Easter Weekend

Warmest/Coldest

This April so far has been on the cool and wet side, it will not end up as either the coldest or warmest April of record so far at Grand Rapids However, I thought I would look at the warmest and coldest Aprils in Grand Rapids history this week. The warmest April at Grand Rapids happened way back in 1915 with a mean of 53.3 the 2^nd warmest was in 2010 with a mean of 53.7. Honorable mention is given to 2017 coming in at 7^th place with a mean of 51.9. On the cold side you have to go way back to 1907 with a mean of just 37.6 for the coldest. The 2^nd coldest was in 1950 with a mean of 39.6. Honorable mention goes to 2018 with a mean of 40.1 and in 4^th place. Last year April had a mean of 50.7° there was 2.67” of rainfall and a trace of snowfall.

In looking closer at the warmest April’s at Grand Rapids 1915. After a cold March that ended up -4.3 below average. That April started out on the cool side but warmed up on the 5^th but it was the period between April 18^th to the 28^th that stands out. In that 10 day span there were 4 days in the 70’s and 5 days in the 80’s the highest was 88 on the 26^th there were two days of highs at 86 and on two nights the low was just 66. With a mean of 58.8 that April had a departure of +6.2. After April the rest of the warm season in 1915 was very cool.

The 2^nd warmest April was in 2010 and in that year March ended on a warm note with a high of 78 on the 31^st and that carried over into the start of April when highs reached 82 and 83 on the 1^st and 2^nd  That April had 7 days in a row of well above average temperature at the start of the month with departures of +25.3 and 27.4 on the 1^st and 2^nd That April had 4 days in the 80’s and 4 more days in the 70’s. The departure that April at Grand Rapids was +6.1. For the honorable mention year of 2017 That April had 2 days in the 80’s and a total of 6 more days in the 70’s.

Now on to the coldest April’s in Grand Rapids. In 1907 March was kind of on the mild side and there were 3 days in the 70’s and 5 more days in the 60’s That changed when the calendar flipped to April with the 1^st seeing a H/L of 36/19. After a couple of mild days things took a turn to be much colder starting on the 5^th as that was the start of 22 days in a row of below average temperatures with 15 of them being double digit below average. During that time there were 11 days with highs only in the 30’s 13 nights with lows in the 20’s  To add insult there was 2.1” of snow fall on April 30^th The departure that April was -10.0. May was also cold and June, July, August and September were all below average. The 2^nd coldest April was in 1950 and that came after a cold March. April 1950 was just cool throughout with just 5 days above average all month. The 13^th had a high of only 28 and a low of 18. While most of the days were in the 40’s and 50’s there were 2 nights with lows in the teens and 11 more nights with lows in the 20’s several in the low 20’s. That April had a departure of -8.0. The honorable mention year of 2018 had a cold start with 11 days below average at the start. Then a 1 day warm up then 10 days below average. April 2018 had 6.0” of snow fall and the month had a departure of -7.5. Summer did come early with a very warm May +5.6 June, July and August were also above average.

Since weather records have been taken here in Grand Rapids Easter has only been on April 20th, 5 times. 1919, when the H/L was 66/40 and there was 0.05” of rain.1924, The H/L was 49/33 there was 0.55” of rain and just after midnight there was 2.0” of snowfall.1930, The H/L was 46/39 and there was 0.19” of rain. 2003 The H/L 67/52 there was 0.41” of rainfall and 2014 The H/L was 74/40 and there was no rainfall. This year will be the 6^th year that Easter has been on the April 20^th so that said on Easter you can say Happy Easter and Happy 4/20.

The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 70/55 officially there was 0.71” of rainfall (here in MBY I recorded a total of 1.57” of rain) The highest wind gust was 40 MPH out of the S there was just 7% of possible sunshine. For today the average H/L is 59/39 the record high of 82 was set in 1985 the coldest high of 30 was in 1904 the record low of 19 was in 1897 the warmest low of 61 was in 1985. The most rainfall of 1.89” was in 1993 the most snowfall of 1.0” was in 1953 the most on the ground was a trace in several years the last time was in 2018.

Today will be cloudy and cooler than yesterday and there is a chance of showers on Easter. Highs will be in the mid 50’s this weekend.

 

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
328 AM EDT SAT APR 19 2025

KEY MESSAGE

– FAIR AND COOLER THEN RAIN RETURNS SUNDAY

DISCUSSION

ISSUED AT 328 AM EDT SAT APR 19 2025

AMPLIFIED LONGWAVE PATTERN ACROSS THE CONUS CONTINUES OVER THE
WEEKEND. THE LONGWAVE TROUGH THAT BROUGHT THE RECENT BOUT OF
STORMS IS NOT FINISHED, AS THE SOUTHERN END HAS CUT OFF AND MAKES
A RUN AT LOWER MICHIGAN LATER THIS WEEKEND.

SHOWERS MOVE SOUTHEAST THIS MORNING THEN FAIR AND COOLER BEHIND
THE COLD FRONT WITH TEMPERATURES STEADY OR FALLING TODAY. THE FAIR
WEATHER LASTS THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING THEN MOISTURE RETURNS AS THE
CUT OFF LOW ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLANS MOVES NORTHEAST WITH RAIN
EXPECTED BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. INSTABILITY IS
LIMITED BUT SOME ELEVATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE AT TIMES LATE
SUNDAY.