A Lot of Shaking Going On – 3 /23

After Slim’s post yesterday on the 9.2 earthquake in Alaska in 1964, I began gathering data from the Alaska Earthquake Center and was quite surprised by what I found.

For more information, check out the Alaska Earthquake Center.

Weather History

Yesterday we had a high of  51° at midnight and temperatures dropped throughout the day to a low of 25°.

1956: A snowstorm drops from 6 to 10 inches across southwest Lower Michigan. Jackson picks up 10 inches of snow and Grand Rapids a record 8.4 inches.

On March 23, 1888, the daily records for both the Lowest Maximum Daytime temperature and Overnight Low temperature were set at 18 and 2 degrees, respectively in Detroit.

Also on March 23, 2011, a snowstorm started on the 22nd and continued into the morning hours as it hit the Flint, Saginaw, and Thumb regions. 4 to 8 inches of heavy, wet snow fell. For areas along the I-69 corridor, a tenth or two of ice fell on top of the snow. The combination of snow and ice lead to over 10,000 customers without power.

Forecast Discussion

- Rain, Snow, Wind Sunday to Monday, Central Michigan Travel
  Impacts Possible

Well developed low pressure system centered over Minnesota to
northern Wisconsin today is expected to deepen further as it
tracks through northern Michigan tonight. Precipitation will begin
mid to late this afternoon. Initially mild and dry air in the low
levels will cool as better midlevel precipitation rates move in.
Wet bulb temperatures south of I-96 appear too warm and so it
should stay rain this evening, but snow is favored to mix or
change over north of I-96 around dark. There may may a lull for a
period overnight as the low passes just to the north, then
reintensification of snow is likely on the back side of the low
with some lake enhancement, affecting western portions of the
area. Snow may stick to roads Sunday night through Monday morning
especially in the higher terrain of central Michigan, to include
areas roughly around Oceana, Newaygo, Mecosta, and Clare Counties
and to the north. Peak totals 4 to 6 inches could fall between
Reed City and Cadillac by late Monday.

The 00Z HREF came in a little colder than the 12Z, with QPF and
snow totals slightly higher. Some of the models including the 00Z
HRRR, ARW, and NAM3 were more aggressive with the triple-point
low development over west-central Michigan this evening, which
could decrease the overnight precip lull near US-10 and increase
the winds behind the cold front, though the 06Z HRRR backed off
on that idea again. Regardless of that uncertainty, the
probabilities of impactful snow amounts from this two-part snow
event in the Central Michigan highlands is looking a little more
likely. This snow may be fairly dense with SLRs around 10:1, and
could stick to objects. Wind will be another factor Sunday night
into Monday morning, with gusts over 30 mph likely.

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