We are about to flip into April. Grand Rapids starts the month with 12hr 43m daylight (sun rise to sun set) and ends the month at 14h 04m. The sun angle is the same as September 10th on the 1st and ends as the same as August 12th on the 30th. The average mean temperature at Grand Rapids for April is 46.5° The average H/L starts out at 52/32 and ends the month at 64/43. The warmest April on record is 53.8° back in 1915 (note May of 1915 was colder then April with a mean of 53.3°) The coldest April was 37.6 in 1907 Last April was the 4th coldest at Grand Rapids with a mean of 40.1° The record highest temperature recorded in Grand Rapids was 90° on April 29th 1899. Over the years it has gotten into the 80’s in 57 past Aprils and in fact there have only been 3 Aprils were it has not gotten to 70° or better (1907, 1950 and 1961) so there is a great chance we will see 70 or better and good chance we will see 80 or better in April. The coldest low in April is a bone chilling +3 on April 7th 1982 and there was 7” of snow on the ground as well. April 1982. That April was the 2nd snowiest with 12.4” of snow fall. 1961 (one of the years it did not reach 70) was the snowiest at 15.6” The most snow on the ground was 10” in 1975. The wettest April is 11.10” in 2013 and the driest is 0.39” in 1942. There were major tornado outbreaks 1956 and 1965. The term “cooler by the lake” is very common during the month.
There are several birthdays this month in my family. The 7th was my mother’s birthday and my youngest son’s is the 1st (yes April fools day) and my wife’s is on the 22nd.
It is now time to set back as see how April 2019 plays out. As the first 3 months of 2019 have been colder than average my bet is that April has a good chance of being the 1st above average month but we shall see.
I noticed there is some discussion as to just how warm/cold 2019 has been so far. Well here are the members as of Mach 28th January temperature departure at Grand Rapids -2.6° at Lansing -2.5° at Muskegon -2.7° snow fall Grand Rapids 30.5” average 20.8” Lansing a incomplete 4.3” reported (several snowy days reports are missing) average 13.8” Muskegon 32.9” average 28.0” February temperature departure Grand Rapids -1.2° Lansing -0.7° Muskegon -1.2° Snow fall Grand Rapids 20.4” average 14.8” Lansing 19.1” average 11.6” March so far temperature departure Grand Rapids -3.4° Lansing -2.9° Muskegon -3.3° March snow fall so far Grand Rapids 7.9” average to date 7.9” for the month 8.3” Lansing 0.6” average to date 6.6” for the month 7.0” Muskegon 5.2” average to date 8.5” for the month 9.0” Total snow fall for 2019 (not the seasonal) so far Grand Rapids 58.8” (43.4” would be average) At Lansing the 2019 the reported total is 24.0” 32.0” would be average. And at Muskegon the 2019 total is 53.7” 56.7” would be average.
Slim
We are entrenched in a below normal temp pattern! Today’s weather = COLD and windy!
March Madness is crazy!
Current conditions – cloudy, breezy and wind chills in the mid 30’s, but don’t worry mookie said it is a great Spring day! Forget golf, forget yard work and forget sitting out on your back deck! It feels
like late winter! Maybe some good golf weather by mid to late April! The cool pattern keeps rocking!
It was a great Spring day! Cleaned out our fish pond this afternoon,temp was up to 47 with peeks of the sun on and off. As of 6 o’clock, the day is actually ABOVE average in GR. How can this be?
And today’s low will be 26* well BELOW average it’s January cold outside at this hour! INDY!
Nope. January lows get well below 26. Try again.
Avarage in GR is 50* degrees now not 47* lol…INDY!
You didn’t read my post very well now did you. I said at 6 o’clock last night the daily average was above. Very mild afternoon yesterday.
Well for all the mindless banter about how freezing and miserable it was going to be today, it hasn’t rained since I went to work at 5 a.m., and now when I got done the sun is actually peeling out with light winds and temps in the mid 40s. If this is considered a miserable day, I’ll gladly take it!
It is still cloudy here but the temperature is now at 44 so not real bad for late March.
Slim
No just another cloudy below normal temp day in March and the start of another string of below normal temp days! Incredible!
We’ve just had 6 days in a row with sun, how many do you think we can get at this time of year? Stop complaining and enjoy the ones we’ve had. Many more coming next week!
No complaints baby just FACtS!
Good post with the stats again Slim! My oldest sons birthday is April 1 as well. Drives him nuts when everyone gives him a rock wrapped up for a present then says April Fools.
We’re flying to Florida early tomorrow for the kids’ spring break. We’re looking forward to some R&R at the beach.
Have a safe fun trip
Slim
The high for today will be one of those misleading days where the high was just after midnight (today’s high will read in the history books as 46 at GR) while most of the day was much cooler then the high. As today most of the day will be in the upper 30’s or low 40’s.
Here at my house I recorded 0.25″ of rain so far this is the most rain since March 14. The current temperature here is 39.
Slim
35* degrees a cool rain falling furnace running and now with a average high of 50* degrees we can say today is much below! That about sums up this last Saturday in March …Stay warm MV’S best ….INDY!!
Wow the below normal temp pattern continues! Today begins another long stretch of below
normal temps!! Who knew?