December 1920
Just for the fun of it I thought I would look at the winter season of 1920/21. That winter sort of like this one so far was mild. . Now some would expect that 100 years ago winters would always be colder and snowier than now. Well in 1920 there was no snow at all for the first 14 days of December. In fact, it did not snow the last 13 days of that November either so no snow was reported as falling for 27 days in a row at Grand Rapids. In the first 14 days of that December highs at GR were above 40 and there were 4 days in the 50’s with the warmest being 57 on the 13th Also of note is that it only got down below 32 on 4 nights. Then on the 14th a cold front must have gone thru and the high on the 15th was 30 for the first below 32 high of that month and there was 3” of snow fall. The last 16 days of the month were colder then the start and in that time 13.6” of snow fell. And that year there was 3” of snow reported on the ground on Christmas but by New Years that had dropped down to 1’. The high for that December was that 57 and the low for the month was +9.
When the calendar flipped to January 1921 it once again became very mild. The new year brought a high of 50 on New Years Day. The ground was once again bare of snow. The highs stayed above 32 for the first 12 days of January 1921. It did not snow at Grand Rapids until January 12th when a half inch fell and that was the most snow to fall during January 1921. The period from January 12 to the 18th stayed below 32 every day. The high for the month of 52 would be recorded on the 20th It reached 50 or better 4 times that January and the low for the month was +11. And Just 1.2” of snow fell that month. That 1.2” is the 2nd lowest amount to fall in any January at Grand Rapids.
February 1921 was also a mild month. The first 16 days of the month were all above average on the16th of the month the temperature shot up to 59 after reaching 58 the day before. The low for the month was 12 on the 20th and just 8.5” of snow fell with 3.5” of that falling on the 26th
March was also a mild month with no days staying below 32 all month and highs reaching into 70’s on the 18th and 19th The low for the month was 17 and that happened 3 times with 2 of them happing after a high of 75 on the 18th There was just 1.8” of snow that March.
Spring came in April with highs reaching 81 6th and then on the 24th and 25th There was a snow fall of 3” on the 16th for the month the high was that 81 and the low was 25. For the winter season of 1920/21 just 35.6” of snow fell that winter season. The mean for the meteorological winter of 1920/21 was 30.9 with every month warmer than average and January 1921 was +6.1° will this year be a 100 year event?
Back to this year. West Michigan has been warmer and sunnier than average in November and now December. The total seasonal snow fall at Grand Rapids is just 0.4” at this time and we are now over 7” below average in the snowfall department. We could be on the way for a well below average snow fall winter season we shall see.
Slim
Yet another sunny day… it will be hard to beat last December’s incredible late-month warmup, but so far this December has been off to a warm/sunny start. Hopefully we can get some snow around Christmas and into January. I haven’t been in Grand Rapids for 4 winters now… so I am looking forward to some lake effect snow!
From Accuweather “looking at the latest ECMWF weeklies the chances of snow fall during Christmas week this year is lowest in the Great Lakes area” in looking at their map the lowest chance of snow fall during Christmas week (Dec 22-28) is here is west Michigan. So we may have yet another green Christmas. If we do have a green Christmas it will be the 3rd one in a row. And if that happens it will be the first time that has ever happened.
Slim
Wow!
Sounds wonderful! If it’s anything like last year we can have some of the family over for an outdoor gathering. A Christmas miracle this year!
My kids( who don’t live at home) have said the same thing.
Sounds like the perfect Winter season! 50’s in January and February would be great, but the 80’s can hold off till late May or June. Thanks Slim!
Slim, you are probably correct in assuming that most of us believed that all winters from the “old days” were severe. Did people in 1920 look primarily to the Old Farmers Almanac for their winter season forecasts? I wonder what the predictions for that winter were…
Just goes to show each winter is unique in of its self. It has been quite a long time since we have had snow on the ground all winter. Thanks, Slim…
Keep in mind we are not having a debate on whether or not wearing a mask during our global pandemic is beneficial, you can offer comfort and prayers to those who are suffering during these times. I would prefer we try to keep our comments weather-related.
Thanks MV… like many have said we are like “friends” here. Just want to check in during difficult times.
Agreed but why would someone not wear a mask in public during a global deadly pandemic? At any rate, the post from Slim is very interesting?