Over the next 2 weeks I will look at some past extreme months of December and than see how the rest of that winter played out. This week I will look at the two top coldest and warmest December on Record at Grand Rapids.
First, we will look at the coldest Decembers in the past. With a mean of 17.1° December 1989 is the coldest on record so far here in Grand Rapids. After a cold (-4.4°) and snowy 19.4” November the cold only intensified in December. For the month the warmest day was the 1st with a high of 41° Even that day was below average and ever day was below average until December 29th before GR seen a day that was above average. The coldest nights were -11° on the 22nd and 23rd there were 6 nights total 0° and below and 5 more nights near zero. The month ended with a mean of 17.1° and that is -12.1° there was 25.2” of snow fall with the most on the ground being 8” January 1990 seen a massive flip as that month was much warmer than average (+7.6°) the warmest day the month was 52° and the coldest it got all that month was 19° only 4 days stayed below 32° and 14 days were above 40° while 10.6” of snow fell after the 2nd most days did not have a snow cover. February while colder than January was still none the less warmer than average (+1.3°) and 23.8” of snow did fall. The first half of March was cold but the second half was warm.
The next coldest December is a tie between 2000 and 1976 both tied at 19. First we will look at 2000. Just like 1989 November 2000 was a colder than average month (-2.6°) and it was also a snowy month with 23.0”. December 2000 started cold and stayed cold all month the warmest it got that month was only 37° on the 16th the coldest for the month was -9° on the 28th Only one day averaged above average that month not only was it the coldest December on record it was also the snowiest as well as 59.2” of snow fell the biggest snow fall was 14.2” on the 11th there was snow on the ground every day from the 5th on. The most on the ground was 16” on Christmas day for a very white Christmas that year! The new year seen winter take a break as the month of January was a little warmer than average +1.1° While the warmest for the month was only 40° there were 14 days that got above 32 only 4.1” of snow fell that January and by the 30th there was only 1” of snow on the ground. February was kind of a ho hum month while below average temperature wise (-1.0°) there was only 7.4” of snow fall and most of the month did not have a snow cover here at Grand Rapids. March was colder then average -3.1° and GR did see 4.1” of snow that March. While the winter of 2000/2001 seen 98.1” of snow fall 82.2” of that fell in November and December so after the New Year there was not much snow that winter at all.
Now onto the winter of 1976/77 As with the December’s of 1989 and 2000 November 1976 was also a very cold month -8.7° but that November Grand Rapids only seen 8.5” of snow fall. December 1976 started out very cold seen some moderation mid-month and then ended up very cold. The month had 5 sub zero nights two early and 3 at the end the low for the month was -14° on New Years eve. The warmest for the month was 45° on the 19th the month seen 17.7” of snow fall and there was snow on the ground at the start of the month gone in the middle and then more snow on the ground from the 23rd on. Unlike the years of 1989 and 2000 were January was warmer than average that was NOT the case in 1977 as that January was much colder than average (-11.7°) 30 of the 31 days were colder then average and the high for the month was only 30° the month seen 10 days of sub zero lows and another 13 days with single digit lows. The low for the for the month was -14° there were 2 days that did not get above 10° there was 26.1” of snow fall that month and the ground was covered on all 31 days. February 1977 was also colder than average -4.1° there were 2 more nigh of below zero readings with the coldest being -9° that month only seen 5.0” of snow fall. (BTY GR has not had a sub zero night for the past two winters now) Spring arrived in March that year but there was a surprise snow storm on the 18th after a high of 73° on the 15th
On the warm side the two warmest Decembers on record 2015 and 1923 most of us will still remember 2015. In 2015 November was mild coming in at +5.4° The month had 4 days in a row of temperatures in the 7’s with 76° being the warmest day. The low for the month was 21° and 3.5” of snow did fall. December 2015 mean of 39.1° was +9.9° only one day was below average all month. The high for the month was 61° on the 13th there was one more 60° day and 7 more days in the 50’s including two at 59° The month only had 2.5” of total snow fall. January 2016 while warm was closer to average +1.6° that month did see 20.8” of snow fall. February was also warmer than average (+2.7°) but had around average snow fall with 14.8” March was well above average at +5.0° but the month started out with the winters biggest snow fall with 7.4” on the 1st
The next warmest December in Grand Rapids history is 1923
. November 1923 was a near average month coming in at +0.3° there was only 0.8” of snow that November the coldest it got was only 26° that lead into a very warm December the mean for that December was 36.6 (+7.4°) there were only 2 days that were below average the 3rd and 31st the high reach 52° twice and the coldest it got all month was just 18° on the 31st there was 9” of snow fall with two events of 3.5” reported on the 23rd and another on the 31st. January seen a big flip to below average temperatures (-4.1°) and a reported 18.5” of snow fall. February and March the cold continued and February’s departure from average was -2.9° and 11.5” of snow was reported. March departure was -3.3° and there was 8.7” of snow.
While the sample size is very small you can tell you can not always guess how the rest of the winter will be like based on the conditions in December. We shall see how the rest of the winter of 2017/18 will play out.
Update:
There has been talk that this winter will not be like last winter. Well the latest European Monthlies came out last night and guess what? “who would have thought” they (the European) show a massive across the US warm up starting the second week of January. So maybe this winter might be similar to last winter cold and snow in December and mild in January. That potential warm up also shows up on Fridays CFS v2 as well
We got about another 2″ overnight and now have a foot on the ground. Not very cold today and a pretty nice day.
Get ready!
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/814temp.new.gif
Let it snow let it snow .. INDYDOG!
4.5″ of new snow and now have 10.7″ on the ground.
Slim
Just measured over 13 inches of snow on the ground out at thee YARDofBRICKS who said snow drought.. thank You INDYDOG
+1
What a sloppy mess going in to work Today! It was 35 degrees and a steady rain all the way in. Roads were just a slushy melting mess.
Rain? ALL SNOW here baby! I have well over 12 inches of snow in my yard as we picked up at least 5 inches yesterday and last night!!
No rain here. All snow. It is so pretty outside. 🙂
The CPC is on board for the temp pattern to stay below normal well into January!
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/WK34/gifs/WK34temp.gif
GR chance of a white Christmas this year still is 99.9%. Mark it down and take it to the bank!
🙂 Sounds great!!
Nice temp map for the week of Jan 6th and I see that it still shows us with near to below normal temps = SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!!
http://www.weatherstreet.com/weather-forecast/michigan-snow-cover.htm
Just Came Inside Been Out On OUR Back Deck Watching It Snow and Get a Quick Estimate of Fresh Snow…Measured Two Places and Both Places Measured 3.9 Inches and Counting Still Snowing at a Moderate Clip BUT The Flake Size Is Smaller Than Before. ALSO I Heard Some Great Horned OWLS….Talking To EACH OTHER…
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/sounds/Owl_GreatHorned_Duet.mp3
And…..CUE—->>.
The Doors – Roadhouse Blues (Lyrics) HD – YouTube
▶ 4:06
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldW8jtV2jG0
DDDDDDDDDD———— IF You GOING out on The ROADS.
Remember….” Keep Your Eyes On The Road and Your Hands Upon The WHEEL” Stay Tuned…
NICE…Read and A Lot Of Work For You….Thanks SLIM.Most Enjoyable…….. Here is A Couple Things That Happened on THIS DATE. December 16 1984: Mild weather prevails with record highs of 61 degrees at Lansing and Grand Rapids. 1989: Persistent cold weather continues during of the coldest Decembers on record in Lower Michigan. A record low of 2 below zero is recorded at Grand Rapids while another 5 inches of snow piles up at Muskegon, contributing to a monthly total of 77 inches there. This “Day in Weather History” contains memorable weather events for much of Lower Michigan. Many sources were… Read more »
Climatology for today December 16th At Grand Rapids, MI
The average H/L 34/23°
The record high 61° in 1984 the coldest maximum +9° in 1901
The record low -2° in 1989 the warmest minimum 45° in 1984
The most precip 0.97” in 1921
The most snow fall 5.7” in 1911
The most on the ground at 7 AM 13” in 1970
Last year the H/L was 17/08 2.9” of snow fall was reported and there was 7” on the ground.
Slim