We are now entering meteorological summer. Our spring rainfall total was 13.06 inches in Otsego with 4.87 inches for May. We had .05 of an inch which fell overnight. Yesterday’s high temp was 89° and the low was 67°. We have 68° at 6:00 am. Cooler and less humid conditions will move in today behind a cold front, and we will stay cooler than normal through next week. It may be a couple of weeks until we see 80 degrees again. Rainfall is predicted to be above normal for the same period.
Weather history for SW Michigan
May 29
1895: The second heatwave of the month gets underway with record highs of 94 degrees at Grand Rapids and Lansing.
1947: Muskegon records its latest snow on record as some wet snowflakes mix in with cold rain. The high temperature for the day is only 47 degrees after a low of 35.
May 30
1972: A tornado damaged a building under construction five miles west of Jackson.
1989: A tornado struck Van Buren County, moving from east of South Haven to south of Pearl. Several grain elevators were destroyed and windows were blown out of buildings.
May 31
1943: A tornado outbreak hit southern Lower Michigan. Ten people were injured as homes were swept away by a powerful tornado that moved southeast of Morrice in Shiawassee County. A tornado killed livestock and destroyed a barn near Morley in Mecosta County. A home near Coopersville in Ottawa County was unroofed by a tornado and three people were injured. Another tornado struck near Bath in Clinton County destroying one barn.
1954: A tornado struck north of Bangor in Van Buren County. Forty barns were damaged or destroyed and one home was unroofed. Damage totaled about half a million dollars.
1998: A squall line of severe thunderstorms moves across Lower Michigan in the early morning with wind gusts between 90 and 120 mph. Thousands of trees are knocked down and hundreds of homes and businesses suffer damage. Sections of the state are declared a major disaster area and thousands are without power, some for several days.
June 1
1934: Blistering heat begins the month in one of the Dust Bowl summers of the 1930s. The mercury soared to 102 degrees at Grand Rapids and 97 degrees at Lansing. The 102-degree reading at Grand Rapids is tied for the highest June temperature with June 20, 1953.
1943: A violent tornado injured ten people as it moved from Ingham to Shiawassee County and left a path of destruction 20 miles long. Over 250 farm buildings were damaged or destroyed, including 39 homes and 52 barns. Another tornado hit between Lansing and Bath, causing damage to several farms.
1998: West Michigan was cleaning up from the tremendous destruction caused by the squall line of the day before. Meanwhile, on Lake Michigan, water levels continued to rise and fall several feet at some locations throughout the day as seiches generated by the extreme winds of the squall line continued more than 24 hours after its passage.
June 2
1910: It was a cold day in June as temperatures in the upper 40s in the afternoon were more typical of late March. The high of 47 at Grand Rapids and Muskegon are the coldest high temperatures on record for any day in June. At Lansing, the high was 49 degrees, second only to the 46-degree high on the previous day for being the coldest June day.
1925: Two people were injured as a tornado moved across central Ionia County. A woman was carried 300 feet and left paralyzed and a man was injured in a barn that collapsed.
1950: Thunderstorms dropped one to three inches of rain across the region. Nearly an inch of rain fell in one hour in Grand Rapids, flooding streets and basements. Lansing had a storm total of 2.30 inches, which was a record for the day.
June 3
1945: An early June cold spell brought widespread frost and freezing temperatures from June 3rd to the 5th. The temperature bottomed out at 32 degrees at Grand Rapids on the morning of the 4th, a record for the coldest June temperature and the latest freeze.
June 4
1925: An early June heatwave began and lasted through the 6th with record highs in the mid and upper 90s.
1860: Powerful thunderstorms moved across Lake Michigan in the evening. Sailors reported seeing a very large waterspout moving across southern portions of the lake. The storms eventually reached West Michigan, causing damage in the Grand Haven area.
Weather History for SE Michigan
May 29
On May 29, 2011, a thunderstorm complex rolled through southeast Michigan during the peak heating of the day, resulting in scattered wind damage reports across the area, mainly south of Interstate 69. Embedded circulations within the line of thunderstorms lead to localized wind gusts to 80 mph with one EF1 tornado over southern Shiawassee County.
May 30
On May 30, 1953, In the Detroit area, Softball size hail was recorded!
May 31
On May 31, 1998, a severe squall line moved through all of Lower Michigan during the early morning hours. Wind gusts were measured at 86 mph at the Tri-Cities Airport and at 81 mph at the Essexville Coast Guard.
On May 31, 1999, an F2 tornado moved through the city of Midland at 5:38 PM causing destruction for 2 miles. The total amount of damage caused by this tornado was estimated to be $150,000. This tornado ties with an F2 tornado that moved through Midland County on April 14, 1974, as the strongest tornado to ever hit Midland county.
Also on May 31, 2011, an EF1 tornado with maximum winds estimated to be 95 mph hit central Bay County. The pathwidth was 200 yards with a path length of 8.4 miles. The tornado started near Parish road and 11-mile road just west of the community of Beaver. The tornado then moved through Beaver, crossed Interstate 75, and finally across the south part of Linwood before moving out to Saginaw Bay. A barn was destroyed and homes were damaged near Beaver, mostly to garages and roofing material. Numerous trees were uprooted with snapped large limbs.
June 1
On June 1, 2019, a round of afternoon severe thunderstorms brought damaging wind gusts and hail up to half dollar size across Lenawee and Monroe Counties as well as the Metro Detroit area.
On June 1, 1973, an F1 tornado hit Saginaw County at 6:15 PM and caused $250,000 in damage.
Also, on June 1 in 1910, the temperature rose to 104 degrees in Saginaw County. This is the earliest a 100-degree day has occurred in the year for our County Warning Area!
June 2
On June 2, 1988 rain was actually recorded at Saginaw (.11), Flint (.47), and Detroit (.37). This was one of just three days in June 1988 that had rainfall. This led to the driest June on record in Flint (.63 inches total) and Saginaw (.61 inches), and the second driest in Detroit (.97 inches).
On June 2, 1971, an F1 tornado hit Genesee County at 5:12 PM and caused $250,000 in damage.
June 3
On June 3, 2007, the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry combined with an upper low pressure produced widespread heavy rainfall. The heaviest of the rain fell over southwest Livingston County with estimates up to 5 inches. This caused some flooded roads but also raised lake levels on the many lakes in that area, threatening local property.
Also on June 3, 1973, two F0 tornadoes hit Genesee County between 5:15 and 5:30 PM, but only caused about $3,000 in damage.
June 4
On June 4, 2010, a severe thunderstorm developed over southwest Oakland County. The storm produced hail up to 2 inches in diameter and downed numerous trees in Novi and Northville.
Also on June 4, 1998, the latest record low for Flint for the month of June occurred on this day. The temperature dropped to 33 degrees, which ties a record previously set on June 1, 1966.
Forecast Discussion
--Showers/thunderstorms this morning, then clearing today-- Scattered showers and thunderstorms are ongoing over the central/southern CWA as of 3 AM in conjunction with a surface cold front progressing through Lower Michigan. This activity is likely entirely elevated, with MUCAPE of 1000-1500 J/kg via lifted parcel levels within the 500-1000 m layer, per RAP mesoanalysis. With time, storms are becoming increasingly displaced from strongest effective bulk shear, and thus the risk of severe weather is quite small and diminishing. The surface cold front will continue southeastward into the OH Valley today, allowing drier to arrive into Lower Michigan as a surface ridge builds into the western Great Lakes. A few showers/sprinkles may linger through late morning over the southeast CWA. Gradual NW-to-SE clearing is expected, although a thin cirrus layer will persist aloft. --Rain chances late tonight and Thu-- A midlevel shortwave trough/vort max will emerge from the central Rockies today, then approach the Great Lakes tonight. While forcing for ascent will increase ahead of this feature, deeper moisture will remain displaced south of the region. Showers/sprinkles are possible across much of the CWA tonight/Thu, but most areas will remain dry. Chance PoPs are maintained with this update, mainly south of I-96. --Dry weather expected Fri into early Sat-- EPS/GEFS ensemble means--along with their deterministic counterparts--suggest that another shortwave impulse will traverse the northern Great Lakes on Thu night and Fri, with an associated surface cold front crossing Lower Michigan on Fri. A few sprinkles are possible, mainly over the northern CWA, but forecast moisture profiles remain quite dry during this period. Behind the cold front, insolation/surface heating, coupled with low- level cold advection, should foster deep boundary-layer mixing and breezy conditions on Fri afternoon. Gusts to around 35 mph are possible in inland locations. Surface high pressure will move over the region on Fri night. Strong radiational cooling should yield cool low temps on Sat morning, with widespread 40s likely, and upper 30s possible over parts of the northern CWA. --Sat night into Tue-- Farther ahead, EPS and GEFS means are in good agreement regarding large-scale features into the weekend. The deep closed low currently over Manitoba is expected to meander very slowly eastward into Ontario through Sun night, eventually comprising the southern portion of a Rex block--with the counterpart upper-level anticyclone over northern Canada. South of this developing blocking complex, fairly fast/zonal flow aloft should develop over the Midwest. Within this regime, guidance indicates the next shortwave impulse arriving by Sat night. Ahead of this feature, rain appears possible as early as Sat afternoon based on EPS QPF exceedance probs, but will carry chance PoPs starting Sat evening with this update. Widespread rain is possible on Sun as a surface wave propagates toward the region along a baroclinic zone. Forecast uncertainty grows for Mon-Tue, with the ECMWF/EPS suggesting another frontal wave and associated precip affecting the region, while the GFS/GEFS indicating that this feature will remain south.
This pattern we are entering appears pretty dull and mild. Looking foreword to a forecast full of 80’s with some thunderstorms. I was down near Ann Arbor this morning and got that lone storm that moved through SE Michigan so that was a nice treat.
Check out them 50’s in the Upeee today wow ….INDY
Yep, there are a lot of low to mid 50’s in the UP and it is windy as well. Jacket weather for sure in the UP.
Slim
Incredible cold and our cold pattern continues to rock n roll! Who would have thought? Wow!
I could never live in the UP. To many days with cold temps in the winter, lots of snow and cool temps in the summer, especially close to Lake Superior. Beautiful place to visit and camp, but not for living for me.
Currently 74* out in my hood feels great so long 80’s …INDY
With temperatures running above average for the month of May I was wondering how the cooling degree days compares to the heating degree days. For the month of May at Grand Rapids there were 190 HDD’s compared to 88 CDD’s at Lansing the number was 156 to 108. At Muskegon 184 to 100. At Holland it was 195 to 87. To the east at Detroit it was 121 to 103. At Flint it was 180 to 73 and at Saginaw it was 191 to 85. So while May was above average temperature wise. There is a good chance that the… Read more »
June…more cold.
Yes, June looks like the below pattern continues! Wow!
LOL what cold?
It was certainly a nice warm May! That makes the summer even longer.
Today will likely be our 5th warm day out of the last 7.
We didn’t get diddly squat for rain overnight, unfortunately. I mowed my lawn and my mom’s lawn yesterday. Did I mention it hit 91? A shower was definitely in order afterwards. Looks like the wind will shift here in couple of hours and the cooler, drier air will start filtering in. It will be nice to give the A/C a break and open the windows again. We’re also due for a reprieve from the pollen. Yellow dust has been covering everything lately. Here’s something interesting: a cougar was sighted Saturday afternoon nearby. Big Cat Alert! 🙂
My dog has been sneezing a lot the past few days. Same with myself. Hoping this change in airmass helps out with allergies!
If that cougar sighting can be confirmed it would be rare. There have been cougar sightings in the UP but not sure if any in lower Michigan and not near Lansing.
Slim
Five years ago, there was this one:
https://www.wlns.com/news/dnr-yes-thats-a-mountain-lion-in-bath-township/
Also about a year or two before the Rose Lake sighting, a cougar attacked a horse several miles south of us on College Road. A MSU biologist confirmed it was a cougar by the claw marks on the horse.
So, there is at least one big cat in the Lansing area.
Well welcome to Summer lets see how deep we go into it before we feel our first 90* degree day it seemed like forever it took to reach our first 80″ degree day in Spring if I remember right even better yet only 3 months till September woo woo Happy June 1st… INDY
Many locations have already seen their first 90 or better day this year. The major locations in Michigan that have not seen one yet are. Grand Rapids, Battle Creek, Flint, Saginaw and the Sault.
Slim
May 2022 summery. The mean at Grand Rapids was 61.5 that is a departure of +2.3° The high for the month was 87 on 3 days (the 11,12 and 31) the low for the month was 36 on the 8th there were 9 days of 80 or better there were 5 days with highs in the 50’s while the month did end up warmer than average there were more days with means that were below average (17) then days with means above average (14) there was a total of 4.07” of rain fall with the average for May being 4.00”
Slim
Welcome to meteorological summer 2022. The official H/L at Grand Rapids yesterday was 87/70 that low of 70 was the 2nd warmest minimum. At Muskegon the H/L was 85/69 the high was the 4th warmest there and that low of 69 was 2nd warmest. At Lansing the H/L was 90/73 the 90 was the 4th warmest and that 73 was a new record warmest minimum. The overnight low here at my house and the current temperature was/is 67. I had 0.15” of rain fall overnight. The average H/L for today is 75/54 the record high is 102 set in 1932… Read more »
My wife and I took a road trip up to Ludington yesterday. And it was a great example of the term “cooler by the lake” on the east side of town the temperature on my car thermometer was 80 but on the beach it was just 68 and while there were people on the beach (most got there sweat shirts or jackets) There was no one in the water. But there were people who did walk out on the pier.
Slim
Love this time of the year at Lake Michigan feels refreshing and cool….INDY