Michigan Wx Michigan Wx

Leap Year

Posted on by Slim

Once every 4 years there is a day added to the shortest month of the year of course that is February. And this year is of course Leap Year. Here is a brief description on how the years were picked for this event. Leap years are those years divisible by 4, except for century years whose number is not divisible by 400. So for weather history and reporting past events February 29 is a little more complicated than the average date. I have complied the high and low for each February 29th at Grand Rapids. There are records for 30 leap years at Grand Rapids going back to 1896. I have included the following the high and low for the day and the snow on the ground at the start of that day. All dates are the 29th of February.

1896 H 30 L 20 no snow

1904 H 27 L 23 6” of snow

1908 H 28 L 15 5” of snow

1912 H 21 L 10 8” of snow

1916 H 27 L 12 3” of snow

1920 H 22 L 12 7” of snow

1924 H 36 L 16 1” of snow

1928 H 35 L 25 T of snow

1932 H 48 L 33 0” of snow

1936 H 36 L 32 0” of snow

1940 H 32 L 24 3” of snow

1944 H 33 L 23 0” of snow

1948 No data

1952 H 34 L 24 0” of snow

1956 H 33 L 13 2” of snow

1960 H 26 L 10 10” of snow

1964 H 44 L 18 2” of snow

1968 H 29 L 7 2” of snow

1972 H 41 L 24 T of snow

1976 H 53 L 34 0” of snow

1980 H 16 L -2  2” of snow

1984 H 27 L 16 T of snow

1988 H 42 L 24 T of snow

1992 H 30 L 19 0” of snow

1996 H 21 L 10 T of snow

2000 H 58 L 32 0 of snow

2004 H 54 L 31 1” of snow

2008 H 35 L 18 10” of snow

2012 H 47 L 34 0” of snow

2016 H 40 L 25 0” of snow

The warmest February 29 was 58 in 2000. The coldest was -2 in 1980 the most snow on the ground was 10″ in 1960 and 2008. There have been 10 times with no snow on the ground and 5 other times with just a trace of snow on the ground so only about 50% of the time in the past has there been snow on the ground. The last time leap day had snow on the ground was 2008. This year Rocky and Indy will say snow on the ground while Mookie and Barry will say no snow. But hey give it a shot. I would say there is less than a 50% chance that there will be 1″ of snow on the ground next Saturday.

Next Saturday we will see how leap day 2020 plays out.

Here is a winter 2019/20 update. As of 2/20/2020 at Grand Rapids the snow fall for February is at 13.9” for meteorological winter it is now at 39.7” and for the season 46.5” While February now has a good chance of being snowier that average the winter as a whole is still well below average. At this point the mean temperature this meteorological winter at GR is now at 30.3° while well above average this is still well below the warmest meteorological winters mean of 33.3 set in the winter of 1931/32.

Slim

Category: Michigan Weather Forecast, Slim

21 thoughts on “Leap Year”

  2. Beautiful early spring like morning out there! Mark Torregrossa, the MLive weather guy, had an article out this week predicting a early and warm spring. I think we are due for a long, hot dry summer this year. All that heat that hit parts of Europe last summer and Australia this winter is bound to head this way eventually.

      1. OK it has been booked and marked on the calendar. Mookie long range guess is for a early warm spring.
        Slim

        1. Yep, put the fuel stabilizer in snowblower and back in storage! It ran great for the two times we used it this year! Love these long, warm, snowless winters and looking forward to a nice early spring!

    1. Crawford also comments that there is relatively low confidence in the March forecast, especially in the East.

  5. The few the proud the warmth will be on here soon posting how warm it is and how warm this month has been but I’m thinking the last time it was 40 or better was February 3rd ??? That’s a lonnnng time ago ohhh dont forget very little snowfall to lol more miscues shuuu have a super saturday enjoy the sunshine …INDY..

    1. Keep the facts coming! The warm weather fantasies are in full force and in reality feb will end up above normal for snowfall and March looks wintry! Incredible!

  6. Breaking>>>>warm Spring weather is at least 4 to 5 weeks away! Any speculation otherwise is pure fantasy! Keep the cold and snow rocking!

  7. Next week still looks cold and snowy! I love these land winters that start in the beginning of November and last well into March! Just fantastic! Boyne here I come baby!

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