April showers bring May flowers, and we got a good start to the month with yesterday’s heavy rain, which was 2.48 inches (official) for Otsego—almost a whole month of rain in one day. We now have 6.49 inches for spring. The other CoCoRaHS stations around the area haven’t reported their totals yet as of 6 am.
Yesterday we had a high temperature of 61° which occurred just before midnight last night most of the day stayed in the 30s and 40s. We have 51° at 6 am.
Weather History
1956: Eighteen people are killed and over 300 injured as four powerful tornadoes strike western Lower Michigan. Hudsonville and the northwest suburbs of Grand Rapids are the hardest hit areas with 17 fatalities as homes and businesses were completely swept away by an F5 tornado.
1974: The worst tornado outbreak in United States history strikes from Illinois to Alabama, with 148 tornadoes killing over 300 people. In Michigan, a tornado kills two people as it tracks across Hillsdale and Jackson Counties.
On April 3, 1974, an F2 at 7:30 PM and an F3 at 8:56 PM moved through Monroe County. These tornadoes were part of the Super Outbreak that caused over 300 deaths, 5500 injuries, and $600 million in damage in 13 states and Ontario, Canada. The Super Outbreak was the worst tornado outbreak in U.S. history.
Forecast Discussion
- Rain showers early this morning with gusty winds today A tertiary line of showers stemming from a mid level trough and warm air advection will continue to move across the state this morning. The line will be strongest along and south of the the I 96 corridor. While some brief thunder is possible it is not expected. This line is propelled by gusty westerly flow which will be a herald of a taste of things to come for the rest of the day. Showers will exit the region by sunrise. There is a chance for some patchy fog around sunrise, however, this will be mainly confined to areas north of the I 96, especially along the US 10 corridor. The gusty winds will continue to mix to the surface with winds upwards of 30 to 35 mph possible this afternoon. - Another round of showers Friday night into Saturday Warm air advection combining gulf moisture with southwesterly flow will bring another round of showers Friday night into Saturday. Mid to long range models are in fair agreement as an upper level wave will track through the upper mid west, a large upper level low is moving through the desert southwest and high pressure is sitting over the Atlantic just west of Florida. This is a good pattern for a ribbon of moisture to form between the boundaries bringing moisture through the Ohio, and Mississippi valleys. While the build of moisture will be south of the area, an additional 0.5 to an inch will be possible. - Cold with a chance of snow early next week. The before mentioned boundary should shift to the southeast Saturday night and there is a small chance it transitions to snow as the boundary moves to the east. Cold northwesterly flow will move in as the large upper level trough from the upper midwest drops down across the Great Lakes. That will drop temps and bring a return of cold air into Michigan to start the first full week of April. Still to soon to determine snowfall estimates, however, light accumulations will be possible.
Fantastic golf weather down here!!! Picked the right time to be in Texas!!
Mid 80’s here in Texas again today!! Heaven on Earth!!!
https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=30.2398&lon=-98.5702
Temps in the mid 30’s in MI this afternoon! Wow!
What a cold start to April I thought the blowing Torch was going?? Is out again?? 😆 INDY
No blow torch all winter and now a cold Spring ! Who knew?
Almost 20 degrees warmer in East Michigan than West Michigan today.
The lousy golf weather goes on and on! Incredible!
Our course opened today. I thought they may have delayed it a day or two due to the water, but apparently not. 55 here with lots of sunshine. There have been a dozen or so groups so far. They should have opened a couple of days ago when it was in the 70s.
Only 48 and windy here, not the most pleasant day to golf, especially with the wet ground
Horrendous golf weather!
If you like cold weather you are in luck! We are entrenched in a below normal weather pattern with no change in sight! Many nights we will see well below normal temps! Wow, just wow, WOW!
Record rain fall. Most of yesterday was wet and cold the official H/L was 62/34 the high was just before midnight. There was a record rainfall of 1.42” the old record was 1.16” The highest wind gust was 38 MPH out of the SE there was no sunshine. For today the average H/L is 52/33 the record high of 80 was in 1999 the coldest high of 25 was in 1971 the record low of 10 was in 1945 the warmest low of 57 was in 1928. The record rainfall of 1.16” was in 2007 the most snowfall of 6.0”… Read more »
just over 2″ in my gauge in Hamilton.
Serious rainfall. I’m seeing roughly 2 1/2 inches throughout the area – not to mention we got another deluge about 4:30 this morning. Lots of standing water. It will take some time to dry out.