Our neighbors put on their annual fireworks display last night which put our cats and dogs scrambling for hiding places in the house and probably all the woodchucks, possums, and raccoons scurrying for safe places – it was a great celebratory all around and a great night weatherwise.
Morning fog will burn off leaving partly sunny to mostly skies today. Isolated thunderstorms are possible this afternoon, mainly east of US-131. Highs in the mid-80s to near 90° are expected today.
...Air Quality Alert for Tuesday, July 4th...
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy
has declared Tuesday, July 4th to be an Action Day for elevated
levels of ozone. Pollutants are expected to be in the unhealthy for
sensitive groups range.
The Action Day is in effect for the following Michigan counties...
Allegan, Kent, Mason, Muskegon, Oceana, Ottawa, and Van Buren.
People and businesses are urged to avoid activities which lead
to ozone formation. These activities include refueling vehicles
or topping off when refueling, using gasoline powered lawn
equipment, and using charcoal lighter fluid. Positive activities
include car pooling, biking to work, delaying or combining
errands, and using water based paints.
It is recommended that active children and adults, and persons
with respiratory diseases such as asthma, limit prolonged
outdoor exertion.
U.S.A and Global Events for July 4th:
1776: Thomas Jefferson purchased a thermometer from a local merchant before signing the Declaration of Independence. According to his weather memorandum book, at 1 PM it was cloudy and 76 degrees.
1911: Record temperatures are set in the northeastern United States as a deadly heat wave hits the area that would go on to kill 380 people. In Nashua, New Hampshire, the mercury peaked at 106 degrees. Other high-temperature records were set all over New England during an 11-day period. Click HERE for more information from the History Channel.
Grand Rapids Forecast
74 grrLansing Forecast
7 4 lanForecast Discussion
.SHORT TERM...(Today through Thursday) Issued at 343 AM EDT Tue Jul 4 2023 Main focus of the short term will be thunderstorms associated with a cold frontal passage Wednesday night into Thursday. The Storm Prediction Center has most of the area in a marginal risk for severe thunderstorms for Wednesday evening/Wednesday night. Deep layer shear is not all that impressive, on the order of 20-30 knots Wednesday evening, which is the time frame for strong storms in our area. MUCAPE values will likely be in the 1000-2000 j/kg range with 2500 j/kg in spots. So, storms will have instability to work with but will likely not be significantly organized. Another factor in our severe weather potential is the 850 mb LLJ, normally we need on the order of 25 knots or greater to see organized severe storms and we do not have that with this case. Most models are indicating 20 knots or less with regard to the LLJ. Bottom line is we feel a line of storms will likely be pushing out over the lake in the 21z to 00z time frame Wednesday evening. It will be pushing into our area in a somewhat fading mode but given its not significantly beyond max heating we could see some isolated to scattered severe weather event. We cannot rule out some marginally severe wind reports with this event. Main time frame of concern would likely be between 00z and 06z Wednesday evening in the western CWA. Precipitation amounts look to be on the order of 0.25 to 0.50 Wednesday night into Thursday. Otherwise, fairly minimal chances for precipitation outside of the showers and storms Wednesday night into Thursday. An isolated shower or storm will be possible again today east of the lake breeze front (essentially from highway 131 to the east). A few scattered showers or storms will be possible in the northwest CWA tonight. .LONG TERM...(Thursday night through Monday) Issued at 343 AM EDT Tue Jul 4 2023 For Thursday night a minority of guidance, including the ECMWF ensemble, suggests there could be some lingering precipitation. However, we will go with a dry forecast based on other guidance, including the CMC and GFS deterministic models, that advertises an earlier and definitive exit of precipitation associated with an eastward moving trough in the process of a cyclonic wave break. Afterwards, good confidence remains for a dry Friday and Saturday with seasonal temperatures and notably lower humidity. Starting Sunday, precipitation predictability drops significantly. This is due to a moderately broad upper trough that becomes established over the north-central CONUS (including the Great Lakes) as a southward extension of a cutoff low over Hudson Bay. With the upper trough comes several days of generally unsettled weather but temperatures should remain close to climatological normals. Precipitation from Sunday into mid-week will be episodic and dependent on the timing and intensity of PV maxima that pivot over our region.
Just another day GR did not hit 90 degrees and the CPC is looking cool! I love it!
Happy 4th everyone! Another steamy and sunny 90 degree day here. Can see the rain clouds towering to the East, not a cloud in the sky here. Very odd seeing Holland at 90 and GR at 81. It’s been the year of hotter by the lake.
HAPPY 4th of JULY EVERYONE!! Stay cool it is going to be hot today. Last night was a great night for the fireworks which were awesome to see.
It’s Independence Day! Everyone enjoy the day it’s gonna be a hot one!
Happy 4th!! Thanks to all of those who have fought and still active to protect those freedoms!!
Happy 4th of July. The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 87/66 there was no rain fall and the sun was out 54% of the time. For today the average H/L is 82/62. The record high of 100 was set in 1897 and 1911 it was 99 in 2012. The record low of 45 was set in 1972. The record rain fall amount of 1.71” fell in 1903. On the 4th the high has reached 90 or better a total of 25 times. There has been a total of 19 times when the low did not get below 70.… Read more »
Happy Fourth of July! Looks to be a hot one this year. Also we finally have blue sky all day (no smoke or clouds)! Probably the first time in several weeks
It’s surprising how much cloudier it’s been over there. Since April 1st, we’ve only had 13 cloudy days here. This had to have been one of the most, if not the most sunny spring here.
Yea I think the smoke has been worse closer to the lake. Also Lansing tends to be much sunnier than Grand Rapids, so makes sense… however I do like the clouds on hot days like today