Yesterday was windy, and many leaves flew off the trees. All the leaves are gone from our walnut trees, and the maples and cottonwoods are about half stripped away. We had a high of 64° and the low was 39°. We have 33° at 6 am.
After a sunny day with highs near 60, much-needed rain occurs late tonight into early Friday. The weekend will be dry and cool, and then a big warm-up will occur early next week. Near-record highs, along with strong southwest winds, are expected by next Tuesday.
Weather History
1967: A tornado injures four people as it destroys a trailer in Monterey Township, Allegan County.
2001: A squall line moves across southern Lower Michigan producing widespread wind damage and several tornadoes. The town of Schoolcraft in Kalamazoo County is hit by winds estimated up to 100 mph, causing extensive tree damage and some structural damage. The town of Marshall in Calhoun County also sustains some damage to homes as winds gust between 60 and 80 mph.
Radarscope Archive – MV
On October 24, 2001, a strong cold front moved into the Great Lakes region during the early morning hours of the 25th. Ahead of this cold front, warm air surged northward into the Great Lakes. Thunderstorms developed ahead of the cold front late in the afternoon of the 24th and continued into the evening. These thunderstorms extended from the Great Lakes all the way to the deep south. Strong winds just off the surface allowed some of the thunderstorms that developed across southern Michigan to become severe. Most of the severe storms caused damaging wind gusts with a few hail reports. Most of the wind gusts were estimated between 60 and 70 mph, but isolated locations in Lapeer County gusted up to 100 mph. Some of the thunderstorms developed rotation, a few of which produced tornadoes. Three tornadoes were spawned from the thunderstorms including an F0 near Fosters, an F1 from Hartland to Davisburg, and another F1 from near Munger to Quanicassee.
On October 24, 1991, the overnight temperature dropped to only 63 degrees in Flint, which is the daily record for the highest minimum temperature in Flint. This also happens to be the second night in a string of four nights (October 23-26) in which record-high minimum temperatures were recorded!
Also on October 24, 1933, an early-season snowstorm left the Saginaw area with 5 inches of snow.
NWS Forecast
Forecast Discussion
- Period of soaking rain later tonight and early Friday We are looking at a dry and more seasonable day by late October standards for today, before a period of light rain comes in for later tonight and early Friday. Broad scale upper ridging is in place over the region, with the center of high pressure at the sfc just moving overhead. Large scale subsidence will keep the area mostly sunny with temperatures maxing out around 60. The rain chances tonight come in in association with the fairly strong upper short wave over the Rockies early this morning. This wave is fairly progressive as it is associated with a 100 knot upper level speed max. It will approach the area tonight, and will help to induce a 40 knot low level jet that will traverse just south of the area. We will be at the nose of the low level jet, and there will be a brief feed coming in from the Gulf region. The best moisture and instability looks to stay south of the area as a secondary low moves by to our south. MU CAPE and LI (sfc and elevated) progs both show that the atmosphere is just a little too stable to include thunder in at this time. Can not rule it out though with the low level jet as strong as it is. The best rain will come through after 06z tonight, and should be gone by 18z Friday. Ensemble means and HREF means are showing that rain amounts will generally be up to 0.25 inches, with maybe a tad more along the lakeshore. This will be some welcome rainfall with the recent dry conditions for most of this month. Skies will clear out from NW to SE Friday afternoon and evening. - Sunny but Cool Weekend A large area of sfc high pressure slides through the region over the weekend lending high confidence in dry/sunny weather. Temperatures expected to be right around normal for the end of October with highs 55 to 60 and lows in the upper 20s to mid 30s (except warmer at the Lk MI coast). A widespread freeze appears possible on Saturday night when the center of the high is overhead. - Turning Windy with Near Record Warmth Next Week Rising heights and southwest flow on the back side of the departing sfc high early next week sends unseasonably warm air back into the region. H8 temps rebound to near 15C by Tuesday with highs pushing into the mid to upper 70s inland from Lk MI. Record highs look to be in reach Tuesday, possibly eclipsing existing records from 1999 at several stations. Tightening sfc pres gradient between the Atlantic sfc high and a frontal zone over the Central U.S. results in rather windy conditions with gusts likely exceeding 30 mph Tue/Wed. - Rain Chances Increasing by Halloween Guidance has the central U.S. frontal zone edging in our direction by Halloween although confidence in timing/position is low that far out. Questions also exist as to whether the front just pushes through or stalls out. This will have implications on temperatures as well as rainfall duration/amounts. Either way current expectation is for a 60 pct chance of rain on Halloween with temps cooling down a bit.
Still in Austin TX… not much happening here weather-wise. This is probably their “nice” time of the year. Ill be back in Michigan next month though, just in time for the action!
After a cool weekend it looks to warm up again and we may approach record highs next Tuesday. The record high at Grand Rapids next Tuesday is 77 at Lansing, it is 76 and at Muskegon it is 74. At the current time it is clear and 35 here in MBY. At GRR the current reading is 34.
Slim
The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 65/40 there was no rainfall. The highest wind gust was 32 MPH out of the W. The sun was out 44% of the possible time. For today the average H/L is 57/40 the record high of 80 was set in 1963 the coldest high of 40 was set in 1972. The record low of 24 was set in 1969 the warmest low of 63 was set in 1991. The most rainfall of 2.24” fell in 2001 the most snowfall of 0.1” fell in 1962 Last year the H/L was 76/46.
Slim