Yesterday our high in Otsego was 77° and the low was 53°. Our rainfall total was .10 which brought us to .85 of an inch for the month. The thunderstorms passed to our west in the afternoon as we were driving down 131 to Kalamazoo my wife and I were marveling at the interesting cloud formations.
This is the last day of summer. Mother Nature has conveniently allowed us a warm day before dropping the hammer to allow a cool Canadian airflow into the area tomorrow to welcome the first day of fall. There are slight chances of rain and perhaps an isolated storm today with temps in the mid to upper 70s before falling into the 60s for the rest of the week into next week. Lakeshore counties may even see some lake effect rain tomorrow.
Weather History for SW Michigan
September 18
1918: A tornado destroyed a large barn about 5 miles southeast of Grand Haven in Ottawa County, and carried the timbers a half mile.
September 19
1997: A line of severe thunderstorms producing wind gusts to 70 mph downed trees and power lines from Allegan County through Jackson County. Around 10,000 customers lost power. A boy in Hastings was injured by a lightning strike.
September 20
1957: Thunderstorms with heavy rain of up to 2 inches flooded streets and viaducts in Grand Rapids.
1968: A tornado hits a rural area about five miles south of Lansing at 2:15 in the morning, damaging two barns and a shed.
September 21
1863: Lansing records a low temperature of 19 degrees, the coldest on record for the month of September.
1956: Intense lightning from thunderstorms is responsible for 11 house fires in Ottawa and Kent Counties, accounting for thousands of dollars in damage.
1967: A small tornado struck just north of Lansing at 10:45 in the morning and destroyed a garage.
1992: A tornado hit north of Webberville in Ingham County, damaging several outbuildings.
September 22
1952: Hail covered the ground like snow in Cascade Township, near Grand Rapids.
1961: A tornado hit two miles north of Marne. One person was injured and three buildings were heavily damaged.
September 23
2006: Small tornadoes hit Caledonia in Kent County and Muir in Montcalm County. The Caledonia tornado did some roof damage to a storage facility and a barn. The Muir tornado caused no structural damage but took down some tree limbs.
September 24
1950: Smoke from Canadian forest fires gave the sun an eerie bluish cast and darkened the sky across western Michigan.
Weather History for SE Michigan
September 18
On September 18, 1977, the tornado sirens beat the alarm clocks when an F1 tornado hit St. Clair County at a VERY EARLY 2:25 AM.
September 19
On September 19, 2011, Detroit recorded 1.81 inches of rainfall which is a record for the date. This helped push Detroit to its 4th wettest September on record with 6.28 inches of rain. Interestingly, the September rain did not extend farther north. Flint recorded 2.09 inches and Saginaw had 1.73 inches which were both well below average and in the top 30 driest September for those two cities.
On September 19, 2002, an upper air disturbance move across Lower Michigan during the late afternoon and evening hours on the 19th. This disturbance combined with unseasonably warm and humid air across Lower Michigan to trigger widespread thunderstorms. These thunderstorms initially moved into the Saginaw Valley during the late afternoon hours. During the evening, another round of thunderstorms moved from south to north across the region. Some of these thunderstorms were severe with damaging wind gusts, including an estimated 100,000 dollars in damage in Algonac and Harsen Island. Three men were installing a roof at an apartment complex under construction in Ann Arbor when they were struck by lightning. Two of the men were injured, while the third was later pronounced dead.
Also on September 19, 1997, severe thunderstorms developed ahead of a strong cold front that moved across southeast Lower Michigan. The severe thunderstorms downed trees and power lines in Chelsea (Washtenaw County), Farmington Hills (Oakland County), Detroit (Wayne County), Clinton (Lenawee County), and Dundee (Monroe County). Lightning struck a farm near Coleman (Midland County) killing 4 horses. Lightning also damaged 2 houses in Waterford (Oakland County) and an apartment building in Westland (Wayne County). About 20,000 people were left without power.
September 20
On September 20, 1978, Genesee county experienced winds of 63 mph with storms passing through.
September 21
On September 21, 2017, after a chilly start to the month, the temperature soared to 93 degrees at Flint. This broke the old record of 90 degrees from 1931.
On September 21, 2010, a cold front swept through Southeast Michigan producing severe thunderstorms north of M-59 during the evening hours. Most reports of severe weather were from the squall line that raced through the Tri-Cities, Flint and Thumb regions. There were 21 reports of severe wind gusts and tree damage.
September 22
On September 22, 2005, 3.62 inches of rainfall fell in Flint from multiple rounds of severe thunderstorms. Flash flooding was reported in both Genesee and Lapeer Counties. The severe thunderstorms produced wind damage mainly along the I 69 and I 94 corridors.
September 23
On September 23, 1974, record lows on the 22nd and 23rd of 30 degrees and 29 degrees, respectively, brought the earliest freeze on record to Detroit.
September 24
On September 24, 1997, southeast Lower Michigan saw its first frost of the year. The temperature fell to 32 degrees at Flint. This missed tying the record by one degree.
Forecast Discussion
- Showers and storms developing through midday - The approaching strong cold front will trigger development of scattered showers and convection through the morning. Convection noted over eastern WI early this morning will continue to propagate to the ese into our northern fcst area prior to daybreak. Severe wx is not expected but strongest storms may contain small hail and briefly gusty winds in addition to brief heavy rain. Additional scattered showers and a few storms will then continue to develop further south across the rest of our area through mid to late morning along and just ahead of the front as suggested by the 00Z HREF ensembles. We cannot rule out potential for a stronger storm or two mainly over our far se fcst area late this morning. However frontal timing favors areas se of our area for potentially severe convection this aftn. - Remainder of forecast through the weekend - Strong caa will occur after fropa and h8 temps will plunge to 0 to +2 C by 00Z Fri. Lake effect rain showers are expected Thursday mainly west of US-131 given nw to nnw flow and high delta t/s and lake induced instability. SREF pops typically handle lake effect events well and has highest pops right along the Lake MI shoreline and this looks excellent. High temps Thur will struggle to reach the mid 50`s up north to lower 60`s near the I-94 corridor given extensive stratocu and brisk caa. Mins in the 40`s are forecast late this week with colder readings in the 30`s over our far north to ne fcst area particularly early Friday morning. Unsettled wx is fcst this wknd with occasional showers with upper troughing in place. Lake effect rain showers are expected again early next week with another surge of cold air as h8 temps plunge once again to around -1 to -2 C by 12Z Wed.
More rain crazzy … INDY
Definitely not a dry summer! Watered the lawn 2 times all year!
Loved this Summer didn’t haft to run the air conditioning as much as Summers past but cut the grass alot more .. INDY
Got to see some pretty great storm structure (got a pic of Mammatus) heavy rain, small hail. Now great views as the storms push away.
77 and very humid this morning in the Windy City. The air is thick. Can’t wait for the cold front.
At this time there is a storm building just to the east of here. I just stepped outside and you can see the storm build. At this time it is 71 here with that storm to the east and clear skies to the west.
Slim
Yep…fine looking storm. It slowly moved over the backyard, and headed East. Just one rumble of thunder, which sounded something like, “your Summer has come to an end”. 😉
* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for…
Kent County in southwestern Michigan…
* Until 945 AM EDT.
* At 900 AM EDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line
extending from 7 miles northwest of Greenville to near Jenison,
moving east at 40 mph.
HAZARD…60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.
SOURCE…Radar indicated.
IMPACT…Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage
to roofs, siding, and trees.
The National Weather Service in Grand Rapids has issued a
* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for…
Northern Gratiot County in central Michigan…
Southern Isabella County in central Michigan…
* Until 930 AM EDT.
* At 850 AM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 7 miles south of
Lake Isabella, or 9 miles west of Mount Pleasant, moving east at 65
mph.
HAZARD…60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.
SOURCE…Radar indicated.
IMPACT…Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage
to roofs, siding, and trees.
The official H/L at Grand Rapids yesterday was 75/54 at airport there was 0.28” of rain fall and 18% of possible sunshine. Here in MBY I had 0.19” of rain fall is two storms. The 2nd one had some of the most intense thunder and lightning that has occurred here at my house in a long time. For today the average H/L remains 72/51 the record high of 95 was recorded in 2017 and the record low of 32 was in 1962. Today looks to be the last real warm day for a while as temperature look to stay in… Read more »
Looks like the area from East Lansing over to Webberville was the sweet spot for rain yesterday.
Things look pretty chilly after today. My phone was showing a low of 37 at my house. Brrrr!