This week I will take a look back at December 2019 do a short summary of 2019.
December 2019 was mild and wet here in west central Michigan. At Grand Rapids the mean temperature for the month was 33.2° and that was a departure of +4.0° The warmest reading was 61 on the 26th and that was a new record high for that date. The low for the month was +7. On the 30th a new record warmest minimum was set when the low was just 42° At Muskegon a new record high was set on December 30th with a high of 58° For the month Muskegon mean temperature of 33.4 was +3.2°. At Lansing their mean of 33.0 was +4.7° On the total precipitation side Grand Rapids’s 4.04” was is good for the 12th most in any December. At Muskegon their 3.81” came in at 16th place and Lansing with their 3.91” it was their 7th wettest December. December 2019 snow did not good as well. There was a total of 14.3” at Grand Rapids well below the average of 21.9” at Muskegon they reported 12.4” less than half of their average 28.9” Lansing also seen less than half of their average December snow as only 5.4” fell there and the average is 13.0”
For the year as a whole it was very wet across the area Grand Rapids set a new yearly rain fall record as a total of 51.37” of rain and melted snow fell. It was also the wettest year at Muskegon where 47.97” fell. And at Lansing it was their 4th wettest with 40.66”.
2019 summary.
Grand Rapids
At Grand Rapids the big story for 2019 is WET as a new annual precipitation record was set with 51.37”. This is the first time in history that Grand Rapids has gone over 50”. There was 0.01” or more of rain on 177 days and 10 days with one inch or more. The mean temperature for 2019 was 48.5° the highest was 92 on July 20th the coldest low was -10 on January 31st there were 7 days of 90 or above. On 50 days the high was 32 or below and the low was 32 or below on 135 days. There were 6 days with the low was 0 or below. From January 1st to December 31st 84.6” of snow fell. There were 89 days when a trace or more fell and 25 days with one inch or more fell. The highest wind was 44 MPH on July 20 with the highest gust of 69 MPH also on the 20th of July. There was just 39% of possible sunshine with a reported 42 clear days 157 partly cloudy days and 166 cloudy days. There was a report of thunder on 38 days. (one clap of thunder on any day is reported as a thunder day) and on 7 days heavy snow was reported.
Muskegon
Muskegon also set a new record total precipitation record with 47.97” On 164 days 0.01” or more fell and on 11 days one inch or more fell. For the year (January 1st to December 31st 84.8” of snow fell with a trace or more on 80 days and one inch or more on 27 days. The mean temperature was 48.2 the high for the year was 90 on July 6th and the low was -12 on January 21st There was 1 day of 90 or better. On 47 days the high was 32 or below. And the low reached 32 or below on 127 days. And the low was 0 or below on 3 days. There were 44 clear days, 144 partly cloudy days and 177 cloudy days. Thunder was reported on 33 days.
Lansing
For some reason Lansing has a lot of missing data in their records. But going by what they do have the highest reading for 2019 was 93 on July 20th the lowest was -14 on January 31st 8 days were reported as being 90 or better 53 days where it did not get warmer then 32 and 143 days where the low was 32 or below. And 9 days of 0 or below. There was too much missing data to come up with a reliable snow fall amount. A reported 121 days were clear, 127 were partly cloudy and 117 cloudy. Thunder was reported on 36 days. Total precipitation was reported as 40.66” making 2019 the 4th wettest at Lansing.
At this time it looks like 2020 will start off on the mild side no cold expected for most if not all of January. And for the season it looks like west Michigan stands a very good chance of ending up below average in the snow fall department but be aware that there still could be a big snow or ice storm let this winter. We shall see.
Slim
Love how low my heating bills have been this year!! Far less than last year so far!! Keep the warmer than normal temps coming!
Breaking News>>>>>there is so much snow up here we are skiing on all natural snow! No snowmaking is needed due to plenty of fresh snow on the slopes! Incredible!
Interesting, more fake news and cold weather/wishcasting/snow hype from Rocky as usual. This is per Kirkwood from yesterday on his snow conditions from around the state:
The Lower Michigan snow depth, in inches, as of Jan. 3, 2020:
Big Rapids: 2
Cadillac: 2
Manistee: 2
Traverse City: 3
Houghton Lake: 3
Grayling: 5
Kalkaska: 5
Lake City: 2
East Jordan: 8
Lewiston: 5
Charlevoix: 5
Gaylord: 9
Waters: 6
Cheboygan: 3
Petoskey: 4
Pellston: 7
Alpena: 1
Zero new snow in Northern Michigan today!
Here is the latest conditions report for nubs nob. Snowmaking is not needed! How is that possible!
https://www.nubsnob.com/conditions-new/
Here are the snow tantalus form snow country! Gaylord already over 60 inches and Petoskey well over 50 inches! Winter wonderland up here and no change in sight! Facts matter!
https://www.weather.gov/apx/snow
It is a different world up here in snow country! Despite the warm weather hype and lies by mookie – up here is snow country they are having a great winter! Already in Petoskey 52.5 inches of snow this season and 2 to 4 inches in the forecast for Sunday! The skiing is just like mid season = perfect! Who would have thought? I love it! I will drive up here every week or two until we get hammered downstate!
Where’s
Indy and rocky??? The blog kinda quiet.. let’s get some snow talk going!!!
Grand Rapids is an astounding 11 degrees above average for temps in January and zero snow!!! Outstanding start to The New Year! Keep it Rocking!!
Back in the 40s next week. Great winter so far.
Yup. And I believe it was next week we were supposed to prepare for and “mark down”, not sure what we need to prepare for when it’s 40 degrees out.
Here at my house it is now cloudy and 34 the official Grand Rapids reading at 12 noon was 33. There is just trace amounts of snow in the shade and snow piles and that is all. While it has only been 3 days this is the first time that Grand Rapids has not had any snow fall for the first 3 days in January since 2007. The average H/L for today is 31/19. At this time it looks like only one day in the next 7 will be near average with the rest above average. As I write this… Read more »
That seals it…
I am definitely moving back to Minnesota.
Don’t give up yet – I lived in Hamilton many years ago – you are in a prime spot for lake effect – if we get some Arctic air in place – more on this in tomorrows post….
Excellent write up Slim! That is a lot of data compiled there. Definitely a wet year as our yard has been mush pretty much the whole year except in July when we never really had any rain by us.