As promised here are the first of the aurora photos from our community from Nathan and Barry. Thanks a lot for these beautiful images. Anyone who wants to post Aurora photos can email them to me. Please keep in mind these belong to their respective owners. Due to the image size, I picked what I felt were the best. Click on the image to see them in their full glory.
Nathan image
Nathan Image 2
Barry Photo
Barry Photo
Today we will see mostly cloudy skies with a chance of a light scattered shower and temperatures in the mid to upper 60s. Yesterday we reached 83° after a morning low of 59° with a trace of rain.
NWS Forecast
Weather History
1886: A tornado injured one person and damaged several homes north of Lansing. The injury occurred as a conductor was blown from a train.
2004: A tornado struck the southeast side of Maple Rapids, destroying a silo and damaging two others. A shed was also damaged. A couple of two-by-fours were driven into the side of a pole barn. Shingles were damaged and ripped off of two homes.
On May 14, 1987, Oakland County was hit by an F1 tornado at 5:10 PM.
1886: The deadliest tornado in Minnesota history razed parts of St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids, leaving 72 dead and 213 injured. 11 members of a wedding party were killed including the bride and groom. The bottom of the Mississippi River was seen during the tornado’s crossing. Click HERE for more information from the StarTribune.
1912: On her maiden voyage, the RMS Titanic rammed into an iceberg just before midnight. The “unsinkable ship” sank two hours and forty minutes later into the icy water of the Atlantic Ocean near Newfoundland, Canada. Tragically, 1,517 passengers including the crew were lost. A nearby ship, the Carpathia, rushed to the Titanic and was able to save 706 people.
1922: The Mississippi River reached a record height of 21.3 feet at New Orleans, Louisiana, and the river was still rising, with the crest still a week away. Understandably, the City of New Orleans was nervous as reports of levees failing upriver reached the city. A crevasse below New Orleans would relieve the pressure on the town’s strained levees on the 27th, spared the city from disaster.
1935: Black Sunday refers to a particularly severe dust storm that occurred on April 14, 1935, as part of the Dust Bowl. During the afternoon, the residents of the Plains States were forced to take cover as a dust storm, or “black blizzard,” blew through the region. The storm hit the Oklahoma Panhandle and Northwestern Oklahoma first and moved south for the remainder of the day. It hit Beaver around 4:00 p.m., Boise City around 5:15 p.m., and Amarillo, Texas, at 7:20 p.m. The conditions were the most severe in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, but the storm’s effects were felt in other surrounding areas.
1999: In Sydney, Australia, a hailstorm causes $1.6 billion in damage, making it the costliest hailstorm to strike a populated city in the country. The hail damaged some 22,000 homes and more than 60,000 vehicles. Also, aircraft damage at Sydney Airport was extensive.
Forecast Discussion
- Scattered showers/isolated thunder today, then dry Radar continues to show very light rain showers/drizzle over the the northern cwa north of the frontal boundary that stretches east/west along I-96. These showers are closer to the h8 front. On the surface, temperatures north of the front are in the mid 50s with dewpoints in the 40s, compared to lower 60s/mid 50s south of the front. GFS/Nam3km show a weak wave on the front this morning that moves south during the early afternoon. This should help to drag the frontal boundary through the cwa during the afternoon. Instability is pretty meager today, highest along the southern row of the cwa where MUCAPE around 200 j/kg were noted in the models. An isolated thunderstorm isn`t out of the question today, but most of the precipitation will be just showers. Aloft, a trough is moving across the Ohio Valley and once it moves to the east late afternoon/early evening, we`ll see rain chances end. High pressure will nose into the region from Ontario tonight and help to clear out the sky and set the stage for sunshine Wednesday. Highs will range from the mid 60s to around 70 today and in the 70s Wednesday. - Showers with a Few Storms Thursday Night into Friday A 500 mb shortwave trough will move into the Great Lakes late Thursday into Friday, but will be weakening as it does. LLJ orientation and strength is more impressive on the 00z GFS and GEM compared to the ECMWF, and not surprisingly there is greater coverage of showers from both of those models. Given the weakening trough in the upper levels, there is very little surface reflection or change in pressure/temps/dew point as this feature moves through, other than a slight dip in MSLP and a veering of winds from easterly to southerly. Some modest instability is present, mainly elevated, so a few thunderstorms may occur. Total rainfall amounts look varied, but generally 0.25"-0.50" is forecast. The 00z GFS is likely overamplifying the base of the trough Friday into Saturday and creating a surface wave riding along the front. This is not supported by the ECMWF and GEM, nor the GEFS mean 500 mb heights. As such, the prolonging of showers on the GFS well into Saturday is not favored at this time. Drying conditions are more likely to occur than rain on Saturday. - Occasional Storminess Possible Sunday into Early Next Week Less than desirable model consensus exists regarding the synoptic pattern beginning Sunday, and poor agreement is in place not only between different model systems but even model run consistency within an individual system (ie. ECMWF). The GEFS mean 500 mb heights and wind speeds show upper ridging working in Sunday into Monday with increasing mid level jet speeds closer to next Tuesday, and 24 hr QPF (50th percentile) favors mainly dry conditions Sunday into Monday. The ECE 50th percentile QPF supports some rain over the region Sunday into Monday. This far out, low POPs seem the best way to go. There are hints that low and mid level jet cores could be strengthening over the central U.S. early next week, helping draw up low level moisture flow into the Upper Midwest and potentially the Great Lakes as well. The difficulty is anticipating which days have a greater risk for showers/storms than others. The 00z ECMWF would present probably the worst case scenario with multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms beginning late Sunday and lasting into midweek. Given some of the run to run issues with the ECMWF as of late, that may be overdone. Still, early next week will be an interesting period to watch if stronger synoptic support for storms materializes.
Love the pics!
I got an Aurora picture making the outline of Lower Michigan. Epic shot.
I have my Michigan Hoodie on the most winningest feeling ever maybe a fire on this -20 below average day in thee middle of May!! Great Scott 👍 INDY
Pretty chilly today. Good day for a nice warm coffee.
I need to mow the lawn. I like mowing with temps in the 60s.
I don’t mow when the lawn is damp. I wait for it to dry out. Rained here just a few hours ago
Great day for a run (I like it cooler when running)
We may have more smoke issues again this summer. Winter was 5 degrees celcius above average in Canada which was apparently the warmest on record (info from MI storm chasers) They needed plentiful heavy snows last winter and they did not come. Now they need rain. Aren’t warm winters just wonderful? Hopefully things are more tame and we all don’t suck in more smoke into our lungs like we did so much last spring and summer. Apparently 70% of Canada is under drought conditions. Let’s hope rains come plentiful and snows return to normal this coming winter
Nice photos! The lights by me were even more vivid than those.
Mid May and there is a Windchill outside! Who doesn’t like cool springs 😎…INDY
I did not know that windchills in the 50s were even a thing. Who knew?
Incredible cold and Rock n Roll will never die!!
Thanks for posting Michael! Nice photos Barry- I’m excited to see everyone else’s photos too
The overnight low here in MBY was 58 and with cloudy skies that is the current temperature.
Slim
The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 80/57 there was 0.15” of rainfall the sun was out 60% of the time. The peak wind gust was 32 MPH out of the W. For today the average H/L is 69/48 the record high of 89 was set in 1982 the record low of 31 was set in 1973. Last year the H/L was 65/48.
Slim
Thanks Barry and Nathan for the pictures.
Slim
Great photos guys. So interesting to see what people saw in their area
Michael, I have some photos coming your way.. I was trying to reduce the size a little bit.
you can send them as is, the WordPress software resizes them to fit on the page. you can click on the image to see them full size
Ok
What? 15 to 20 degrees cooler today! Incredible!