It has been fascinating watching technology bloom over the past 50 years. I used to tell my kids all we had were sticks and rocks to play with when I was a kid back in the day dinosaurs still ran rampant. This was not far from the truth with the exception of the dinosaurs of course. As kids we spent a lot of time out doors and we had imaginations to make whatever we had into whatever we wanted them to be. A stick could become a sword or gun (westerns were popular back in those days) and rocks could be used to build castles (miniature ones). We made slingshots and forts with our bare hands and yes we got scrapes and bruises from our activities and may have shed a few tears but we up and back in service shortly thereafter. Most of us were members of the Boy Scouts and a local church – we went to summer camps to learn other great and amazing things. We settled our disagreements with our fists rather than guns or knives (I had five brothers) even though we all had pocket knives in our possession. We had wood, metal and auto shops at school to learn how to fix and make things ourselves. I still have a wood and electronics shop in my home.
I love technology as I have had both feet firmly planted there since the 1990s – I went back to college when I was 38 to learn Computer technology – my background had been commercial architecture and mechanical drafting well before CAD and had to draw everything by hand.
Looking back I wonder whatever happened to those things that existed before technology took over. A lot of people can’t fix stuff or create things like we used to. Cars have become to complex to repair in our backyards like the old days when they had carburetors. You can’t even change the spark plugs anymore. Back in the 1970s all of us boys built our own hot rods in the 400 to 500 horse power range. Now these vehicles are rarely seen on the road today but you can see them in car shows. I built a Ford F100 truck engine that would go from 0 to 60 in around 5 seconds and had a top spend in the 140mph range.
Guess I am feeling old this morning and the older one gets the more one reminisces. I wonder how things will be when my grandchildren become adults. I would like to hear your experiences as I know many of you are baby boomers…
Now for our weekly weather history:
September 16
1886: A swarm of tornadoes hits southern Lower Michigan from late morning into the early afternoon. At least ten separate tornadoes struck, causing damage in Cass, Livingston, Kalamazoo, Eaton, and Clinton Counties. One person was killed and another injured in a tornado that hit Brighton.
1899: Grand Rapids records a high of 98 degrees, setting the record for its hottest September temperature, which would be tied on September 2, 1913.
September 17
1972: A severe thunderstorm produces two tornadoes. The first damages a car six miles northeast of Kalamazoo. The second damages a house three miles south of Middleville.
1973: It was a record cool day as clouds and rain held high temperatures in the 40s across western Michigan. The high of 47 degrees this afternoon at Grand Rapids would be followed by a record low of 35 degrees the next morning.
1977: Two tornadoes struck Lower Michigan. One person was injured in the town of Flushing in Genesee County. Thirty homes and a library sustained heavy damage there. Another tornado hit near Westphalia in Clinton County, damaging a house and a garage.
September 18
1918: A tornado destroyed a large barn about 5 miles southeast of Grand Haven in Ottawa County, and carried the timbers a half mile
September 19
1997: A line of severe thunderstorms producing wind gusts to 70 mph downed trees and power lines from Allegan County through Jackson County. Around 10,000 customers lost power. A boy in Hastings was injured by a lightning strike.
September 20
1957: Thunderstorms with heavy rain of up to 2 inches flooded streets and viaducts in Grand Rapids.
1968: A tornado hits a rural area about five miles south of Lansing at 2:15 in the morning, damaging two barns and a shed.
September 21
1863: Lansing records a low temperature of 19 degrees, the coldest on record for the month of September.
1956: Intense lightning from thunderstorms is responsible for 11 house fires in Ottawa and Kent Counties, accounting for thousands of dollars in damage.
1967: A small tornado struck just north of Lansing at 10:45 in the morning and destroyed a garage.
1992: A tornado hit north of Webberville in Ingham County, damaging several outbuildings.
September 22
1952: Hail covered the ground like snow in Cascade Township, near Grand Rapids.
1961: A tornado hit two miles north of Marne. One person was injured and three buildings were heavily damaged.
We should see a partly to mostly cloudy day today with rain chances increasing after midnight especially north of I96. Best chances of rain for the whole area will be tomorrow night into Friday morning as a strong cold front moves through. We will see highs around 80 today and back into the mid 80s tomorrow. Temperatures will cool off this weekend to near normal this weekend and possibly through all of next week. Long range shows below normal temps after the 26th.
It was a beautiful almost Fall day. I notice some to the trees turning color as we were driving thru GR today.
Our first artic blast maybe coming the first week of October lots of cold air north …INDY!!
After this nearly perfect summer, “the turn” will be exceptionally hard to handle this year. Looks as though winter begins in October this time…with an eight month run. Good luck to all.
Storm team 8 8 day forcast looks a lot like Fall .. INDYDOG14!!
Bring on winter!
Sorry, but it’s not Fall for a couple days yet, and we’re not skipping the best season of the year.
Valid point!
Lows in the 30’s up north Saturday get the furnace ready … INDYDOG14!!
Matt Kirkwood just said after next week even cooler air coming … INDYDOG14!
Bring it!
The mean for September is now at 70.3° if Grand Rapids were to stay at this level (it won’t) this would be the warmest September on record. There are cooler days coming and depending on just how cool to gets we still could end up with one of the warmest September’s on record here in Grand Rapids.
Slim
When I was a kid I also spent most of my time outdoors. I played baseball when I was a kid and we would play in an empty field. There were no bases so we used wood for them and many times we did not have enough kids to make 2 teams so we would play with 5 or 6 (sometimes less) on a team. Many times the team batting would use one of the players as a catcher. We would play all day until dark. Of course we only had 2 TV channels at that time and there was no FM radio yet so during the day only a few AM radio stations as well. And for those of you how like to complain about how “hot” it is and have to have the AC on we did NOT have AC and only small fans. Not the big ones that most have today. But we did have the Saginaw Bay and that is were we went to swim (there were no city pools then either)
Slim
Wow, GR is now more than +5 degrees above average for September! Our recent low temps have been closer to the average highs this time of year (which drop to around 70 degrees this weekend).
Mookie, The other day you were wondering how this years warm season compares to past record warm seasons (May to September was the time you were wondering about) I can tell you for the met summer (June/August) at Detroit it was the 6th warmest on record 74.4° At Flint not in the top 20 at Saginaw it came in at 14th with a mean of 71.5°. As for Grand Rapids the current May to August mean is 70.4° the warmest May to September is 1921 with a 5 month mean of 70.7° in 1921 the May to August mean was 71.5° Grand Rapids is still in play for that record. In 1921 September mean was 63.0° The current 2nd warmest May to September year is 2012 with a 5 month mean of 69.4° the May/August mean that year was 70.9° This year should be one of the warmest “warm” weather seasons here in Grand Rapids.
Slim
Not 4 long lol!! INDYDOG14!!