This week I am going to take a look at the extreme weather we had in Novembers in the past. .In 1950 October closed out on the very warm side. On October 28th 1950 the high in Grand Rapids reached a nice 67° then on the 29th it was 71° the 30th and 31st were even warmer at 79° The high of 79° is the record high for the 31st Then of November 1st the high jumped all the way to 81° this is not only the record high for the date it is also the all-time high for the month of November. For a reference point the average high for November 1st at Grand Rapids is 54° Here are some other highs for November 1st around the Great Lakes area with all-time November records indicated with a R Lansing 79° R Muskegon 73° on the east side of the state Detroit 81° R, Flint 79°, Saginaw 80° R. To the north Alpena 77° R. To our SW Chicago 81° R, and to are SE Toledo 80° R, and Cleveland 82° R. But wait after all time November record highs on the first on November came a huge swing in the weather pattern. On November 23rd and 24th a strong cold front swept across the Great Lakes area. At Grand Rapids the temperatures fell from the 40’s into the 30’s on 22nd and then the bottom fell out as the temperature on 23rd fell all the way down to +9° but that was not the end of it on the 24th the high only reached +11° at Grand Rapids (only +9° at Muskegon) and that night the low at Grand Rapids fell to -9° (-8° at Muskegon) and sine time on November 25th 1950 the temperature fell all the way to -10° at Grand Rapids and a unbelievable -14° at Muskegon. Of course these are the record all time lows for November at both locations. Here in Grand Rapids we had 7” of snow for that event and Muskegon had 8” In other areas around the great lakes area the lows and snow on the ground with all time November records indicated with a R that 2 days are Lansing -1 and -2 with 5” Detroit +7,+10° 7” R, Saginaw +7° 0° 8” Alpena 0° -1° 8” Chicago -1° 3” at Cleveland the coldest it got was only +7 BUT they had 20” R of snow on the ground!
After the up and down November of 1950 came November 1951 witch still holds the record for the coldest November in recorded GR history and had held the snowiest for many years. The mean for November 1951 was 31.0° (-9.1°) and that November GR seen 26.9” of snow and that is good for 2nd place for November. Most of that snow fell in the first week of the month and by the 7th there was 11” on the ground. While 1951 is the coldest 2014 is the snowiest November that year 31.0” of snow fell most of that came in the 2nd week of the month and by the 18th there was 8” on the ground. On the flip side the warmest November in GR came in 1931. With a mean of 47.6° (+7.5°) there was only a trace of snow that November and it was a start of a very warm winter were March was both the coldest and snowiest month of the winter of 1931/32. A more recent warm November came in 2001 this is the 2nd warmest November in GRR recorded history with a mean of 46.8° (+6.7°) and like 1931 there was just a trace of snow fall. Like the winter of 1931/32 the months of Dec, Jan, and Feb were all much warmer than average and March was much colder. But unlike 1931/32 December seen a lot of snow (53.9”) and March seen a lot of snow (22.6”) making the winter of 2001/02 snowy (105.2”) Now its time to set back and see how November 2017 will play out.
Here is the October wrap for Grand Rapids, MI the average high/low for the month was 64.2°/45.9°. The highest was 82° on the 2nd and 3rd The coldest for the month was 28° on the 26th The mean for the month was 55.2° and this was the warmest October at GRR since 2007. With 9.69” of precipitation it was the wettest October in Grand Rapids recorded history and the 5th all-time wettest month at Grand Rapids. There was 0.4” of snow fall all falling on the 31st but that was -0.1” below average.
Slim
I have often wondered at when is the average date that trees lose their leaves. Here in the Grand Rapids metro area there are still a lot of leave on the trees yet. Yes, there are tress that are bare but many trees still have a lot of leaves on them. Of the trees in my yard all still have leaves on them. It should be noted that I have 2 trees that do not lose their leaves until the temperatures get into the mid 20’s so that should be taken care of this week. I do not have any… Read more »
Nice write up Slim! As a reminder, don’t forget to set your clocks BACK before you go to bed tonight.