We have another great day in store for today weatherwise with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low to mid 80s. We have a 20% chance of showers overnight into Thursday morning. Our next best chance of rain comes on Friday.
Grand Rapids Forecast
8 9 grrSW Michigan Weather History
August 6
1918: Southwest Lower Michigan was in the grip of an extreme heat wave. Both Grand Rapids and Lansing set their highest temperature on record for the month of August at 102 degrees. At Lansing, it also ties the record for their all-time highest temperature.
1955: A tornado injured one person in Hastings and another tornado caused minor damage near Norvell in Jackson County.
1998: A small tornado downed trees and did minor damage to an outbuilding at Hamilton in Allegan County.
August 7
1900: An eight-day heat wave continues with temperatures in the lower to mid-90s. Adding to the discomfort are warm and muggy nighttime low temperatures that only fall to the mid and upper 70s.
1996: Heavy rains of over 3 inches flooded roads and streams in Lansing and Grand Ledge.
2008: Several waterspouts are observed over Lake Michigan from Grand Haven to South Haven. At least one of them appears to come onshore, but no damage occurs.
August 8
1894: Only four days after record cool weather in the 30s and 40s, the thermometer soars to record highs of 96 at Grand Rapids and 99 at Lansing.
1939: A tornado outbreak across central and southern Lower Michigan resulted in two deaths and about 100 injuries. A violent tornado moved across the southeast part of Kalamazoo, destroying dozens of homes and killing two people. More homes were destroyed and six people were injured in northern Kent County, northeast of Cedar Springs.
1973: A tornado injures five people and damages eight houses in Carson City, Montcalm County.
1977: A tornado destroys a barn and trailer north of Marion in Osceola County.
August 9
1964: Less than a week after hitting 100 degrees the temperature plummets to a record cold 38 degrees at Lansing and 43 at Grand Rapids. Muskegon went from 99 degrees on the 3rd to a low of 40 degrees this morning.
1994: Cool weather prevails for several days with low humidity and high temperatures only in the 60s. Record cool maximum temperatures are observed at Grand Rapids and Lansing, where the high on this date is only 64 degrees.
2009: A thunderstorm brings damaging downburst winds estimated at 70 to 75 mph to Muskegon County. The storm strikes Hoffmaster State Park and Fruitport, downing dozens of trees and causing some damage to homes. The storms continue into Kent County, hitting Kent City and Sparta. Another severe thunderstorm produces a downburst that blows part of the roof off a school in Jackson.
August 10
1944: The first half of August produces seven days in the 90s, peaking with a record high of 98 degrees at Grand Rapids and 95 at Muskegon on this date.
1971: A tornado damages some cottages near Croton Dam in Newaygo County.
1972: High pressure from Canada brings record low temperatures, including 40 degrees at Lansing, 45 at Grand Rapids, and 47 at Muskegon.
August 11
1864: Lansing hits 101 degrees. This was the all-time high-temperature record for Lansing before being broken by a reading of 102 in 1894.
1941: It was a soggy day as Grand Rapids and Muskegon set daily rainfall records of about an inch and a half.
2004: Cool and cloudy weather was observed with high temperatures only in the 60s. Record low maximum temperatures occur at Grand Rapids with 63 degrees, 64 at Lansing, and 61 at Muskegon.
August 12
1864: The temperature hits 96 degrees at Lansing for a record high. The record for the coolest high temperature was set exactly one hundred years later in 1964 when the high was only 62 degrees at Lansing
1979: A summer cool spell sets several record lows over the course of a week. On this date, Muskegon falls to 45 degrees for a record low.
2016: Record rains fall at Grand Rapids with 2.61 inches for the day. A small tornado destroys an outbuilding and takes down a few trees east of Douglas, Michigan.
SE Michigan Weather History
August 6
On August 6, 1918, the temperature soared to 104 degrees in Detroit while Saginaw recorded 103. Both are the record maximum temperatures for the month of August.
August 7
On August 7, 1984, thunderstorms brought winds of 73 mph in the mid-afternoon to Genesee County.
August 8
On August 8, 2001, temperatures soared into the upper 90s. This was the fifth day of a six-day heat wave with temperatures in the 90s. Highs reached 99 degrees in Detroit and Saginaw, and 98 in Flint, all of which are records for the date.
Also on August 8, 1984, three tornadoes were reported around Genesee County at 2:08 p.m., 2:15 p.m., and 2:20 p.m. The tornados ranged from F1 through F3 and caused between $25,000 and $2,500,000 in damages.
August 9
On August 9, 2009, numerous roads were flooded and closed. The most significant road damage was M 53 south of Imlay City which was washed out and had to be closed for about 10 days. Over two dozen homes were also damaged due to the flooding. A local state of emergency was declared. Five to eight inches of rain falling within a 30-hour period led to widespread flooding across southern Lapeer County. A few reported rainfall totals include 7.4 inches in Almont, 6.3 inches in Imlay City, and 5.65 inches in Lapeer.
Also on August 9, 2001, a heat wave from the 5th through the 9th, resulted in temperatures pushing well up into the 90s. On the 6th, the excessive heat caused at least 200 people to seek medical attention. The peak of the heat wave came on the 8th when temperatures reached a record high of 99 degrees.
August 10
On August 10, 2012, a strong moisture-laden storm system brought widespread moderate to heavy rain to Southeast Michigan. Saginaw received 6.93″, the most of any other location by far and its highest one-day total on record. Combined with 1.10″ from the previous day and another 0.26″ from the following day, the three-day total from August 9-11 of 8.29″ ironically catapulted Saginaw to one of its wettest summers on record despite being amidst an ongoing severe drought.
Also on August 10, 1964, Detroit reported a record amount of precipitation in a day. The total precipitation was 3.21 inches.
August 11
On August 11, 2021, two rounds of thunderstorms impacted the region: the first during the afternoon and the second during the late evening into the following morning. A wind gust of 75 mph was measured at Mt. Clemens as the well-organized line of storms swept eastward during the afternoon. Training storms occurred with the evening/overnight round and led to prolonged heavy rainfall and flooding, with some areas in Livingston County and Metro Detroit receiving between 3 and 5 inches of rain. Nearly 850,000 customers across the state lost power due to the storms.
On August 11, 2014, widespread heavy rain and severe flooding were observed across Southeast Michigan as a moisture-laden and unseasonably strong low-pressure system traversed the area. Rainfall generally ranged from 2 to 5 inches across Southeast Michigan. The heaviest rain, a band of 3 to 6 inches, fell in the heavily urbanized corridor of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties, centered on the I-696 corridor, especially near and east of I-75.
The resultant flooding was severe due to excessive runoff. Up to 14 feet of water was reported at the I-696/I-75 interchange and nearly all major expressways in the area were shut down due to flooding and debris. Dozens, if not hundreds, of cars were submerged or suffered flood damage and numerous homes in the Detroit area were flooded.
There were no direct fatalities associated with the flooding, although two indirect fatalities were reported. The first was a 100-year-old Warren woman who was found deceased in her flooded basement. The second was a 68-year-old Warren man who suffered a heart attack while attempting to push his vehicle out of flooded waters in Oak Park. Cleanup efforts lasted well into the following week. The total damage came to an incredible $1.8 billion.
Also on August 11, 1967, three record lows of 47, 46, and 47 degrees occurred in Detroit from the 11th-13th, respectively.
August 12
On August 12, 1988, Saginaw County was belted with a peak wind gust at 81 mph at 5:49 p.m.
Forecast Discussion
- Patchy Dense Fog to start the day Satellite imagery and surface observations indicate a fairly large area of lower clouds/FG in the Muskegon and Pere Marquette basins. There was some rain shower activity across this region on Tuesday. This combined with favorable radiational cooling has led to the stratus/FG. Some of the fog was locally dense. We will highlight this in our social media posts and Hazardous Weather Outlook. The fog will steadily dissipate during the mid morning hours as mixing increases. - Risk for scattered showers/isolated thunderstorms This Evening into Thursday A weakening cold front drops into the zones from the north northwest tonight into Thursday. A closed low tracks eastward through Southern Ontario. We do see some PVA from this system here in Lower MI, but the bulk of the lift and cold air advection stays up in Ontario. As a result the front will likely be weakening as it moves in. Trends in the HRRR are indicating that some of the stronger upstream convection that develops this afternoon/evening may try to track into northwest parts of the CWA with gusty winds. The timing of this potential convection in our CWA is not favorable for widespread storms especially given the expected weakening trend of the forcing. SPC HREF LPMM shows very little QPF into Thursday and most ensemble members from the various models are dry. As a result will will cap the precipitation risk a chance through tonight. Most of the high res models suggest the front will be through most of CWA by the start of Thursday, however the global models are indicating the front will still be up in our northern zones to start the day. They then generate scattered showers along it as it tracks southward during the day. Based on this we will add some showers to the Thursday forecast. Little or no instability is shown for Thursday, so we will limit any thunder risk then. .LONG TERM...(Thursday night through Tuesday) Issued at 255 AM EDT Wed Aug 9 2023 - Showers and storms possible Friday night into Saturday The long term period begins with the large upper level low moving through southern Canada and trekking eastward. In its wake will be flattening high pressure. This should be short lived as a negatively tilted shortwave should move into the region Friday afternoon into Saturday. A vort max aloft coupled with mid level moisture should be enough to allow for a robust frontal system to move through. The warm front will provide the best chance for precipitation. Have increased POPS. The ECMWF remains more bullish on instability and moisture late Friday into Saturday. The 1000-2000 j/kg should couple with the before mentioned mid and upper level support to allow for thunder. EC ensemble PWATS are more anomalous then the NAEFS or the GEFS. EC has +1 to +2 anomalous vales of 1.5 inches of PWATS. Moisture is fairly broad so widespread precipitation is expected. However QPF currently is between a quarter to a half an inch. While there remains a chance for showers behind the warm front Saturday, The models begin to widely diverge on upper level low placement. So there should be some timing issues, however lack of moisture Saturday should mean any precipitation that occurs daytime Saturday will be light. - Storms possible Early Next Week Model divergence continues into next week. They all have moisture so while there seems to be some discrepancy in timing the main question is when. For now Monday is the best chance but will need to keep an eye out of future adjustments. We may dry out into Tuesday with a northwest flow in place at the surface, but given the upper pattern there is a fair amount of uncertainty. - Chance of storms again through latter half of next week The latter half of the long term forecast period remains as tumultuous as the first. While the midweek onward is basked in uncertainty there remains enough of a signal that showers will be possible though the latter half of the work week.
It’s been a warm year for the Great Lakes with most of them being warmer than average:
https://www.mlive.com/weather/2023/08/michigans-great-lakes-are-surprisingly-warmer-than-normal-especially-the-cold-one-lake-superior.html
My wife had a girls’ weekend in South Haven. She said the water was fantastic.
Like Michigan is interesting- there is a big spike around the late May- early June heatwave. Also we haven’t had many wind events so the temp hasn’t fluctuated much
Nice catch. Looks like the temp rose 10 degrees in about one week.
Here is where west Michigan stands so far as to how many days, we have had of 90 or better. At Grand Rapids so far there have been 9 days in the last 30 years the average for the summer season (May thru September) is 9. At Lansing there also have been 9 and their average summer season is also 9. At Holland there have been 7 so far and their summer season average is 8. At Muskegon they have seen 10 so far this year and their average is just 4. And down at Kalamazoo they have had 11… Read more »
The official H/L yesterday was 82/60 there was no rain fall, 0 HDD’s 6 CDD’s 62% of possible sunshine, the highest wind gust was 21 MPH out of the west. For today the average H/L is 82/62 the record high of 97 was in 1934 and the record low of 43 was in 1964. The record rain fall amount of 1.25” fell in 1977. Last year the H/L was 78/58. The next several days look to have near average to just below average temperatures and several chances of rain.
Slim
What? More below normal temps? How is that possible?