The Grand Rapids radar went down unexpectedly yesterday evening and should have a technician visit the site today to diagnose the problems. Thankfully we are expecting a sunny pattern setting up over the area for the next few days so it won’t be needed for storm tracking. Temperatures for today will be in the low seventies with a warming trend through the weekend into next week. We received .50 of an inch of rain yesterday bringing our total for the week to 2.74 inches, 3.65 inches for the month, and 9.64 inches since June 1st.
Looking ahead to next week, the temperatures are currently forecasted to rise into the mid to upper 80s. The charts show a difference between the forecasted temps, the normal maximum temperatures, and the records for the various days.
Grand Rapids Forecast
818 grrU.S.A and Global Events for August 18th:
1925: During the late morning hours a severe hailstorm struck southeastern Iowa destroying crops along a path six to ten miles wide and 75 miles long. The hail also injured and killed poultry and livestock, and caused a total of 2.5 million dollars in damage. The hailstorm flattened fields of corn to such an extent that many had to leave their farms in search of other work.
1931: The Yangtze River in China peaks during a horrible flood that kills 3.7 million people directly and indirectly over the next several months. This flood was perhaps the worst natural disaster of the 20th century. Click HERE for more information from the History Channel.
1955: Remnants of Hurricane Connie killed 38 vacationers at Camp Davis near East Stroudsburg, PA by pouring up to 12 inches of rain.
1983: Hurricane Alicia, a category 3 storm made landfall near Galveston. Winds gusted to 130 mph with a storm surge of 12 feet. 22 tornadoes were spawned. Parts of Houston received 11 inches of rain. 12 people died and 1800 were injured. Total damage estimated at $3 billion.
Forecast Discussion
.SHORT TERM...(Today through Saturday) Skies are mostly clear across the region and we`re expecting a pretty spectacular late summer day across the cwa: highs in the lower 70s and dewpoints in the 50s resulting in low humidity. The upper trough that moved across the cwa yesterday is off to the east and we`ll see an upper ridge nose into the Great Lakes. Clear skies and light winds tonight will send temperatures down to around 50. Low lying areas will no doubt see some temperatures in the 40s tonight. Heat and humidity will begin to build Saturday as the upper ridge moves overhead and dewpoints climb back into the mid 60s. Smoke could also be back in the picture. Latest RAP smoke guidance points toward smoke moving across Wisconsin toward Michigan Saturday. So, despite mostly clear skies, the sun may be somewhat dimmed. .LONG TERM...(Saturday night through Thursday) The main focus in the long term portion of the forecast continues to be the heat for the first part of the period, and then when the heat diminishes and when rain chances increase. The main message that the models and their respective ensemble members indicate is that the upper ridge will be dominating over the area from the Sunday-Tuesday time frame. The upper heights over a large area of the center portion of the country will be building resulting from the upper low holding the pattern up over the Canadian maritimes, and upper energy moving in over the West Coast. 500 mb heights are forecast to increase to as high as 596-598 dam centered around the late Monday/Tuesday time frame. With the building heights, 850 mb temperatures are forecast to increase to as high as +22C or so. These temperatures aloft would normally support sfc highs above 90F. The caveat to this is that there is decent agreement that a weak back door cold front will drop through the area on Sunday. This front is not expected to have really any fanfare with it. The only effect it will have on the area is it will keep sfc temps from getting too warm with a NE flow. We do not expect any rain with the front, as the upper energy with the jet stays far enough north of the area, and the atmosphere should be capped with the warm temps aloft. The upper heights hold into Tuesday before we see heights lower a bit, and temperatures aloft cool down some. The upper ridge will amplify a bit and build northward across the upper Plains as upper energy over the West Coast consolidates a bit as "Hilary" interacts with the upper trough there to start. This interaction results in lowering heights over the area. Max temperatures should generally trend down at that time. The other effect the lowering heights will have is that rain chances should increase a little bit. That is because the cap aloft with the very warm temps will disappear, and short wave energy will be a bit closer to the area. The best chance looks to be across the north, as they will be closer to the jet energy. Details with specific rain chances with regard to timing remain a bit problematic this far
Lows in the upper 40’s tonight! Wow, just wow, WOW!!
Spectacular day today. We turned off the a/c and had the windows open all day. The dry breeze feels great.
Doesn’t get much nicer than today. It’ll be interesting to see if hurricane hilary has any impact on our weather in the next week… it’s not very often a hurricane tracks north into California
Canadian smoke has returned and it is a bit hazy here this morning. It’s supposed to be much smokier on the other side of Lake Michigan. Sorry for them, happy for us.
I am tired of the smoke. Haha.
I saw they were saying it is returning this weekend. Probably as the air gets warmer the smoke gets worse. Blah!!!
Getting the mowing done today.
Looks like Ryan Hall Y’all says it will be quite a heat wave.. I do wonder what this will do with tht hurricanes. https://youtu.be/PIrFOmvlsmE
Have a nice Friday!!!
I saw Ryan posted that they’re expecting son #2.
No heat waves for us!!
.7 in the gauge yesterday. Nice to be able to shut off the sprinkler system. Great evenings to go out and enjoy the cicadas/crickets/fire flies at dusk!
Below normal temps for today and tomorrow! Wow!
The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 75/58 There was a cool wind and after a short heavy shower it was cool at the Whitecaps last night as light jackets were the rule. there was 0.50” of rain fall, the sun was out 22% of the possible time. There were 0 HDD’s and 2 CDD’s the highest wind gust was 39 MPH during a heavy shower late in the day. For today the average H/L is 81/61 the record high of 97 was set in 1947 and the record low of a cool 41 was set in 1943. Last… Read more »
The week ahead will start off today with cool temperatures with a high only in the low 70’s and the low tonight could drop down to 50 to the upper 40’s Tomorrow looks to be a great late summer day with highs in the upper 70’s then it looks to warm up next week with highs mostly in the 80’s and lows in the 60’s so next week would be a great week to be on vacation.
Slim