High pressure will continue to dominate our weather today. Dry weather and high temperatures mostly in the 70s can be expected through Friday. The next chance of rain showers will hold off until Saturday.
We have had 20 days this month with no rain and seven days with less than a tenth of an inch. I think it will be safe to say many areas in southern Michigan will end up drier than normal for the month.
Yesterday’s high was a pleasant 72° the low was 50.5°.
Weather History for SW Michigan
September 26
1951: A tornado killed one person and injured three others near Bitely in Newaygo County. The tornado destroyed a tavern, carrying steel beams from the roof about 70 yards.
1965: Wet snow mixes in with rain across parts of western Michigan for a very early taste of winter.
1998: The temperature hits a record high of 89 degrees at both Grand Rapids and Lansing. The warm weather fuels a severe weather outbreak across the region as a cold front arrives during the late afternoon. A severe thunderstorm produced softball-sized hail in Clare County which smashed skylights, dented automobiles, and damaged roofs and antennas. Damage was estimated at up to half a million dollars.
September 27
1942: Snowflakes fly across Lower Michigan as temperatures fall to the lower 30s and only rise into the 40s during the day.
2009: A microburst with winds up to 70 mph struck just northeast of Greenville in Montcalm County. About a dozen trees were downed and a travel trailer was tipped over.
September 28
1991: A record freeze hits western Michigan. Grand Rapids falls to 27 degrees, setting record lows for the date and month. Muskegon also hits 27 degrees, setting a record for that date and tying the monthly low. Lansing plunges to 22 degrees, tying the record low for the date set in 1893.
September 29
1953: Temperatures soared to the 90s across western Michigan. Grand Rapids hit 93 degrees and Muskegon 92 degrees, both record highs and records for the latest date of a 90-degree reading.
1967: Wet snowflakes fell at Grand Rapids and Lansing. The high of 42 degrees at Lansing is the coldest high temperature for the month of September.
1986: A severe weather outbreak produces high winds, large hail and two tornadoes across Lower Michigan. One person was injured in Van Buren County as a tornado hit near Mattawan. Six houses were destroyed by a tornado near Rankin in Genesee County.
2006: Several waterspouts were observed on Lake Michigan. One was about 5 miles offshore of Holland, while another was sighted just offshore of Saugatuck. This waterspout approached the coast and may have come onshore, but no damage was noted.
September 30
1899: September ended on a very cool note with a record low of 21 degrees at Lansing and afternoon highs only in the 40s. The high of 44 degrees at Muskegon made for the coldest September maximum temperature on record there.
October 1
1897: Temperatures reach record highs with both Lansing and Grand Rapids hitting 89 degrees. It is the highest temperature ever recorded in October at Grand Rapids.
1974: Cloudy and cold weather prevails with high temperatures in the 40s and snowflakes observed at Muskegon.
October 2
1880: A tornado cut a 15-mile long path of destruction from southern Barry and Eaton Counties into northern Calhoun County. Two children were killed and several other people injured near Bellevue, when the tornado picked up a house and carried it 200 feet before it disintegrated. The roar of the tornado could be heard six miles away.
Weather History for SE Michigan
September 26
On September 26, 2017, the temperature reached 93 degrees in Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw all of which are record highs for the date. In Flint and Saginaw, it was the 6th consecutive day of record-setting temperatures in the 90s and the latest such streak (6 days) of 90-degree-days on record for both sites. The 26th is also the latest date in the calendar year that Flint has ever reached or exceeded 90 degrees.
September 27
On September 27, 1998, Flint experienced a record warm temperature of 86 degrees for the day.
September 28
On September 28, 1991, Flint experienced a record low temperature of 26 degrees for the day.
September 29
On September 29, 1966, the pressure dropped to 989mb during the passage of an intense early fall low-pressure system. This is the lowest pressure reading ever recorded for Detroit in the month of September.
September 30
On September 30, 2002, the very warm and dry month ended with record high temperatures of 86 degrees at both Saginaw and Flint. Flint ended the month with their driest September, 0.29 inches, and Saginaw had their second driest September, 0.39 inches. After an extremely hot and dry July and August, the weather of September 2002 only exasperated drought conditions. During the first half of the month, hundreds of communities across the area were under water restrictions. The hardest hit from the drought was the agricultural industry. September yields across most of the area were estimated at under 50 percent and many counties across eastern Michigan were declared agricultural disaster areas.
On September 30, 1987, a thunderstorm brought 3/4-inch hail and winds gusting to 65 mph in Wayne county.
October 1
On October 1, 1974, the earliest snow was observed with a trace of snowfall in Detroit.
October 2
On October 2, 1963, thunderstorms in Wayne county brought winds of 63mph in the evening.
Forecast Discussion
Blocking pattern this week with upper low across the NE CONUS and ridge axis near the central Great Lakes. This means fair weather as a surface high across southeast Canada feeds dry air on easterly flow. The ridge breaks down late week with some moisture return beginning as the high moves further east. As heights lower, a weak surface cyclone slowly organizes across Minnesota/ Wisconsin with warm advection/isentropic upglide resulting in showers arriving late Friday night into Saturday. There is some question of how long the showers will persist. Another blocking regime appears to be setting up over the weekend with an upper low replacing the upper ridge. That low may remain in the vicinity of the Great Lakes through the middle of next week as depicted in some of the GFS ensemble which shows a rex block developing. The ECMWF and GEM are more progressive with the upper low and have it moving east of the region early next week.
Loving this high pressure. You cannot beat this weather.
I have to take a trip to Bay City and will be gone for several days and no internet I have asked MV to post my Saturday post if I need it.
Slim
It a cool 48 here at my house at this time. With just two days to go the mean for September at Grand Rapids is now at 65.8 that is a departure of +1.9 September will end up above average and looks to be in the top 25 warmest for the month. As for precipitation Grand Rapids official amount is now at 3.34″ and that is above the average of 3.20. Rain fall has been hit or miss across the area with Holland and Muskegon drier that average and Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Lansing wetter than average.
Slim