Will we see our first 70° next week? At this time the best chance will come Monday. If we do not reach 70 on Monday we will be in the running for the latest first 70° at Grand Rapids. In 1950 it did not reach 70 or better until May 3rd that year. Over the last 40 years the average first 70° is March 30th In the time there have only been 3 years when the first 70° day came after April 20th (today’s date) they are 4/27/2013 when the high reached 71° and the next 3 days came in at 64°,73° and 78° in 1984 the first date was not until 4/26 when the high reach 83° with highs reaching 78 and 70 after that. And in 1993 when the first date was April 24th when the high reach 73° a reading of 71 came a few days later. Going back further for 70 years the average first 70° day is April 2nd Since 1948 the years that did not reach 70 on or before April 20th are 1. 1950 May 3rd 2. 1951 April 30th 3. 1970 April 25th 4. 1975 April 29th 5. 1984 April 26th 6. 1993 April 24th 7. 2013 April 27th so in the last 70 years there have only been 7 Aprils that did not reach 70° or more by today. Note that May 3rd 1950 is the latest first 70° day in Grand Rapids history. The last time it has been 70 or better here in Grand Rapids was October 22 last year.
We were in the Bay City area the weekend of April 15th to the 15th and here is a short summery of our trip up the Linwood, MI. When we got up there on Friday afternoon it was raining and some what windy the temperature (from my cars outside reading) was 37° the wind was out of the NE. We visited some family in Bay City for the dinner and then drove back up to Linwood for the night. Still just rain heavy at times. Over night the wind had picked up and by Saturday morning the wind (at MBS some 20 miles inland from the bay) was a reported 32 MPH with gust of 45 MPH at the house in Linwood (about a half mile from the Bay) the wind was just roaring while no trees were blown down a lot of large limbs were. The rain turned to sleet just after 8 AM and was coming down hard and boy did it hurt to walk outside in that. By 10 AM the ground and roads were covered in sleet and grapple and or small hail. And the wind continued to just roar. By 1 PM the temperature (on my car) was down to 29° and by now it was just freezing rain and some sleet. The steady NE winds with the long fetch of open water over Lake Huron and the Saginaw Bay pushed water inland and there was flooding along the Saginaw River and the Kawkawlin River and on the bay shore at Killarney Beach and Linwood Beach. While the flooding was wide spread it was not as bad as the blizzard of March 1973
By 6 PM it was more like a freezing mist with off and on heaver rain mixed in. I went out side at 10PM the winds were still strong but it was just cloudy at that time the car was covered with ice on the east facing side. The driveway was just a sheet of ice. When I woke up at 7AM on Sunday there had been some snow that had fallen and that was a good thing as now you could walk on the driveway. By 11 AM it there was heavy snow falling with visibilities at Linwood at less that 0.25 miles. While this was a major storm by April standards it was not as bad as it could have been. If there was more freezing rain with that wind it would have been much worse with a lot of trees down and power outages.
We started out back home in that heavy snow. I usually take US 10 to Midland and from there M 20 to Mount Pleasant and a back road to M 46 and M 46 to US 131 but yesterday I took I 75 to I 69 to I 96 instead. I think this was a good choice.
In closing this week.
With the weather getting nicer and soon warmer there is a chance that in the upcoming days fewer comments will be posted on here unless there is a major severe weather outbreak, or a major heat wave or frost in June, July or August. So enjoy the back and forth that is happening with the “cold first 2/3rds of April vs the gee it a average April that has been going on the past few days. Weather like sports is based on records and to me that is the fun part of watching weather. Be it hot, cold, dry, wet or stormy. I will just bring up the facts no matter what way they go. If I am bias it would lead towards warm as I do not like the cold. I know we have a few who post on here with a cold bias and one or two that lean more towards the warm side. No matter what side you lean towards your views will be welcome here but could be open for debate. There is no “right” side to be on and no “wrong” side to be on. I think that MJ would say the same thing.
Slim
It was so nice out today and we have more of the same on Sunday just a little warmer. I think we will break 70 on Monday no problem.
My son and I went to the Gilmore Car Museum today and checked out the AJ Foyt exhibit. It was really cool. Then again, the whole place is really cool.
The below normal temp pattern just keeps ROCKING and ROLLING! Forget about a nice warm Spring! This has been a very extended stretch of below normal temps! Who would have thought?
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/610day/610temp.new.gif
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/814temp.new.gif
Who cares, temps stay in the 60’s!!! I’ll take that all spring!! They have one cold day on Friday and that’s it!! Keep the WARM AND 60’s rolling!! The 60’s thru spring and 70’s thru summer I’ll take that!!
https://m.accuweather.com/en/us/grand-rapids-mi/49503/extended-weather-forecast/329374
I agree that temps in the 60’s and 70’s would be awesome all summer, however my point is the FACT we are clearly in a below normal temp pattern. There are a couple people on here that will not admit to the facts and I will keep reminding them that the above normal temp pattern is toast!!!
Could more SNOW be on the horizon?
http://www.instantweathermaps.com/GFS-php/conussfc.php?run=2018042106&time=PER&var=ASNOWI&hour=216
Not here!! It can snow all year up there for all I care!
Not here. Please.
GR will be lucky if it even hits 65 degrees on Monday and then a cold rolls through with below normal temps the rest of the week! Who would have thought?
Lol you said GR would be lucky to hit 60 earlier, and we already have ahead of schedule!
The FACT remains that we are entrenched in a below normal temperature pattern and we did end up with above normal snowfall! Who knew? What a WINTER and early SPRING! INCREDIBLE!
Lol!! Like an inch above normal!! You were predicting over 100 inches earlier in the Winter! Still waiting for that other 2 feet of snow! Another Rocky prediction fail!! We’re used to that on the blog!
I think there is a very good chance that Grand Rapids could reach 70 or better, We could over achieve and even reach the mid 70’s. The latest first 70 day in Grand Rapids is May 3rd so it much more unusual for it not to reach 70 than it is for to get to 70
Slim
It looks like another below normal temp day is on the way and a below normal temp weekend! When will it ever end?
Detroit hit 76 degrees! Slim really wants that 70 so hopefully GR gets it soon. I know WOOD bumped up their temps again and now has 70 for Monday.
Most of us on here do not live in the Detroit metro area. Detroit is about 160 miles to the SE of GR while Traverse City is 140 miles to the north and the warmest they have gotten this April is just 51° And they still have around 4″ of snow on the ground.
Slim
Slim – YOU ROCK!!! Keep the facts rolling! Those are some INCREDIBLE facts about TC! Still 4 inches of snow on the ground! Ck out the UP!!!
http://www.weatherstreet.com/weather-forecast/Snow-Depth-US.htm
It will not hit 70 degrees in GR this coming week! We are entrenched in a below normal temp pattern!
Sorry my west side friends, we’ve already seen 70° over here. 😛
I’m just excited to finally be able spend the weekend outside. Enjoy!
Kalamazoo has no such worries, hitting 73 on April 12.