Author Archives: Slim

  The warmest August on record here in Grand Rapids. August 1947 was a very warm to hot month all across Michigan, it was the warmest or a top 5 in almost all locations. What kind of stood out about … Continued

Wow can it be August all ready? Seems like just yesterday it was January 1st and we were just starting the “New Year” The Grand Rapids (1981-2010) mean average temperature for August is 70.1° I would  look for that to … Continued

Storms can profoundly affect the Great Lakes, sloshing water from one end of a lake’s basin to other, sometimes in a matter of hours, like displaced water in a bathtub. This lesson focuses on storm surges and seiches — Great … Continued

OK, we have looked at some heat waves in the last few weeks I thought it would now be a good time to look as some past summers that were on the cool side. I know that way back in … Continued

We have just had the heat wave of 2020 but lets take a look back at a Heat Wave that set many record highs in much of the US. The “Dust Bowl” years of 1930-36 brought some of the hottest … Continued

The World Meteorological Organization is specific in its definition by stating that a heat wave is when the daily maximum temperature for more than five consecutive days exceeds the average maximum temperature by 9 degrees Fahrenheit. For Grand Rapids that … Continued

Today at 5:44 PM EDT is Summer Solstice. While many people call this the first day of summer.  Meteorological Summers started on June 1st and this year we already have had several very warm to hot days. For those of … Continued

While on this side of the state the 1956 tornado is one that will come to minds of us older folks as the BIG one.. But being originally from the east side of the state the 1953 Flint tornado is … Continued

The events leading up to the summer of 1816 may have started on April 10, 1815 with the eruption of the volcano Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in what’s now Indonesia. The volcano spewed out enough ash and pumice to cover … Continued