

5 hours ago, Tom said:

@OttumwaSnomowlooks to be getting hit here soon.  TOR radar signature to your SW…

What a crazy day. Eerily similar to March 31 2023.  After 14 hrs of off and on rain, we popped into the dry slot and sun appeared around 2 pm. We knew we could be in trouble!  A rougue cell mentioned by  Tom fired off to my sw. While all eyes were on the tornado further west with the main line. I knew that cell could rotate. My son was chasing it.  He said it had broad rotation that may drop at any moment. But it didnt! However the west part of the storm had a incredible hail signature!! So I drove around the north edge of Ottumwa.  I began to see egg to tennis ball hail in fields!  As I got to nw part of city the hail, wind and flooding was shocking! Here are some of pics I took!

Oh and I have about 2.3" rain past 48 hrs.

[Tom]

2 minutes ago, OttumwaSnomow said:

What a crazy day. Eerily similar to March 31 2023.  After 14 hrs of off and on rain, we popped into the dry slot and sun appeared around 2 pm. We knew we could be in trouble!  A rougue cell mentioned by  Tom fired off to my sw. While all eyes were on the tornado further west with the main line. I knew that cell could rotate. My son was chasing it.  He said it had broad rotation that may drop at any moment. But it didnt! However the west part of the storm had a incredible hail signature!! So I drove around the north edge of Ottumwa.  I began to see egg to tennis ball hail in fields!  As I got to nw part of city the hail, wind and flooding was shocking! Here are some of pics I took!

Oh and I have about 2.3" rain past 48 hrs.

That’s impressive!  Thanks for sharing the photos.  I saw reports of 2.75” hail so those hail stones fit the description perfectly.

[jcwxguy]

[Hoosier]

69 mph gust at Midway Airport.

[westMJim]

April 3, 1956 was the date of the worst tornado to ever hit the Grand Rapids area. 

All of Kent and Ottawa counties’ strongest tornadoes happened month of April. That’s because April is when we can have the strongest clashes of air masses and stronger winds aloft. That’s what happened April 3, 1956, creating the only F5 tornado ever in West Michigan and one of only two to ever dig into Michigan’s soil. Between 6:40 p.m. and 7:50 p.m., the Hudsonville-Standale tornado cased immense devastation along its 52-mile path. Seventeen people were killed.

The damage in northwest sections of Hudsonville was incredible, Though the damage was serious, the area was still relatively rural at the time, with homes scattered about. Much more development has been built up since the 1956 twister. Once the tornado left Hudsonville, it continued a path to the northeast, impacting homes in the Jenison area. Jenison High School, not yet standing because it was built in 1970, would have been in the tornado’s path. The tornado continued on through Walker, eventually crossing what is now I-96 and then M-37 (Alpine Avenue).  The tornado continued racing northeast at approximately 45 mph, eventually cutting through Rockford and ending near Trufant. I live less than a mile from were the tornado crossed Bristol NW.

[Hoosier]

19 minutes ago, westMJim said:

April 3, 1956 was the date of the worst tornado to ever hit the Grand Rapids area. 

All of Kent and Ottawa counties’ strongest tornadoes happened month of April. That’s because April is when we can have the strongest clashes of air masses and stronger winds aloft. That’s what happened April 3, 1956, creating the only F5 tornado ever in West Michigan and one of only two to ever dig into Michigan’s soil. Between 6:40 p.m. and 7:50 p.m., the Hudsonville-Standale tornado cased immense devastation along its 52-mile path. Seventeen people were killed.

The damage in northwest sections of Hudsonville was incredible, Though the damage was serious, the area was still relatively rural at the time, with homes scattered about. Much more development has been built up since the 1956 twister. Once the tornado left Hudsonville, it continued a path to the northeast, impacting homes in the Jenison area. Jenison High School, not yet standing because it was built in 1970, would have been in the tornado’s path. The tornado continued on through Walker, eventually crossing what is now I-96 and then M-37 (Alpine Avenue).  The tornado continued racing northeast at approximately 45 mph, eventually cutting through Rockford and ending near Trufant. I live less than a mile from were the tornado crossed Bristol NW.

If you haven't seen it before, here is a good paper on that outbreak with a Michigan focus:

https://ejssm.com/ojs/index.php/site/article/view/14/13

The surface map from that afternoon is quite something.  It was one of those cases where the dryline made it unusually far east, and that undoubtedly played a role in the setup that day.  Look at the dewpoint gradient in IL and WI!

[Clinton]

Severe storms expected today in Iowa and Missouri.  Some large tornadoes possible. 

[westMJim]

All of Kent and Ottawa counties’ strongest tornadoes have happened month of April. That’s because April is when we can have the strongest clashes of air masses and stronger winds aloft. That’s what happened April 3, 1956, creating the only F5 tornado ever in West Michigan and one of only two to ever dig into Michigan’s soil. Between 6:40 p.m. and 7:50 p.m., the Hudsonville-Standale tornado cased immense devastation along its 52-mile path. Seventeen people were killed.

The damage in northwest sections of Hudsonville was incredible, Though the damage was serious, the area was still relatively rural at the time, with homes scattered about. Much more development has been built up since the 1956 twister. Once the tornado left Hudsonville, it continued a path to the northeast, impacting homes in the Jenison area. Jenison High School, not yet standing because it was built in 1970, would have been in the tornado’s path. The tornado continued on through Walker, eventually crossing what is now I-96 and then M-37 (Alpine Avenue).  The tornado continued racing northeast at approximately 45 mph, eventually cutting through Rockford and ending near Trufant. I live less than a mile from where the tornado crossed Bristol NW.

The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 64/30 (the high in MBY was 59) there was 0.96” of rainfall. The reported highest wind speed was 45 MPH out of the SW. While the official report has thunderstorms in it I did not see any lightning  here in my yard. For today the average H/L is 52/33 the record high of 80 was in 1999 the coldest high of 25 was in 1971 the record low of 10 was in 1965 the warmest low of 57 was in 1928. The most rainfall of 1.16” was in 2007 the most snowfall of 6.0” was in 1926 the most snow on the ground was 10” in 1975.

There is a good chance of more rain tonight and Saturday.  It will turn sharply colder for Easter, and it will stay cold until Wednesday it looks like a very cold opening day here for the Whitecaps, I will have to really bundle up.

Detailed Forecast

Today

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56. West wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

Tonight

A chance of showers before 11pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 11pm and 2am, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 2am. Low around 45. North northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming east 11 to 16 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Saturday

Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 2pm, then a chance of showers. High near 61. East southeast wind 13 to 16 mph becoming west southwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.

Saturday Night

A 30 percent chance of showers before 8pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. West wind around 17 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

Sunday

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. West northwest wind 16 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph.

Sunday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 31.

Monday

Partly sunny, with a high near 45.

Monday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 25.

Tuesday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 43.

Tuesday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 28.

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 57.

Wednesday Night

A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46.

Thursday

A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 62.