Today should remain calm and warm with temperatures near 80°. There is a slight chance of rain (20%) today with clouds increasing due to our next storm system moving towards the state. Tomorrow into Saturday we have a marginal risk for severe weather with the main risk being heavy rain.
This is our current drought monitor (it will be updated later today.)
Grand Rapids Forecast
8 10 grrU.S.A and Global Events for August 10th:
1884: An earthquake, centered near New York City and registering a magnitude 5.5, hit the region a little after 2 PM. The tremor made houses shake, chimneys fall, and residents wonder what the heck was going on, according to a New York Times article two days later.
1856: A hurricane destroyed Isle Dernieres or Last Island, a pleasure resort south-southwest of New Orleans on this day. The highest points of the island were under five feet of water. The resort hotel was destroyed, along with the island’s gambling establishments. Over 200 people perished, and the island lost all its vegetation and split in half. Only one cow remained on the island after the catastrophe. The Last Island is now just a haven for pelicans and other seabirds. The steamer Nautilus foundered during the storm. The lone survivor clung to a bale of cotton and washed ashore sometime later.
1882 Sandusky, Ohio reported a four-minute snow squall during the morning. Suburbs around Chicago reported frost, while a killing frost struck parts of Iowa.
1989 Phoenix, AZ reported its first high below 100 degrees in 64 days. Meanwhile, 23 cities in the southeastern United States reported record lows.
Forecast Discussion
- Isolated showers/storms today The cold front has dropped into northwest parts of the CWA and will likely remain there into the start of the day today. This system will resume its southeast push later this morning into the early afternoon hours. Some weak instability is progged for southeast parts of the CWA and that may allow for an isolated storm or two. Overall though, SPC HREF guidance suggests any precipitation coverage will remain low as this front pushes southeast of the CWA by mid afternoon. We will cap the precipitation probabilities at chance levels for today. - Risk for Thunderstorms Friday The atmosphere will be destabilizing Friday as the next mid level short wave approaches from the west. Enough instability develops during the afternoon to warrant numerous showers and storms to develop. The arrival of a low level jet will also enhance the lift during the day. Ensemble PWAT values climb to 1.5 inches as well which will fuel the convection. Ensemble qpf values have trended up for most models and SPC HREF precipitation plots suggest the afternoon will turn stormy especially for inland locations. Deep layer shear does not strengthen significantly until evening so the daytime storms may be more pulse in nature. We increased the POPs to likely as a result of the increased confidence for rain. .LONG TERM...(Friday night through Wednesday) ...Several chances for rain... Showers and thunderstorms will be moving through the state Friday evening. A cold front will be moving across the cwa during this time, aided by a couple of short waves...one along the front and one behind it. Thus, decent lift will be generated and when combined with the precipitable water values around 1.7 inches, the threat for heavy rain exists. GFS shows 1200-1400 j/kg MUCAPE along and behind the front and 35-45kts bulk shear...more than enough to produce a strong to severe storm. SPC has expanded the marginal risk to include all of the cwa Friday evening/night; it`s something we`ll continue to keep an eye on. Once the upper trough moves through, Saturday and Sunday will be dry. A large upper trough then moves in Sunday night/Monday and rain chances will increase again. MUCAPE is only progd at a couple of hundred j/kg, so thunderstorm chances will be much less than Friday night. As a result, the heavy rain threat will also be less, but not zero; precipitable water values are progd around 1.5 inches. The upper trough associated with the system will be somewhat elongated and will take a little extra time to leave the area. Thus, PoPs will linger into Monday night. A couple of days of dry weather are expected after that. Temperatures will be near to below normal through the period with highs in the 70s. However, dewpoints in the 60s will still create humid conditions at times.
Yesterday was yet another below normal temp day! I love cool summers! The below to near normal temp pattern is locked in and has been for months and months! Wow!
The official H/L yesterday was 80/61 there was no rain fall. There were 0 HDD’s and 6 CDD’s the highest wind gust was 2 MPH out of the west. For today the average H/L is 82/62 the record high of 98 was set in 1944 and the record low of 45 was set in 1972. The most rain fall of 1.80” fell in 2012. Last year the H/L was 83/57 with no rain fall. The best chance of rain now looks to be on Friday but several days will also see rain chances. Most of the next week will be… Read more »
Mowed yesterday, it wasn’t too bad!
Sorry, we had the site go down for awhile, several sites went down to security issues and hacker attacks – just another day in website administration 🙁
Ugh… I can imagine!!!
Happy the site is back up!