Hi, I am filling in for Slim today as his journies take him to Kentucky.
Once again we had a trace of rain yesterday and we have had a mainly dry week this week. Yesterday we had a high temperature of 82° and the low was 61°. Low clouds will continue to drape the region through mid-morning once these lift expect a mix of sun and clouds with isolated showers and storms this afternoon, especially north of I-96. The risk of rain is only 20%.
NWS Forecast
Weather History
1983: Cool high pressure settles over Lower Michigan and temperatures fall to record lows. The 41 degrees at Grand Rapids is the lowest ever recorded during the month of July for Furniture City.
2014: Severe thunderstorms roll through on the night of July 6-7th. At least four tornadoes struck from near Grand Rapids to Saint Johns. A tornado with top winds estimated at 110 mph did heavy damage in the Grand Rapids suburb of Kentwood.
On July 6, 2003, spotters reported a 65mph wind gust at Birch Run at 9:50 pm.
Forecast Discussion
- Isolated Showers and Storms Today Fairly tranquil weather expected over the weekend as upper troughing prevails, but model soundings show a drying trend through Sunday. There will be enough moisture and diurnally driven instability to pop some showers and isolated thunderstorms today with the greatest coverage this afternoon across interior zones. With westerly low level flow we expect a lake shadow and little or no showers across the western zones. Shower activity diminishes and ends Saturday evening with the loss of insolation. Model soundings are drying out and surface ridging builds in on Sunday, so we will continue the dry forecast. - Another round of showers/storms possible early next week Another deep trough will swing into the region late Sunday night through Monday. Latest mid range models are in good agreement on the position and track of this positively tilted upper level trough. Copious amounts of mid level moisture will accompany this trough and coupled with good 500 mb vorticity there should be enough instability for showers and storms in the Tuesday timeframe. The biggest question is how much gulf moisture will this system tap into. Given the latest ensembles, while there is anomalous moisture moving through the region by mid week, the best moisture will be just east of the region. However there are some outliers that open the possibility for heavier rainfall.
Can’t complain about the weather. We got about a 1/2” of rain late afternoon yesterday – just enough to keep everything lush and green.
I was just coming to post what a beautiful day.
Getting some mowing and other stuff down outside! Happy Saturday