April 1956

While storms rip across areas to our south back in early April 1956 Michigan had it last F5 tornado and it hit the Grand Rapids metro area.

Thursday marked the 69 anniversary of Michigan’s last F-5 tornado that killed 17 people, injured hundreds more.   April 3, 1956, was an unusually warm day with record highs in the upper 70s in Muskegon and Grand Rapids. Strong winds from the south brought these warm temperatures, along with high humidity. But while Michiganders were enjoying the unseasonable weather there was a cold front across over Wisconsin and Illinois. That cold front was creating a line of thunderstorms.

By 1 p.m. that day, a tornado killed two people in Bancroft, Wisconsin as it left a path of destruction behind it. About an hour later, another tornado touched down in Berlin, Wisconsin, killing seven people and injuring 50 more. With the lines of storms already producing deadly tornadoes, the U.S. Weather Bureau (now known as the National Weather Service) sounded the alarm for what may be on its way to Michigan. There were no watches or warning for storms in 1956. The storms moved across the lake, eventually arriving on the coast of West Michigan in the late afternoon. Once they made it to the region, they immediately began producing tornadoes.

The first tornado to touch down was at Saugatuck, traveling nine miles to Holland. The F-4 tornado injured seven people and destroyed several buildings, including the historic Saugatuck Lighthouse. From about 5:45 p.m. until about 8:30 p.m., at least four tornadoes would touch down, the strongest of which was an F-5 that would travel over 50 miles with a maximum estimated diameter of nearly a quarter mile. This tornado was less than a mile from where I now live.

There is light rain falling early this Saturday morning the low so far here in MBY and current temperature is 40. I have recorded 0.44″ of rain so far overnight. The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 51/30 there was 0.05” of rain before midnight. The sun was out 44% of the possible time. The highest wind gust was 21 MPH out of the E. For today the average H/L is 53/33 the record high of 81 was in 1988 the coldest high of 27 was in 1982 the record low of 12 was in 1995 the warmest low of 65 was in 1929 the most rainfall of 1.87” was in 1947 the most snowfall of 8.6” was in 1952 the most on the ground was 6” in 1975.

. AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
354 AM EDT SAT APR 5 2025

KEY MESSAGES

– RAIN LINGERS THROUGH THIS MORNING. CLOUDY AND MILD THIS AFTERNOON

– COLD WEATHER RETURNS TONIGHT; SNOW SHOWERS MONDAY

– TEMPS BACK TO NORMAL LATE IN THE WEEK WITH CHANCE OF RAIN.

DISCUSSION

ISSUED AT 330 AM EDT SAT APR 5 2025

– RAIN LINGERS THROUGH THIS MORNING. CLOUDY AND MILD THIS AFTERNOON

SHOWERS CONTINUE THOUGH THE MAIN MOISTURE FROM THE FRONTAL
BOUNDARY REMAINS SOUTH OF MICHIGAN. THE HEAVIEST SHOWERS WILL
OCCUR UNTIL AROUND MID MORNING. SHORT TERM HRRR ARE FINALLY
GETTING A HANDLE ON PRECIPITATION . THE BACK EDGE OF THE
MOISTURE IS MOVING THROUGH WISCONSIN AS THE UPPER LEVEL WAVE
SHOULD BRING A THE COLD FRONT THROUGH, ALONG WITH A WIND SHIFT
AND DRIER AIR. THIS IS SEEN FAIRLY WELL IN THE MID LEVELS. THE DRY
AIR SHOULD END ANY LINGERING PRECIP BY 15Z.

THE MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW GOOD AGREEMENT ON THE UPPER LEVEL
FLOW. AN UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE OVER HUDSON BAY. TH
INTERACTION BETWEEN THAT LOW, THE LOW MOVING INT TEXAS AND THE
HIGH PRESSURE SITTING OVER THE ATLANTIC WILL DOMINATE THE PATTERN
OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE US INTO MID NEXT WEEK. WHAT THIS
MEANS FOR SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN THIS AFTERNOON WILL BE A TIGHTENING
GRADIENT THAT WILL BRING A BRIEF PERIOD OF GUSTY WINDS THIS
AFTERNOON. SKIES SHOULD REMAIN CLOUDY BUT TEMPERATURES AND WEATHER
WILL BE MILD WITH TEMPS INTO THE 50S.

– COLD WEATHER RETURNS TONIGHT; SNOW SHOWERS MONDAY

THE BEFORE MENTIONED UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL DROP COLDER AIR OVER
THE REGION TONIGHT. EXPECT TEMPS TO DROP INTO THE 20S TONIGHT INTO
SUNDAY. THIS COLD AIR ADVECTION WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TUESDAY.
THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE DOMINANCE OF THE LOW WILL BE CLIPPER THAT
SHOULD SWING THROUGH EARLY MONDAY MORNING. WHILE IT REMAINS
DIFFICULT TO CREATE SNOW IN APRIL, ARRIVING PRE-DAWN, AMIDST -9C
AIR AT 850MB IS A GOOD START. WHILE AREA WILL HAVE RECEIVED UP TO
AN HALF AN INCH OF RAINFALL, THE NW FLOW COULD ALLOW FOR
SUFFICIENT DRYING FOR SNOWFALL TO POTENTIALLY STICK ON SURFACES.
BEST CHANCE FOR SNOWFALL WILL BE NORTH OF THE I -96 CORRIDOR,
ESPECIALLY ALONG THE US 10 CORRIDOR. SNOW AMOUNTS COULD BE AS MUCH
AS 1 TO 2 INCHES THOUGH THIS WILL BE HIGHLY VARIABLE. MID RANGE
ENSEMBLES DO SHOW THE BEST PERIOD FOR SNOW WILL BE MONDAY MORNING.

AFTER CLIPPER PASSAGE, COLD DRY AIR WILL DOMINATE UNTIL AROUND
MIDWEEK. HIGHS WILL BE 10 TO 155 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL WITH LOWS IN
THE UPPER TEENS TO LOW 20S.

– TEMPS BACK TO NORMAL LATE IN THE WEEK WITH CHANCE OF RAIN.

THE MID WEEK WILL BRING MORE ZONAL FLOW, BUT ALSO SOME LACK OF
CONFIDENCE IN THE OVERALL PATTERN. THIS IS DUE TO THE FACT THAT
THE ONLY DOMINATE PATTERN IS A BUILDING HIGH OFF THE WESTERN
COAST OF MEXICO AND THE REST OF CONUS REMAINS IN TRANSITION. WHILE
THERE IS SOME DIFFERENTIATION ON TIMING, THE BUILDING HIGH SHOULD
ALLOW A MID LEVEL LOW TO DROP THROUGH THE UPPER GREAT LAKES
BRINGING CHANCES FOR SHOWERS MID TO LATE WEEK. TEMPERATURES WILL
HOWEVER, RETURN TO NORMAL.

Detailed Forecast For Grand Rapids

Today

Showers, mainly before 8am. High near 52. North northeast wind 7 to 10 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Tonight

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 27. North northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light north after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.

Sunday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 46. Calm wind becoming west 5 to 9 mph in the morning.

Sunday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 31. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph after midnight.

Monday

A 50 percent chance of snow showers, mainly before 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 40. North northwest wind 7 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Monday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 22.

Tuesday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 37.

Tuesday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 25.

Wednesday

Partly sunny, with a high near 48.

Wednesday Night

A chance of showers after 8pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38.

Thursday

Showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 53.

Thursday Night

A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39.

Friday

Partly sunny, with a high near 55.