We are definitely getting a good taste of tropical weather this week with temps near 90° and dewpoints in the 60s to near 70° making it really hard to enjoy doing much outside with the exception of sitting in a lawn chair enjoying a cold brew.
The convective outlook for today has the marginal risk mainly south and east of Grand Rapids with the threat of rain and storms late this afternoon through the overnight hours. The very warm and humid air will continue to be in place today with temps again well into the 80s.
Weather history for SW Michigan
July 4
1911: The phrase Hot as the Fourth of July gains new meaning as temperatures soar to near 100 degrees, for Michigan’s hottest Independence Day on record.
1969: Nature’s fireworks turn violent as severe thunderstorms form in the evening and drop several tornadoes across Lower Michigan. More than 60 people are injured, most of them from a tornado that hit Flat Rock in southern Wayne County. This tornado destroyed a tile factory, carrying sheet metal over a mile. Another tornado injured eleven people about four miles east of Jackson as it damaged a dozen mobile homes.
1974: Tornadoes strike Lower Michigan during the early afternoon. One person is injured as a tornado damaged several houses between Charlotte and Potterville in Eaton County. Tornadoes also damage barns and outbuildings in Huron and Tuscola Counties.
1977: A widespread severe weather outbreak hit Lower Michigan with tornadoes and downbursts. Two people were injured and almost a million dollars of damage was done. A tornado injured one person and destroyed two mobile homes and one barn near Maple Ridge in Arenac County. Another person was injured by a tornado at Otisville in Genesee County as four mobile homes were destroyed there. Two homes and a camper unit were heavily damaged as a tornado moved from southern Isabella County into northern Montcalm County, ending northeast of Vestaburg.
2003: The July 4th holiday turns tragic as seven people drown in rip currents on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. A line of thunderstorms earlier in the day had produced strong winds across the middle of the lake, and the dangerous currents formed several hours later.
July 5
1921: A record high of 100 degrees at Grand Rapids contributes to July 1921 becoming the warmest month on record there with a mean temperature of 79.8 degrees.
1972: Temperatures fell to record lows in the upper 30s and lower 40s across the region. The 37 degrees at Lansing was the coldest July reading of the 20th century there.
1994: Thunderstorms with hail and heavy rain pound areas of West Michigan. The 3.56 inches of rain at Grand Rapids makes this the wettest July day on record.
1921: One person was injured by a tornado that destroyed three barns while passing north of Alma and Saint Louis in Gratiot County.
July 6
1983: Cool high pressure settles over Lower Michigan and temperatures fall to record lows. The 41 degrees at Grand Rapids is the lowest ever recorded during the month of July for the Furniture City.
2014: Severe thunderstorms roll through on the night of July 6-7th. At least four tornadoes struck from near Grand Rapids to Saint John’s. A tornado with top winds estimated at 110 mph did heavy damage in the Grand Rapids suburb of Kentwood.
July 7
1991: Tornadoes strike across southern Lower Michigan. A tornado damaged about 20 homes near Highland in Oakland County. More damage occurred near Okemos in Ingham County and a home and some outbuildings were damaged as a tornado moved northeast of Rockford in Kent County. A tornado also briefly touched down northwest of Plainwell in Allegan County but did no damage.
1988: Lower Michigan is in the midst of another heatwave as the hot and dry summer of 1988 continues. Temperatures peak at 100 degrees on the 6th at Lansing and Grand Rapids, followed by a record high of 98 degrees on the 7th at Grand Rapids.
July 8
1885: A tornado damages several farms in and near Allegan, Michigan.
1936: The greatest heatwave on record gets underway across Michigan. Grand Rapids will see high temperatures at or above 100 degrees on six of the next seven days, including an all-time record high of 108 degrees on the 13th. Lansing will peak at 101 degrees on the 14th.
1951: Severe thunderstorms strike West Michigan with dozens of trees knocked down. Some of the trees block roads and damage cars and buildings
1984: Record low temperatures are set as cool air from Canada dominates the Great Lakes region. Grand Rapids falls to 46 degrees and Muskegon to 45.
July 9
1956: Cloudy and cool weather prevails with a record low maximum temperature of 64 degrees at Grand Rapids.
July 10
1895: Record cold temperatures occur on the second consecutive day at Lansing. The low of 39 degrees follows a low of 42 degrees on July 9th.
1897: A ten-day heatwave, one of the most intense on record, peaked with highs near 100 degrees across the region. At Lansing, it was the third straight day with highs of 100 degrees, unprecedented in the record books.
1996: Cool weather prevails with Muskegon setting a record low temperature of 44 degrees.
Weather History for SE Michigan
July 4
On July 4, 2012, the temperature rose to 102 degrees in Detroit, a record for the day and its hottest temperature in nearly a quarter of a century. The temperature in Flint also reached the century mark.
Also on July 4, 1977, the “Independence Day Derecho of 1977” left a path of destruction from Minnesota to Ohio. Winds of up to 115 mph destroyed property and leveled forests over Wisconsin. By the time the derecho had reached southeast Michigan, winds had weakened to 60 to 70 mph. The storm did, however, spawn F1 tornados in Genessee, Lapeer, and Monroe counties.
Also on July 4, 1957, the strongest tornado since 1950 in Livingston County occurred at 6:55 PM. This tornado was categorized as an F4 and caused 4 injuries and up to $500,000 in damage. Also on this day in 1957, another F4 tornado swept through Oakland County, injuring two people.
July 5
On July 5, 2012, thunderstorms over northern lower Michigan quickly organized into a line of severe thunderstorms shortly after midnight. This line of storms pushed through southeast Michigan in the very early morning hours producing widespread severe winds that damaged homes and left 200,000 without power, some for several days during one of the hottest stretches of summer.
On July 5, 1988, one notable hot stretch of weather brought a string of record high temperatures to Detroit, Flint and Saginaw. Record highs occurred from the 5,6 and 7 in Detroit at 96, 100 and 101 degrees. At Flint on the 6th and 7th, temperatures of 101 and 101 degrees. At Saginaw, on the 6th and 7th, had temperatures of 100, 99 degrees.
July 6
On July 6, 2003, spotters reported a 65mph wind gust at Birch Run at 9:50 pm.
July 7
On July 7, 2012, the temperature reached 100 degrees in Detroit for the second time in four days. This was the first time that Detroit had reached 100 twice in one year since 1988.
Also on July 7, 2010, the hottest day during a five-day heatwave from July 4th-July 8th occurred. High temperatures climbed into the lower 90s across most areas, producing heat indices in the mid-90s to around 100 degrees. Little relief occurred during the overnight hours as lows hovered at or above 70 degrees. Two heat-related fatalities were reported.
Also on July 7, 1991, A powerful derecho surged rapidly east across Southeast Lower Michigan during the early evening hours and brought widespread wind damage and power outages. Wind gusts of 75 to 85 mph were common in the Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Pontiac areas.
July 8
On July 8, 1936, the second-highest all-time temperature was recorded in Detroit. The mercury rose to 104.4 degrees! This was the beginning of a string of seven days in a row (July 8-14) of record daily high temperatures, which were all above 100 degrees!
July 9
On July 9, 1988, the temperature soared to 100 degrees in Flint, which is the record high for the day. This marked the fifth day in a row (July 5-9) that record daily high temperatures were recorded in Flint!
July 10
On July 10, 1898, the temperature dropped to 40 degrees in Saginaw. It was the second coldest temperature on record for the month. The coldest is 39 degrees.
Forecast Discussion
- Chances for showers/storms Today...Tonight and Thursday A nearly stationary boundary stretches along the I-96 corridor at 300am from near Muskegon to Lansing. This boundary will largely remain in place across Southwest Lower Michigan today and tonight and through a good portion of Thursday. Wind fields today through Thursday are seasonably weak, so the threat of severe weather is fairly low. We are in a Marginal threat for severe weather today for areas south and east of Grand Rapids and in general thunder for Thursday. Cannot argue with these categories from SPC given weaker shear. If we do see a storm today that approaches severe levels it will be due to stronger heating that takes place south of the front in the central CWA. The SPC HREF does show a few small helicity swaths for places like Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Lansing and Jackson. So, a few storms may become a bit more organized in the heat of the day, but again any threat would be isolated and likely limited to a wind threat. Best chance for storms today will be in the afternoon and evening hours. Storms will tend to weaken tonight with the loss of heating. On Thursday southeast portions of the area will be favored again (Battle Creek and Jackson) along and ahead of the cold front. Cannot rule out some isolated pockets of heavy rain through Thursday afternoon with PWAT values in the 1.50 to 2.00 range. - Drier period Thursday night through Saturday night Mainly dry weather is expected for Thursday night through Saturday night as high pressure builds into the area. ECMWF ensemble probabilities agree with this thinking with chances of 0.01 dropping to 0-30 percent for the whole forecast area. - Wet weather returns for Sunday into Monday Models have struggled a bit with how the pattern evolves over the course of the weekend. This essentially comes down to the handling of a developing upper low over Iowa this weekend. Several days ago the pattern was more progressive, but multiple runs of the ECMWF now show this low over Iowa. A warm front will lift our direction late in the weekend and move through the area early next week. Chances for showers and storms are in the forecast from Sunday into Monday as the warm front and surface low push northeast through the Great Lakes. The pattern looks progressive, so not expecting overly heavy rain during this time frame.
Currently 62* degrees in Big Rapids that air is moving in!! tomorrow’s 70’s will feel fabulous around here …..INDY
At lunchtime, it was 84 here and at the same time, it was 65 in Alma – just a 40-minute drive. That’s quite a front.
Big storms ahead of it especially in your area again lucky ….INDY
We had four consecutive storms in a row of which, the first two were severe warned. Very heavy rain. It’s been raining continuously for nearly two hours.
Interesting that the thunderstorm watch has gone from east back to the west. LOL!!!
Currently 84* degrees dewpoint 64* and heat index 86* out in my hood nothing compared to yesterday definitely tell a cold front is close could be a lot worse for this time of year around here …Great fishing weather …INDY
Heat index once again into the 90’s, and the sun is barely even out. The air is like breathing with a mask on again.
All the storms again away from Grand Rapids and the lakeshore Lake Michigan is not helping the fact …Enjoy them whomever is getting a storm…..Bring on the cold front! INDY
Had a tornado warning 25 miles to the north about a half hour ago. Pretty much zero severe weather for two years and now, WHAM, mucho severe weather.
Blake Harms was on the air tracking the storm. He is mature for his age. He is doing a fine job on WLNS.
Just got back from a walk. It is very warm and humid at this time and I have a temperature of 85 with a DP of 75 so yes it is warm. There are some thunderstorms to our east at this time. and some showers to our west.
Slim
Approaching mid July and no 90’s in sight! How is that possible! Incredible!
Incredible!!! iNDY
Hopefully we get some good storms this afternoon but hopefully is the key nothing exciting yet on radar but loving thee cold front moving in lows in the 50’s this coming week will mean great fire Weather that’s for sure!! INDY
No hot air? Look up how many days we’ve had a heat index well into the 90”s, even over 100. I agree with MV, the only thing you can do in this weather is sit in a chair with a beer. Maybe some day when I’m retired, but right now this is nasty working weather.
Great Scotty just saw Terrie D’s 8 dayer forecast at Wood Tv 8 the warmest temperature is 83* only we may have a whole week ahead with below normal temps with that said no hot air in sight shuuu..How red is that lol….INDY
Phew! 89, 89, 88 this past 3 days. It may not be 90 for some on here, but it’s been hot and muggy.
Only one recorded 90 in my hood!! This Summer has been a brezze sofar no real heat waves! Who knew?? INDY
June was warm and July is starting warm too. And plenty of hot muggy days too. It’s been great!
Great fishing weather that’s for sure …INDY
It is strange how much “cooler” GR has been as compared to Lansing. We had what I would consider a heat wave last month when we had nine consecutive days where the temp was double digits above average. Four of those days were 90, 90, 91, and 94.
In early June GR still gets some effects off lake Michigan. Just like GR gets more lake effect snow in the winter then Lansing for example. I spent a summer in Fort Myers Florida and in that whole summer the “coolest high” was 89 and the coolest low was 71. It is whole different ball game.
Slim
No rain here overnight although there was lightning to the north last night. The overnight low here was a warm 71 and that is the current temperature here with the DP at 67 that is a little lower then most of yesterday and it makes a difference as it feels nice out this morning. The official high for the month at Grand Rapids so far is 89 and so far this summer GR has had 2 90° days (officially) At Muskegon the high for July so far is 86 and for the season 89. At Kalamazoo the high so far… Read more »
And the influence on killing storms to good old lake Michigan lol……Crazzy July 7th now and no 90’s in.Gravd Rapids INDY will take it!! One month from today I wll be on a plane heading to Ft Myers Florida hopefully it won’t be so hot Summer is flying…INDY