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 increase when the updated averages come out. On average there is around 3.6” of rain […]
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 Lakes water movements that can change lake levels dramatically during storms. Surges and seiches can […]
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 1816 will come to mind and of course 1992 but today I will look at […]
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 summers on record to the United States, especially across the Plains, Upper Midwest and Great […]
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 would be a high of 92° in most of July. Heat waves are caused by […]
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 us in the Northern Hemisphere, this marks the longest day of the year and the […]
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 the one that comes it mind. June 8, 1953 was a warm but not really […]
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 a square area 100 miles on each side to a depth of almost 12 feet. It […]
No not the Bob Seger song but it is now time to turn the page to June and the start of summer 2020. This will be a different kind of summer for me as this will be the first time since 1966 that I will not be working during the summer months (or it […]
Originally called Decoration Day, from the early tradition of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths and flags, Memorial Day is a day for remembrance of those who have died in service to our country. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868 to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers, by proclamation of Gen. John […]