I write many posts on past weather history and I will add some weather history into todays post as well. When MV wrote on some of his personal history in his youth it gave me the idea to add some of mine. I am several years older than MV as I was born in November 1950 in Bay City.
November 1950 the month I was born started out on the very warm side as even at Saginaw (that is the official reading for the tri cities of Bay City, Midland and Saginaw) had a high of 80 on November 1st 1950 two days later the high at Saginaw was just 35 and there was a trace of snow on the ground. On my birth day the high was 47 and the low was 37. Later that month the high was just 13° and the low was 0 on the 24th and there was 8” of snow on the ground. The temperature range was even greater here in Grand Rapids as the record high for November of 81 was set on the 1st and the record low of -10 was set on 24th Wow both Mookie and Rocky would have loved that. In 1950 the average middle class famiy made just under 3,000 a year. A new house was around 8,400 a new car 1,510 the average rent in the US was $75.00 a month and the price of gas was 18 Cents a gallon. Of course I have no memory of any of that. So now I will jump to August 1955 the month MV was born in I do have some memory of 1954 and 1955 but not much. August 1955 weather. August 1955 was a very warm month with a mean here at Grand Rapids of 75.0 and that was a departure of +4.2 The month started with 4 days in a row of 90+ and going back to the end of July there were 7 days in a row of 90+ reaching a high of 96 on the 2nd MV birth day was a little cooler with a high of just 80. But here in GR there was another period of 6 days in a row of 90+ days with the high reaching 97 on August 19th (Mookie would have had a field day) In 1955 the average income was $4,100 a year. price of a new house was $10,900. Of a new car was $1,900. Rent was $87.00 and a gallon of gas cost 0.23 cents. Some of the things I remember from around 1955 to 1960 (more so each year) My dad had a 1948 Pontiac that was a stick shift. He was an electrician and worked for Defoe Ship Building in Bay City 0ff and on (they made ships so it depended on their contracts) when he got laid off in the Recession of 1958. He got a job in Alpena and we moved up there for 4 years. My dad fixed radios and TV’s at home so we always had a TV and of course radio’s and lots and lots of tubes. My at home job at that time was to go and get the tubes that we did not have on hand. In Bay City it was a 6 block walk so I would make several trips a week doing that. In Alpena it was a 9 mile trip so I did not go myself but went with my dad. By this time we now had a 1955 Ford and that car was an automatic and it had a radio. In those days Bay City only had 2 TV stations and there was only AM radio stations and up in Alpena there were no local TV stations and only 1 AM radio station. but they did have a crude TV cable network and we could get the Detroit stations along with the Bay City and Saginaw stations. As for radio while there was only 1 radio station at night the AM dial would come alive and we could get radio stations from all across the eastern part of the US.
So with fewer distractions when I was a kid we spent much more time outdoors, in the summer time we would be outside from just after we would get up until sundown. Heck we would even eat outside on an old table. Of course everything was not always as it seamed even back in that time either. There were two major undeclared wars and the ongoing “cold war” remember the fallout shelters? . There were downturns in the economy. So always remember that just like the weather things in life can change and just like the weather sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. We just have to do the best we can.
Slim
Yesterday was indeed a below normal temp day and most of next week will be below normal as well! How is that possible with all the warm weather hype on here! What a great summer! Very few hot days! Incredible!
Off topic, here is an oldie but goody .. WOTV / WOOD TV 8 News bloopers from 1989 .. How many of these tv 8 staff can you name from the past .. All Rights go to WOTV / WOOD TV 8 .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYgw_XxrIaQ
Those were fun. I remember a few of those folks.
I wasn’t around till the ‘70’s. About all I can remember is playing board games like monopoly that seemed to last for 10 hours, riding in cars without seatbelts, and shooting guns out back in our firing range. Had a keen interest in weather though even back then.
Good old monopoly. One of the neighbors when I was a kid had a camping trailer and 4 of us would set up a card table with a monopoly board and we wound play on rainy days not only for hours but sometimes for days.
Slim
Great post slim! I enjoy hearing the stories of the “old days”. I can relate to all of it. I was born in March of 51. Tube tv’s and transistor radios. My dad was an electrician. Back then you could fix things. Today it seems like they say we are a throw away society. Even on cars today you can’t change your own oil. We didn’t have snow days back then either.
Great stories Slim. Love the prices of things back then. Of course the wages were low also so still the struggle of making enough to live comfortably. Great weather stories too.
Ah yes, the good old days. When you could graduate high school, get a good paying job and could afford a house and a new car. 😁
Just another typical below normal temp, low humidity day on tap!
Extending the streak to a whopping two days in a row after yesterday’s -1, if today ends up below.
Our new webcam is on line – this covers a 180 degree area from the south to west – still needs a little tuning but it is up and running https://michigan-weather-center.org/webcam-2
I clicked on it but it says its in private mode
Link is not working correctly.
56* degrees out at thee YARDofBRICKS NE of GR love these cool August mornings have a super Saturday ..INDY
You know it and what a summer! Only one minor heat wave and tons of perfect temps! Who knew?
As my younger friends would say we are almost as old as dirt. 🙂
I always had tube radios and short wave sets – I have a nice collection of tubes I picked up from an old electrical engineer a few years back. Tube stereos are making a comeback if one can afford the price – there is nothing like the warmth and fidelity of the sound. The electronics were simpler to build, there were no circuit boards and everything was hard wired together. Ah, the good old days when you could repair these things yourself….