20 years ago.
Last week I looked at the start of the winter season 100 years ago. This week I will look at the winter 20 years ago.
November 2000
November 2000 started out on the mild side with the first 10 days mostly above average with the high for the month on the first on 68. The next day topped out at 65 and then 6 days in a row in the 50’s. It turned colder on the 11th and stayed that way for the balance of that month. The first snow of November fell on the 13th when 0.3” fell then 3.5” fell on the 14th On the 19th 1.8” fell and on the next day 11.5” fell and then 1.3” more fell on the 21st On the morning of the 21st there was 13” of snow on the ground at Grand Rapids. That 11.5” is still a record for the biggest one day snow fall at Grand Rapids in the month of November. The low of the month of 16 happened on the 21st The month ended up with 23.0” of snow and a mean of 37.5 and that is -2.6.
December 2000
December 2000 was one for the record books. Only one day had a mean above average and 30 had below average means. The high for the month of 37 happened on the 16th and that was the one day above average. There were only 7 days where the temperature topped 32. The first snow fell on the 5th and boy the snow just kept falling for much of the month. On the 11th 14.2” of snow fell. That is a record for the most snow to fall in one days and the 2nd most to fall in one day ever at Grand Rapids. The snow kept fall for most of the month and by Christmas there was a reported 16” of snow on the ground and that is the 2nd most ever on Christmas day at Grand Rapids. For the month 59.2” of snow fell and that is the most snow to fall in any one month at Grand Rapids. The low for the month was -9 on the 28th
January 2001
January 2001 started out on the cold side with the coldest low of the month being -2 on the 2nd and while the month started out with 12” of snow on the ground but the biggest snow event the whole month was just 1.2” that fell on the 3rd And the snow was down to just 1” by the 31st For the month there were 19 days above average and 12 days below average. It should be noted that the high for the month was just 40 on the 30th For the whole month there was just 4.1” of snow fall. That 4.1” is the 7th lowest snow fall for any January in Grand Rapids recorded history. And that was just one month after the snowiest in history.
February 2001
February 2001 would be best described and boring. While the month ended up being -1.0 below average. The biggest snow event was just 1.6” on the 2nd the most snow on the ground was 3” on the 6th After the 16th there was no snow on the ground and on the 24th 1.09” of rain fell. The low for the month was +9 on 17th and the high for the month was 53 on the 25th
March 2001
March of 2001 was a rather cold one with a mean that was -3.1 below average. There was 4.1” of snow fall but the snow that fell came in mostly small bunches with the biggest snow fall of 1.2” coming on the 5th but that did not stay. The high for the month was just 56 on the 21st and the low was +9 on the 28th
April was a up and down month that ended up being +2.0 above average the low for the month was 24 on the 2nd and it reached 81 on the 30th
So I guess you could say that the winter of 2000/01 was mostly a two month winter. While it started out very snowy with 82.3” of that winters 98.1” falling in October, November, and December. And only 15.8” falling in January thru April.
Slim
Had Mostly Rain here in Metroplis of Allendale with just a dusting of Snow.
I’m Enjoying these mild temps. And hardly Any…of that white stuff.
I came across this Album from the year I graduated from HIGH Skool.
Talbot Brothers from 1974,….Great ALBUM ENJOY!
https://youtu.be/SoZunEhqf8s
I heard that Hudsonville has had close to 2″ of rain.
It has just started to snow here at my house with a temperature of 34. I do not expect any acclamation.
Slim
Wow, now up to 1.89” of rain here and still coming down! Nothing better than receiving far more inches of “rain” than snow in mid December!
It is now at 1.83″ here at my house. At this time it has changed over to snow.
Slim
1.19″ in the rain gauge so far here.
I now have recorded 1.50″ of total rain for this event. The temperature is now at 37 here at my house and it is still raining. Up north there are reports of heavy snow falling at Gaylord and Alpena and it is windy there as well with winds in the 20 to 25 MPH range with gust near 30. Over at Saginaw the winds are high but the temperature is at 40 so they are getting rain. The kind of reminds me of a Christmas eve storm back in the 1970’s I will look it up and let you know… Read more »
That year in the 1970’s was 1979 that year there was a heavy rain event that started late on Christmas eve and carried over into the early morning of Christmas. At Grand Rapids there was 1.79″ on Christmas eve and another .38″ after midnight on Christmas. I lived in Bay City at the time and over there there was 1.32″ of rain and a strong NE wind. On a side note Grand Rapids only recorded 48.5″ of snow that winter.
Slim
Been raining all morning. I should have really left my rain gage outside if I’d known it would be such a warm start to winter.
Thanks Slim! That was a lot of snow for December, and I’m guessing maybe even more towards the lake. Up to 1.21” of rain here, and looks like some heavy rain moving in on the radar. The grass has greened up considerably overnight. Please don’t tell me I’m going to have to mow again.
So far here at my house I have recorded 0.93″ of rain and it is still raining at a moderate rate here. The temperature has been steady at 39 all night long.
What GR missed the snow! Who would have thought?
Got about a half inch here in Northern Kent. Most snow this season so far. It’s stopped now though.
Thank you, Slim. I enjoyed your revisit to 2000.
I am glad that we are on the mild side of this system. That’s heart attack snow, and a lot of it. The type that will clog your snowblower often.
Yes, after coming off of a muscle pull in my low back earlier in the week, I am grateful that we don’t have to shovel that. I hope you and your family are feeling better?
Hey Mark, how’s it going with you and your family??
Thanks for asking. Today is the first day I’ve shown a bit of improvement. My temp is not as high and I was able to taste breakfast – did not disgust me. Still have a ways to go, but small victories are welcome. Everyone else is doing much better. We are blessed to have such a nice group of friends here.
Glad you are doing a little better. Take care.
Slim
Thank GOD!! Glad to hear that Mark!
Glad to hear you are all improving. Take care.
After only a trace of precip over the past 16 days we picked up 1.05 inches of rain from the current system so far…