A balmy 14° this morning at 7am in Otsego with a feels like temp of 8°. Yesterday our high was 24° with trace amounts of snow. The big story are the snowfall amounts along the lakeshore counties shown below from the NWS.
Snow will pick up in intensity this afternoon and continue both tonight and into Thursday morning. The heaviest snow by far will be from Muskegon County up the shoreline through Oceana and Mason Counties including Muskegon, Whitehall, Pentwater, Hart, Scottville and Ludington. 3-5 inches of snow is forecast in these areas, with some isolated 6 inch amounts possible. Outside of the lakeshore counties, 1 to 2 inch amounts will spread across Central Lower Michigan with an inch or less in other areas of Southwest Lower Michigan.
Weather History
November 10
1975: A powerful storm brought high winds across Lower Michigan, toppling trees and power lines. A tornado was spun up by the storm, damaging mobile homes and a barn in Allegan County. The Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior during the storm, with a crew of 29 men. There were no survivors. The ore carrier left Superior, Wisconsin on November 9 loaded with 26,116 tons of taconite pellets. The cargo was to be delivered to Detroit, but the ship ran into winds of at least 60 mph and high waves and foundered at about 730 pm north of Whitefish Point.
1998: A November storm lashes the Great Lakes with wind gusts up to 90 mph. Over 167,000 homes were without power and cleanup efforts were extensive as many homes and businesses suffered roof and siding damage and thousands of trees were blown down. The high winds literally blew much of the water out of Saginaw Bay, with the water level dropping several feet and large sections of the Bay becoming dry land for a time. A waterspout on Lake Michigan briefly moved inland near Muskegon, but rapidly dissipated and caused no damage.
November 11
1911: A tornado outbreak strikes the Midwest, killing more than a dozen people. Nine people are killed as a violent tornado hits Janesville, Wisconsin. Within an hour, survivors of the storm were digging out in near-blizzard conditions with zero degree temperatures. In Michigan, a tornado kills two people and injures 21 others as it destroys five factories and 21 homes in the northern part of Owosso in Shiawassee County. Another tornado hits southeast of Battle Creek in Calhoun County, leveling barns and taking the roofs off homes. A tornado near Kingsland in Eaton County kills cattle and horses.
1940: The Armistice Day storm strikes with hurricane force winds, producing blizzard conditions across Minnesota and mountainous waves on Lake Michigan, where five vessels are lost, claiming 66 lives.
1995: A strong cold front passage is followed by high winds and lake effect snow. From three to seven inches of snow fell across Ottawa and Kent Counties in a six hour period. The heavy snowfall combined with high winds caused widespread power outages due to tree limbs falling and lines breaking. In South Haven a garage roof was destroyed by a falling tree. Power outages affected more than 50,000 people.
November 12
1873: Winter arrives early with 5 inches of snow at Lansing, followed by a string of record lows in the single digits, including a 1 degree reading on the morning of the 13th.
November 13
1986: High temperatures are held in the upper teens to lower 20s as arctic air pours into Lower Michigan. The high of 19 degrees at Grand Rapids is a record for the date and the coldest high temperature for so early in the season.
November 14
1908: Heavy snow falls across western Lower Michigan with a total of 16 inches at Muskegon, a record total for any November day.
November 15
1933: Michigan is in the grip of a four day cold snap. The low of 10 degrees at Grand Rapids only rises to 18 degrees during the afternoon as lake effect snow showers swirl around and an icy northwest wind makes it feel even colder.
November 16
1959: A vast area of arctic high pressure brings record cold to much of the continental United States. High temperatures only reach the teens across much of Lower Michigan followed by record lows in the single digits on the morning of the 17th.
21* degrees out at thee YARDofBRICKS NE GR another below average day cold! Just the facts no wet dream thoughts about a warm December coming no wet dream thoughts about the weather a year ago being the same . ..Babby it’s cold outside thats a fact …….INDY
Keep it coming!
Wednesday Night Snow PArty
INDY..
Facts – last year GR ended up with above normal snowfall and so far this year we are above normal! What a great winter pattern!
Looks like the high in Grand Rapids so far has been just 23 so if it stays below 25 this will be the 2nd coldest maximum for this date with just 19 in 1986 being colder the high was 25 in 1940 and 1911.
Slim
Absolutely incredible cold!
While this November should not end up being a top snowy one here in Grand Rapids that said here is some fun facts for past top snowy Novembers and that years Christmas snow depth. I did this for another site that I post on. This was in response to how much snow was on the ground on what that person thought were snowy Novembers in 1989, 1951, 1911, 1880 and I am not sure where they came up with this one (or it was a miss print) 1842
Here are some of the snowiest November’s at Grand Rapids with that Novembers snow fall and the snow on the ground at that Christmas. 2014 November 31.0” Christmas 0” 1951 26.9” Christmas 22.0” 1991 November 25.3” Christmas T. 2000 November 23.0” Christmas 16”. 1995 November 20.9” Christmas 1”. 1989 19.5” Christmas 5”. 1955 November 18.6” Christmas 0” 1998 November 18.5” Christmas 2” That was the most on the ground that December. 2005 November 17.3” Christmas 0. 1940 November 17.3” Christmas 0” as for 1911 that year was way down on the snow fall list with just 6.2 and Christmas T. The records do not go back to 1880 at Grand Rapids But at Lansing 1880 November 16” Note the mean at Lansing that November was just 27.3° The year there was no snow reported on Christmas.
Slim
Winter temperatures and snow fall predictions are nothing more than just a guess. So that being said today WOOD TV 8 came out with their guess for the winter in west Michigan. They think that this winter will be a lot like last winter in being a “back loaded” winter so after this cold mid December their thinking is that it will warm up and stay mild well into December (maybe the start of January) Here are some of the snow fall guesses that each person has made.
• Emily Schuitema predicts: 87 inches of snow in Kalamazoo, 83 inches in Grand Rapids, 100 inches in Holland and 101 in Muskegon.
• Ellen Bacca predicts: 90 inches in Kalamazoo, 89 inches in Grand Rapids, 106 inches in Holland and 94 in Muskegon.
• Matt Kirkwood predicts: 95 inches in Kalamazoo, 94 in Grand Rapids, 112 inches in Holland and 103 in Muskegon.
• Terri DeBoer predicts: 82 inches in Kalamazoo, 85 in Grand Rapids 98 inches in Holland and 105 in Muskegon.
• Bill Steffen predicts: 83 inches in Kalamazoo, 81 inches in Grand Rapids, 105 inches in Holland and 88 in Muskegon.
• For what it is worth (remember I don’t get paid for this) my guess is 75” at Kalamazoo, 70” at Grand Rapids, 85” at Holland and 80” at Muskegon. Also in the past a cold and snowy mid November has led to very little snow or a green Christmas and that is what my guess is that Grand Rapids will have very little or no snow on the ground on Christmas 2019. Remember all of the above is just a guess.
Here is WOOD’s posted guess for the winter of 2018/20
https://www.woodtv.com/weather/storm-team-8-winter-outlook-2019-2020/
Slim
Of course you would predict below normal snowfall for GR. I have never seen an above normal snowfall prediction from you for GR!
Of course Rocky would predict above normal snowfall for GR. I have never seen a below normal prediction from you in GR!
Let me give that some thought! You are wrong – get your facts straight. About 6 or 7 years ago I predicted GR would be below normal and it was! Facts never lie – certain politicians need to realize that!
Haha!! If anyone believes that, I’ve got some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you!
Rock on Andy!
This year has been remarkably similar to last year since the beginning of September so I would not be surprised at all to see another mild and snowless December. October cooled down almost the same time as last year, and our first decent snowfall was almost exactly the same day as last year. Great thing is all the snow will quickly melt away!
Lake Michigan and its clouds kept west Michigan much warmer then areas to our east as lows here were mostly in the mid to upper teens off to our east they fell below 10 and even below zero at several locations. In SE Michigan a low of -6 was reported at Ann Arbor and it was down to at least +1 at Flint. Most locations in SE Michigan were below +10.
Slim
Yes lk Michigan plays a big roll in our weather all year around ….Good and Bad…INDY
Good Morning! With a H/L of 24/16 Grand Rapids did set a new record for the coldest maximum for November 12th While the low of 16 fell just short of the record of 15° set in 1986 and 1911 it did tie 1976 for 2nd coldest low. It looks like the overnight low at the airport was 15 and here at my house the overnight low was 16. For today the average H/L at Grand Rapids is 49/34 the record high is 70 set in 1989 and the record low is 10 set in 1986. The record snow fall for today is 3.2” set in 1959. Last year the H/L was 30/24 At this time I have cloudy skies and a temperature of 18
Slim
No kidding a wet and cold Fall that’s for sure our furnace has been running since September…Love it …Have a warm Wednesday INDY
I wonder how Mookie is enjoying his/her vacation is south Florida.
Slim
Clearly we will be seeing above normal snowfall this season! Mark it down!
Nice snow map! Our below normal temp pattern is still rocking! This will be 9 out of the last 11 months! Talk about a clear cut entrenched pattern! Incredible!
Globally speaking, four out of the last five months have been the warmest on record. So there’s that.
Then we are living in a great spot! I love it!
WOOD will come out with their winter guesses later today – WWMT had theirs earlier this week – their guess is a back loaded winter like last year.