The other day Barry stated. “I noticed on yesterday’s climatological report the record snowfall for July 4 is a trace in 1990. Is that correct??” First off for the record the NWS indeed has a recorded “snow” fall of a trace for July 4th, 1990. The H/L for that day at Grand Rapids was 93/74 0.22” of rain fall was reported and that so called trace of snow fall. At Muskegon there is also a reported trace of snow fall for that day with a total rainfall of 0.03” and a H/L of 87/67. I wrote to the NWS office to see if I could get a reply. Well believe it or not This is the reply I received.
On Tue, Jul 5, 2022 at 11:46 AM JAMES > wrote:
In looking at the records for July 4th there is a reported “trace” of snow fall for July 4th 1990. With a H/L of 93/74 I know there was no true snow fall but could it have been hail?? Let me know if you find out.
Here is the NWS reply
James,
Yes, I believe that is due to snowfall.
Thanks,
NWS Grand Rapids
I have to say in looking at the temperature profiles that day I find it hard to believe that anyone at the NWS would believe that there was true “snow fall” that day
In 1936 the most wide spread heat wave ever recorded in the U.S. occurred during the summer of 1936, when 17 of the 48 contiguous U.S. states and two provinces of Canada tied or broke their all-time heat records, along with hundreds of cities. Many of these records stand today. Although we have some clues, it is ultimately a bit of a mystery as to what exactly caused the temperatures to spike so high that summer. The climatological summer (June-August) of 1936 remains the warmest nationwide on record (since 1895) with a average temperature of 74.0°F. (The second warmest summer was that of 2012 with an average of 73.7°F.) July 1936 is still the single warmest U.S. month ever measured, with an average temperature of 76.8°F beating out July 2012 by just 0.02°F
Interestingly, February 1936 remains the coldest February on record for the contiguous U.S., with an average nationwide temperature of 25.2°F. (The single coldest month on record was January 1977, with a 21.9°F average.) Temperatures fell as low as –60°F in North Dakota, an all-time state record. Turtle Lake, North Dakota averaged –19.4°F for the entire month, the coldest average temperature ever recorded in the contiguous United States for any month. One town in North Dakota, Langdon, stayed below 0°F for 41 consecutive days (from January 11 to February 20), the longest stretch below zero (including maximum temperatures) ever endured at any site in the lower 48.
Around July 8-10, the extreme heat extended all the way to the East Coast when virtually every absolute maximum temperature record was broken from Virginia to New York. This held true for most sites in the Ohio Valley, Upper Midwest, and Great Plains as well. There are so many superlatives that it is impossible to list them all. In short, the following states broke or tied their all-time maximum temperatures that July:
Indiana: 116°F (Collegeville, July 14)
Iowa*: 117°F (Atlantic and Logan, July 25)
Kansas: 121°F (Fredonia, July 18, and Alton, July 24)
Maryland: 109°F (Cumberland and Frederick, July 10)
Michigan: 112°F (Mio, July 13)
Minnesota: 114°F (Moorhead, July 6)
Missouri: 118°F (Clinton, July 15, and Lamar, July 18)
Nebraska: 118°F (Hartington, July 17, and Minden, July 24)
New Jersey: 110°F (Runyon, July 10)
North Dakota: 121°F (Steele, July 6)
Oklahoma: 120°F (Alva, July 18, and Altus, July 19)
Pennsylvania: 111°F (Phoenixville, July 10)
West Virginia: 112°F (Martinsburg, July 10)
Wisconsin: 114°F (Wisconsin Dells, July 13)
Here in west Michigan the heat wave was kind of spotty. With Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids have the worst of it. At Grand Rapids it started on July 7th with a high of 98. Then there were highs of 101,101, 102, a cool down to 99, 106, 108, 102 a big cool down to 86 and then back up to 91, 93 and then 91 a total of 11 out of 12 days of 90 or better. For the month at Grand Rapids there were 6 days of 100 or better, 7 days of 90 or better the mean for the month was 77.3° 1936 was NOT the warmest July at Grand Rapids it was the 5th warmest. At Kalamazoo the heat wave seen a whopping 9 days in a row of 100 or better topping out at 109. To go along with the 9 days of 100 or better they also had 12 days of 90 or better. At Lansing they had 7 days of 90 or better and while there were 6 days in the upper 90’s only one day was over 100 at 101. At Holland they had 12 days in a row of 90 or better and one day it did get to 99. And at Muskegon they were saying what “Heat Wave” and they did not have a single day reach 90 and many of the hottest days where only in the upper 70’s and low 80’s (they did reach 89 and 88) Remember in 1936 most people did NOT have air conditioning so it was just that much worse.
Slim
Perfect day. Went to the farmers market, hit some garage sales, and got in a round of golf.
Looks like a great weekend in store. Nice temps and lots of sunshine. Rain chances Monday-Tuesday timeframe so hopefully some areas that really need it can get some because after that it looks dry once again. My weather app shows 90s in the extended. 90 on 7/17 and 93 on 7/18. Long ways out so that is subject to change but could be heading into a warmer pattern again. CPC seems to agree with that in the 6-10 and 8-14 day outlook.
We received 1.3 inches of rain yesterday – We were coming back from Kalamazoo and watched the storm build – by the time we got into Otsego it was pouring. Yesterday’s high was 82 the low was 63. Currently 70.
59 degrees outside feels fantastic for the middle of July geat bomb fire weather yeahhhh INDY
Thanks Slim! We will see if any snow is reported for today.
The official H/L at Grand Rapids yesterday was 81/62. There was no rain fall at either my house or officially at GR. Areas to the south of Grand Rapids did see some good rain fall. At GR there was 39% of sunshine. The overnight low and current temperature in MBY was/is 56. The average H/L for today is 83/62 the record high of 101 was set in 1936 and the record low of 48 was set in 1942 and 1961. The next week looks to once again be very typical of July with highs in the upper 70’s to mid… Read more »
What a summer! No real extended heat waves, plenty of comfortable temps, lower dew points, plenty of cool nights and plenty of sun! Wow, just wow! Incredible!