Today I have a service awards banquet to go to – 35 years at Perrigo Company. For those of you who don’t know what Perrigo is – it is the largest OTC pharmaceutical company in the world with multiple facilities in the U.S., Ireland, Mexico, China, Israel, India and Australia.
The picture to the left is from the beginning probably taken around 1900. When I started there we had three plants in Allegan and business started expanding in the 90’s and by 2010 we became a global company. The company began in 1887. I work with engineering support and procurement. No much more I can say for security reasons.
Needless to say I have seen a lot of changes over the years and have been blessed to have been able to work and grow with the company. I hope to retire soon with mixed feelings as I have a family there, but, the younger generation has moved in and most of the old timers like myself have moved on into retirement. One of my bosses is 30 years younger than myself – I am looked at as grandpa Mike 🙂
I can relate to the younger generation, it is fun talking to them about older technologies especially computers and software we used in the old days. Machine technology has changed from mechanical to computer interfaces and fiber optics. I wonder what it will be like in another 35 years with all the changes I have seen in just the short time I have been there. Some of my kids work there so they will get to experience the growth I did over all those years…
Above are the snowfall amounts from yesterday – a nice dump from Lansing to Flint. I have this eerie feeling February will be a cold and snowy month, perhaps our snowiest month of the season.
The overall trend will be toward colder and snowy weather. However in the very short term we have ups and downs. It will be cold today with highs in the 20s and skies should become mostly sunny by mid afternoon, any lake effect snow showers will end in the morning as a high pressure system passes over Michigan. Then a strong Canadian system will pass well north of Michigan Wednesday putting Southwest Michigan in the warm sector of the storm.
This will result in some light snow over the northern sections of Southwest Michigan during the morning hours of Wednesday. It will be very windy and warmer with most areas south of Route 10 getting into the 40s by mid afternoon.
The cold front trailing that system comes through Wednesday evening but will not cool us off much. It is the arctic front that comes through mid morning Thursday that will cause temperatures to fall into the teens by evening with lake effect snow showers. That will be followed by high pressure on Friday but then the next system is forecast to track across central Lower Michigan over the weekend. That should bring significant snowfall to the entire area. That will be followed by even colder air than what we will see Friday.
Overall our cold pattern will last at least through mid February.
Luckily the Superbowl is going to be play in a dome as temperatures in Minnesota will be in the single digits on Sunday.
Today: A slight chance of snow showers between 1pm and 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 26. Light and variable wind becoming west southwest 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Tonight: Cloudy, with a temperature falling to near 23 by 8pm, then rising to around 28 during the remainder of the night. South wind 7 to 12 mph increasing to 13 to 18 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph.
Wednesday: Patchy blowing snow before 11am. Cloudy, with a high near 40. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 15 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph.
Wednesday Night: Cloudy, with a low around 26. West southwest wind 9 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
Thursday: A 30 percent chance of snow showers, mainly after 1pm. Cloudy, with a high near 29. West northwest wind 11 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
Thursday Night: A 40 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 9.
Friday: A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 20.
Friday Night: Snow showers likely, mainly after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 11.
Saturday: Snow showers. Cloudy, with a high near 29.
Saturday Night: Snow showers. Cloudy, with a low around 11.
Sunday: A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 19.
Sunday Night: A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 6.
Monday: A chance of snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 22.
Check out SNOW country and that is only the beginning! Bring it! Skiing here I come!
http://www.weather.gov/images/erh/gis/LP_state_Snow.png
The snow maps are starting to ramp up! Get your snowblowers ready to roll!
http://wxcaster.com/gis-gfs-snow-overlays2.php?STATIONID=GRR
I love the sounds of this from the GR NWS! We may be above normal for seasonal snowfall by the end of this weekend! Who would have thought?
As general warm advection snows gets underway late Friday night the
low level flow is southwesterly, so areas north and west of a South
Haven to Grand Rapids to Evart line could see several inches of
accumulation. On Saturday a widespread 1-3/2-4 inch type snowfall is
expected as right entrance upr jet dynamics interact with the arctic
front sagging slowly south through the state.
MV- Congratulations on 35 years with Perrigo. That is something to be proud of. You just don’t see that now a days. I really enjoyed reading what you wrote about all the changes & growth thru the years.
Congrats on the milestone! 35 years with one company is extraordinary. You should be proud.
That orange sliver in the snowfall map is right over our house. Our biggest snowfall event in several years.
Light snow out at thee YARDofBRICKS! INDYDOG14 !
As we switch gears, it looks like we could be in store for an average to warm summer at this time. Further ahead, odds increase for a very warm fall. One thing to watch for is the drought conditions. The US is abnormally dry right now, and, if this continues, this could cause a very hot summer for us.
February looks to start cold with some snow. still no wide spread big snow storms in the forecast. So it looks like this winter will come in close to a average winter (unless there is a big snow event in February or March) As there is still a lot of time for that to happen
Slim
For the record your prediction has been for a below normal seasonal snowfall this year and my prediction has been for an above normal seasonal snowfall for GR. I agree with your assessment that it is far too early to know which way it will end up. I predict by the middle if February we will be running above normal and possibly well above normal! We will have multiple synoptic and clipper systems bringing us many inches of snow over the next couple weeks! Mark it down!
We are 67% through winter (as measured by snowfall rates), and GR is almost 3″ below average snowfall. Even if we somehow get a lot of snow in February, most of the winter has been average to below average snow. Another fairly tame winter and time to start thinking about spring and summer!
While the trip was great it is still good to be back home. With the end of January just a day away it is time to take a late month inventory as to where we stand here at GR. So far this month is almost average temperature wise coming in with a mean of 24.7° (average mean is 24.3° so we are +.03°) The month as had more precipitation fall as rain then snow. We have had 2.12” total of witch 1.44” was rain. Total snow fall is just 12.6” and for the season we are now at 46.1” of… Read more »
Michael congrats on your 35 years.
Slim
Feb looks cold and snowy! Get ready!
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/WK34/gifs/WK34temp.gif
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/814temp.new.gif
Yesterday was another above average day. GR’s 12th in a row! For what it’s worth, the CFSv2 has much milder air mid February all the way to mid March.