We have a warm and humid 75° at 6 am this morning. Yesterday’s high was 86 and the low was 64°. There is a thin line of rain coming onshore though it doesn’t look very impressive. It will be windy and warm with scattered rain and storms.
Weather History for SW Michigan
July 17
2006: A widespread severe weather outbreak struck West Michigan. Dozens of trees were downed by winds gusting between 60 and 70 mph. A camper was injured by a falling tree at a campground in Dorr, Allegan County. Two-inch diameter hail fell at Marne in Ottawa County.
2009: The high of 67 degrees at Grand Rapids is a record cool high temperature for the date, and contributes to July 2009 becoming the coolest July on record. The highest temperature for the entire month is only 84 degrees, the lowest monthly maximum temperature for any July on record.
1994: A small, short-lived tornado was observed lifting small debris at the Clare County airport north of Harrison.
July 18
1952: Thunderstorms with heavy downpours resulted in flooding of basements and some streets across West Michigan.
July 19
1894: Temperatures reach 100 degrees across much of Michigan for the second day in a row. At Lansing, the high of 102 degrees ties the record for the all-time hottest temperature.
2009: Cool and unstable air over Lake Michigan spawns at least two waterspouts. One of the waterspouts moves inland near Holland, just north of Lake Macatawa, but quickly dissipates and causes no damage.
July 20
1954: Severe thunderstorms produced golf ball-sized hail and damaging winds across West Michigan. In Kent, Ionia, and Montcalm Counties, dozens of trees were felled and some crops were wiped out by the hail and high winds.
2003: A tornado with peak winds around 100 mph struck near Battle Creek. It left an 8-mile-long damage path and tore a garage from a house. Three outbuildings and a barn were also destroyed. Hundreds of trees were uprooted or broken off. The tornado width was nearly one-half mile wide where the most severe damage occurred.
July 21
1934: A brutal heat wave peaks during the Dust Bowl summer with a high of 104 degrees at Grand Rapids, second only to the 106 and 108-degree readings from July 1936. Temperatures reach the mid and upper 90s even right along the Lake Michigan shore.
1983: One person drowned on the Kalamazoo River as a tornado struck Saugatuck and then crossed the river, generating a large wave of water.
July 22
1953: Severe thunderstorms struck during the late evening as a cold front moved through. High winds downed numerous trees, and several streets in Grand Rapids were blocked by falling trees.
July 23
1883: A half-mile-wide violent tornado killed three people as it moved southeast from near Eaton Rapids to the south of Leslie.
1999: Severe weather struck central Lower Michigan, with two weak tornadoes touching down in rural areas. One struck near Mount Pleasant, but only lasted a few seconds and produced no damage. Another brief touchdown was reported during the early evening hours in Tustin, in Osceola County, where it produced minor damage to one home.
Weather History for SE Michigan
July 17
On July 17, 2012, the afternoon high temperature soared to 102 degrees, reaching 100+ degrees in Detroit for the third time that month. Highs also reached 101 in Flint and 100 degrees in Saginaw. All either tied or broke the existing record for the date.
On July 17, 1931, the temperature reached a record high of 100 degrees in Saginaw. Saginaw also had record highs of 98 degrees on the 15th and 16th.
Also on July 17, 2006, a squall line moved across Southeast Michigan hitting the Tri-Cities and Thumb regions the hardest. Severe weather was reported in all seventeen counties of Southeast Lower Michigan. Most of the damage was from severe winds, but there were a few reports of hail up to golf ball size in Saginaw. Winds were estimated up to 100 mph in eastern Huron County as hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted. One person died, and one person was injuried from lightning in Detroit.
July 18
On July 18, 2011, hot and humid conditions gave way to a batch of thunderstorms, with over 20 reports of severe weather across Metro Detroit. The severe reports included a blowdown with dozens of trees snapped northwest of Monroe with winds up to 80 mph. Unfortunately, there was also one weather-related fatality when the high thunderstorm winds knocked down a power line onto a man in Detroit.
On July 18, 2010, A weak EF0 tornado hit Lighthouse County Park in Huron County. The tornado touched down at 1011 PM with maximum winds of 80 mph. The total path length was estimated at 2 miles, with a maximum width of 75 yards. Numerous trees were blown down, one of which fell onto a camper. Roof damage was also observed at one home.
Also on July 18, 1942, the overnight temperature dropped to only 80 degrees. This is the highest record maximum low temperature ever recorded in Detroit and ties the records set on July 1, 1931 and July 5, 1921.
July 19
On July 19, 2020, several rounds of storms moved through the region, spreading from the Tri-Cities area during the morning to the Metro Detroit area by afternoon. These storms caused numerous instances of wind damage throughout the day as well as heavy localized rainfall. The storms resulted in large trees on mobile homes, damage to structures at Willow Run airport, and an overturned semi-truck near Ypsilanti. Over 100,000 customers lost power due to the storms.
On July 19, 1996, a severe thunderstorm came through Flint producing 58 mph winds in the early morning hours.
July 20
On July 20, 2019, severe storms brought widespread wind damage reports across much of Southeast Michigan with approximately 610,000 customers losing power. Some of the hardest hit areas were around Columbiaville where a 72 mph gust was recorded.
On July 20, 1984, Genesee county experienced hail that was 1.75 inches in diameter.
July 21
On July 21, 2011, the peak of the heat wave was reached when high temperatures reached 100 degrees in Detroit, Monroe, Adrian, Grosse Isle, and Ypsilanti. The 100 degrees at Detroit was a record for the date and was the first 100 recorded in Detroit since 1995. This hot day was in the middle of a stretch of heat that saw highs reach 90 or greater at Saginaw for 5 days in a row, 6 days in a row in Flint, and 7 days in a row at Detroit. The heat wave was the longest and strongest heat wave to hit Southeast Michigan since July 1987. It also helped to make July 2011 the warmest month on record for Detroit, the 3rd warmest month for Flint, and the fourth warmest month in Saginaw.
Also on July 21, 1998, during the late afternoon and early evening, a broken line of severe thunderstorms moved through metro Detroit as well as Lenawee and Monroe Counties. This squall line produced a wind gust to 75 mph at the Ann Arbor Airport, widespread wind damage across the metro area especially in Dearborn, hundreds of thousands of power outages, and unfortunately, 2 deaths in Woodhaven as severe winds brought down a video store awning. There were also two other injuries at the video store and one injury at Michigan International Speedway (MIS).
July 22
On July 22, 1960, Detroit experienced its highest official wind gust during a severe thunderstorm of 104 mph wind at 5:18 pm.
July 23
On July 23, 2010, severe thunderstorms moved through areas along and south of I-94. The strongest storm produced a measured 82 mph wind gust near Whitaker. That storm also produced an EF0 tornado along Judd Road between Hitchingham and Whitaker Roads. Maximum estimated winds with the tornado were around 80 mph, with a path length of 0.6 miles and width of 100 yards.
Also on July 23, 1999, Detroit experienced up to 70mph wind gusts with a strong storm that moved on through.
Forecast Discussion
--Showers and Storms This Morning-- A line of showers with isolated thunderstorms that started in the Northern Lower Peninsula and extends across south west Michigan continues to move to the east across the region early this morning. While most of this line remains showers, there were isolated thunderstorms that have had 40 DBZ at the -20C, with Echo Tops of 40KFT. The HRRR, HREF and NAM Nest did show some convection but failed to show the fairly solid line. The HREF ensemble PWAT did a good job of indicating the prefrontal moisture that sparked this line. Given that features movement, this line of showers and storms will wane as it moves inland with light showers expected to move across the lower peninsula reaching the US 127 corridor around sunrise. --Gusty winds and a marginal risk this afternoon-- The cold front is currently extending from the low over the Upper Great Lakes and down across WI. Winds across Michigan are currently southerly and have begun to gust upwards of 25 to 30 mph. Once the cold front arrives, around 18Z, winds will shift to the WNW and remain gusty. A Low level Jet, at and ahead of the front, will move through the region this afternoon which will peak winds around 20Z. The main concern for damaging winds will be an area this afternoon extending from Saginaw Bay across the I 69 corridor. However, the eastern side of the state is in a slight risk which, as noted in previous discussions is due to troposphere folding associated with the upper low moving across Michigan. That folding effectively pushes the best deep lifting to the east. The upper level low will move across the Upper pennisula and trek into Ontario. The cold front and the corresponding long wave trough will move across Michigan this afternoon and evening. Downsloping flow behind the trough will advect cooler and drier air into the region Thursday. That cooler air will mean slightly cooler nighttime temperatures though daytime Max Temps will remain in the upper 80s to low 90s through the week. --Another round of storms this weekend-- The next break in hot temperatures, along with the next best chance for precipitation will be this weekend. The mid range models continue to show a large upper level low over the Hudson bay. A long wave trough that will extending across southern Canada and through the midwest continues to show mid to upper level moisture. The GEFS M-climate anomaly has +1 to +2 sigma with PWATs of 1.5 to 1.75 Sunday. The model trend has this boundary lingering late this weekend into early next week. Its passage should bring cooler temperatures in its wake.
What a summer, no heat waves, plenty off sun and many days with near normal temps! Incredible!
It is finally raining here. 🙂
Is this the hottest week of Summer?? Could it be we will see August is coming fast and so is shorter days ahead… INDY
The hottest week so far was back in June when temps were in the mid to upper 90’s and the heat index was well over 100, some spots over 110.
Yes and the so called week in June was about a 2 day event! Wow!
We’re in mackinaw city and we’re getting slammed with a storm right now. Raining buckets with wind and thunder.
A whopping 4 hundredths of an inch of rain this morning. I’ll have to go back and add the daily totals, but I don’t think we’ve had more than around an inch total of rain here since early June. Another steamy day today, dew points at 71!? That is some thick air!
Yes, we are in the same boat here in eastern montcalm county. last friday we got an inch, which doubled the amount of rain we have had since June 1 (so maybe 2″ in about 1.5 months). Some non-irrigated corn is 2′ tall, brown tips, and tasseling right now! I feel bad for the farmers that dont have wells yet. And by now most have drought resistant corn, but not all.
Just had a short but very heavy rain shower here. At GRR the report is one of my pet peeves as the official report is a Thunderstorm was occurring. While there may have been some reports of lightning in the area the shower, we got was by no means a thunderstorm. Anyway I recorded 0.11” of rain in around 10 minutes. Yesterday was a very warm to hot day with an official H/L of 90/71 there was no rain fall and 77% of possible sunshine. Before the rain shower the overnight low was just 75 and now after the shower… Read more »