Michigan Wx Michigan Wx

2018 review

Posted on by Slim

 

2018 is now in the history books. The year seen some wild swings in the temperatures but not so much for big storms. In fact there were few thunderstorms for the year and the biggest snow storms of the year were 4.7” on February 4th and 4.8” on November 26th The lowest temperature of the year was -11 on January 6th that was the 2nd coldest low recorded at Grand Rapids on January 11th . there were a total of 3 days the temperature fell below 0. and the highest was 94° and that happened 4 times in May, June and July. The summer seen 20 days that reached 90 or better. For the year there was 44.45” of precipitation.
2018 month by month
JANUARY
Unlike this year January of last year started out very cold with the first 6 days with highs in the teens. And there were 3 nights below zero. Then there was a massive change starting on January 10th with a massive warm up and the temperature reached 58° on the 11th After a brief cool down between the 13th and 17th the rest of the month was mild with very little snow fall.
The mean for the month was 24.9° (+0.5) the high was that 58 on the 11th and the low was -11 on the 6th there was 12.6” of snow fall.
February
February 2018 was much like January with the 1st half colder then average with a big flip mid-month. The mean temperature was 29.8 (+3.0) the high for the month was 63° on the 20th and that set a record high for that date there were 3 days of 60 or better. The coldest for the month was a mild +7 on the 13th there was 20.7” of snow fall. The most snow on the ground was 10” on the 11th and 12th
March
March was cool but not much else. The mean for the month was 34.3 (-1.3) the high for the month was just 56 and the coldest was 17. There was 4.9” of snow fall.
April
Cold would is the way to describe April 2018. 21 of the first 22 days were well below average and yes there was snow. I was up in Bay City for the weekend of April 13 to the 15th up there they had a ice storm on Saturday and then a snowstorm on Sunday with several inches of snow on top of the ice. Here in Grand Rapids there was snow but not as much as just to the north of here. The mean for the month was 40.1° and that makes April 2018 the 4th coldest on record here in Grand Rapids that is even after a high of 74 was recorded on the 23rd and a 73 on the 30th and 5 other days in the 60’s. The high for the month was that 74 on the 23rd and the low for the month was 16 on the 8th there was 6.0” of snow fall.
May
After the 3rd coldest April in Grand Rapids history May was the complete opposite. The month started with two days in the low 80’s and it was mostly all warm after that. In fact the first 10 days of the month were much warmer than average before a cool down just in time for the 3 Chilly Saints on the 11th to the 13th The month ended with a 9 day warm spell that extended into the first day of June. New record highs were set on May 27th (93) the 28th (94) and the 29th (93) And as stated above after the 3rd coldest April on record May with a mean temperature of 64.8 (+6.1°) is now the 3rd warmest May on record. The high for the month was that 94 and the lowest was 40° on May 11th making April 30th the last below 32 day for the growing season of 2018
June
June was a nice and warm month while there were 90 days in the 90’s and 10 more in the 80’s there was also 14 days in the 70’s and two in the 60’s the average high was 79.1 and that was just -0.1 below average. But the average low for the month was 60.7 and that was + 3.0 warmer then the normal average low. The mean for the month was 69.9 and that was +1.5° The highest day was 94 on the 30th and the coldest for the month was 48.
July
July was yet another warm month with 8 days in the 90’s the hottest was 94 on 1st and again on the 4th No day time high was cooler than 74° and the low for the month was 54° To go along with the 8 days in the 90’s there were 6 nights that did not get below 70. The mean for the month was 74.4 and that was +1.9
August
The warm summer just continued in August. The mean for the month was 73.5 and that was good for +2.7 It was the 9th warmest August in Grand Rapids history, there were 3 days in the 90’s and 7 more in the upper 80’s while the hottest day was just 91 on the 1st the coolest high for the month was 73 on the 30th the low for the month was 52 also on the 30th
September
Summer continued into the first 25 days of September. September 7th was the first day that the temperature did not reach 70 since June 10th for the month September had 1 day of 90 and 3 more in the upper 80’s The high for the month was 90 on 17th and the low for the month was 40 on the 30th for the month the mean was 66.1° and that is good for the 13th warmest on record here at Grand Rapids.

October

7 out of the first 11 days of October 2018 were warm and summer like with highs in the 70’s and 80’s and even reached 84 on the 9th  That tied the record for the date with 1939. The high on October 14th was 60° and that was the last time in 2018 that the high would reach 60 at Grand Rapids.  On the 18th the low was 27° and that ended the 2018 growing season at Grand Rapids.  The mean for the month was  50.4 (-0.4) and was the first month to be cooler than average since that cold April. The high for the month was that 84 and the low was 27.

November

The best way to describe November 2018 would be cold and somewhat snowy. For the month the 14.4” of snow fall is the most snow for any month of the winter of 2018/19 so far. And the snow fall of 4.8” on the 26th was the most in one day for the whole year of 2018! The high for the month was 52 on the 4th and the low for the month was 20 on the 22nd  The mean for the month was 34.6 and that was a departure of -5.5°

December

Warm and almost snowless is the best way to describe December 2018 (and the winter of 2018/19 for that matter) The high for the month was 53 on 28th and the low was 13 on the 9th there was just 3.2” of snow fall and that is good for the 6th least amount of snow fall for any December in recorded history here at Grand Rapids. The most snow in any one day was just 0.9” and the most on the ground was just one inch  The mean for December 2018 was 32.5 and that was +3.3

For the year 8 months were above average and only 4 were below average. The mean was a warm (for Grand Rapids) 49.6°  It is now time to set back and see how the year 2019 will play out.

Slim

Category: Michigan Weather Forecast, Slim

22 thoughts on “2018 review”

  1. I had a high of 50 here at my house it looks like the official high for Grand Rapids will be 47° at this time I have a temperature of 47 with clear skies.
    Slim

  2. While unofficial I now have reached 50° here at my house (the latest reading at the airport is 46)
    Slim

  3. Evidence outdoors. Check your shadows today. 1pm, with the sun hugging the horizon 🙁 We’re clinging to a planet experiencing a major “tilt” at the moment 😉

  4. Nother great day to give the furnace a break thanks monther Natural! Praying we don’t need to run the furnace into May…From loving the savings on heat today to filling the Silverado up on $1.98 a gallon it’s Sprite time! Go Colts ….Have a great weather Saturday MV’S best….INDY!

    1. We get our prescriptions through Meijer and with mperks you can earn $1 off per gallon. When that happens, the wife and fill up both vehicles. We did that last week and it only cost $21 to fill up both. Just about brought a tear to my eye.

  5. Great post Slim, one of your best yet! Just love reading each months stats. Besides being so warm so much of the time, I find the stat of our highest daily snowfall the whole year was a pidly 4 inches. Can’t wait to read Michaels post tomorrow regarding the solar cycle, and if maybe somehow the solar minimum is related to our lack of big storms. Even major tornadoes seemed to be nonexistent in the U.S. this year. Good stuff!

  7. Grand Rapids has now seen 26 consecutive days of temperatures above average and in the 26 days Grand Rapids has only had 2.1” of snow fall during what should be our snowiest period of the winter season. In fact the snow drought continues all across Michigan as of today (1/05/19) here are some season snow fall totals from around Michigan and the departures from where the snow fall should be on January 5th Remember that most locations received much above average snow fall in November.
    Grand Rapids 18.4” -14.4”, Muskegon 17.7” -21.9”, Lansing 13.2” -5.8”, Flint 15.5” -1.3”, Detroit 7.2”
    -6.0”, Alpena 23.7” -5.6, Houghton Lake 12.6” -14.0”, Gaylord 37.5” -23.1” Traverse City 19.7” -20.8” Petoskey 46.6” -6.1” Sault Ste Marie 46.2” -7.1” and Marquette 81.7” + 1.7” Note Marquette had 37.7” of snow fall in November and that was their 13th most snowy November on record and so far in January they have only had 0.8” of snow fall. In looking at MDOT web cams while there is some snow on the ground in the US 10 area you have to go to M 55 and north to have a good snow cover as of today.
    Slim

      1. I love the end of WOOD’s forecast. It says there are currently no storms or polar air in sight!

  10. Slim is always awesome!! Any time I have any weather questions he usually has a very detailed answer to that question minutes later! Thank you for hosting this blog Michael, it’s truly a gold mine of weather info and thank you for the suggestion of Dr Judah Cohen’s twitter and weekly blog. There is an abundance of winter data he provides daily between the two.

  11. Nice work, Slim.

    You are a seemingly limitless source of data. We are fortunate to have you.

    Good day.

  12. Yup – hot summer and early fall – the air conditioner got a good work out this year. This year we will begin a new solar cycle and it will be interesting how this pans out in regards to global weather patterns – I will have more on this in tomorrows post.

  13. Wow – great job as usual, thanks again Slim for your weekly posts. You have helped create an archive of amazing data.
    Now as for the posters – buried in snow up to our necks by the end of January, who knew??? Then apocalyptic heat for the rest of the blowtorch year – this is my forecast – mark it down! Just kidding folks.
    As I said in earlier posts, if you are reading them which I hope you are, I would like to see responses to the post. If you have ideas on long term forecasts I would like to see the data to back up your statements.
    You can have fun and conversations however lets not get overly critical of each others ideas we are all friends here and a lot of other people come here who don’t comment. Your behavior is a reflection of this site…

  14. Great post Slim!! It’s neat to look back at the year and how it played out. Now we are all wondering about this winter.

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