1863???
Here is the past weather history from the GRR NWS office for July 15th
July 15
1863: It was a frosty morning with temperatures falling to the 30s across much of Michigan. The low of 31 degrees is the coldest ever recorded in July at Lansing by a full five degrees.
1961: A heavy downpour hits Grand Rapids, with 0.41 inches of rain falling in 15 minutes.
1985: A tornado touched down in the northeast section of Lansing and damaged 18 buildings as it moved to three miles north of Webberville in Ingham County.
1987: It was the coolest July day on record at Grand Rapids, with a high of only 58 degrees. Clouds and rain kept temperatures in the upper 50s and lower 60s during the day after morning lows in the mid 40s.
The first line is what caught my attention. Most of the NWS office records I can find only go back to 1871 or 1872. This one from 1863 kind of threw me off. But it looks like there were some records were kept (not sure where) starting in 1860.
In 1860 in the United States, there were around 500 locations making regular observations, Not sure where all of the 500 locations were. Here in Michigan Lansing seems to have oldest going back to April of 1863.I can find no other location in Michigan having somewhat reliable records going back that far. Here in Grand Rapids the records start in 1892. At the Sault they start in 1888, At Detroit the record start in 1874. In fact Lansing seems to be one of the few locations that records can be found that go back that far. So I have to wonder about how accurate the records for Lansing in 1963 are. Anyway April, May and even June look to be typical mid-Michigan weather wise. But July had one very “odd” day to say the least. On July 15th the high was 69° at Lansing cool but not unheard of for mid-Michigan in July but that nights low as a cold 31° and on the 16th the high low was 67/47. And for the month of July the warmest day was only 85° in a way a July like 2009. But in August of 1863 the warmest day of that month (and the year at Lansing) was 95° on August 2nd but the coldest low as a cold 26° on August 29th in fact the lows at Lansing from August 28th 1893 were 37 on the 28th that 26 on the 29th 30 on the 30th and 34 on the 31st In September the warmest day was 86° on the 11th and the coldest low was 34° on 14th In October the warmest day was 89° on the 6th and the coldest was 22° on the 30th November was a more topical Michigan month weather wise with the warmest being 66° on the 17th and the coldest being 23° on 24th In December the warmest was 59° on the 7th and the coldest was a cold -10 on the 31st January 1864. The time between April 1863 and 1876 was a period of extreme temperature swings. At Lansing the record coldest low were set in February 1868 (-37° Lansing all time record low) March 1868 {-25°) March (-6) June 1869 (27) July 1963 (31) August 1863 (26) September 1863 (19) December 1864 (-25).
For more on the early days of the (what is now called the NWS)
https://www.weather.gov/timeline
Last week I touched on the Heat Wave of 1936. Today I will look at the heat wave of 1897. June and August of 1897 were cooler than average at Grand Rapids, Lansing and Muskegon but that year in July west Michigan had a very long and (by Michigan standards) hot Heat Wave. I will use July 2nd for the start at Grand Rapids and Muskegon. And July 1st at Lansing At Grand Rapids on the 2nd the high was 88° and over the next 9 days the highs were 93°,100°.99°,98°,95°,97°,98°,98°,100°,and 96° Even at Muskegon starting on July 2nd 1897 the highs were. 90°,94°,91°,84°,92°,93°,92°, 94° falling to 86° on July 10th On July 12th the high at Muskegon was only 67° and only 69 on the 13th At Lansing the heat started on July 1st with a high of 91° and over the next 9 days the highs there were 96°, 97°, 98°, 93°, 94°, 100°, 100, and 100° before falling to 80° on the 11th and 73° on the 12th Remember this heat wave was in the middle of a summer that was cooler than average in both June and August. At GR June was -4.0° and August was -3.2° at Lansing June was -3.0° and August was -4.6° and at Muskegon June was -3.4° and August was -3.8°
SlimJim