Early Saturday morning we had our biggest rainfall total since April 1st (1.95 inches) with 2.86 inches of rain from the storms that passed through, bringing us to 5.15 inches for the month and 5.99 inches since June 1st (from my rain gauge). This will help put a dent in the drought for Allegan County. 2.55 inches were reported in Plainwell, 2.16 in Grand Junction, 1.31 inches in Kalamazoo, 2.93 inches in Paw Paw, 1.69 in Wayland, 2.12 in Hastings… these are all official CoCoRaHS reports.
Today should be considered pleasant by most people (including myself) due to mostly sunny skies, low humidity, light northwest winds, and highs in the mid to upper 70s. Dry conditions will continue today through midweek. Temperatures should remain slightly below normal through early August with rainfall likewise. The second week of August is predicted to be below normal with above-normal rainfall.
Grand Rapids Forecast
7 30 grrLansing Forecast
7 30 lanU.S.A and Global Events for July 30th:
1970: Hurricane Celia was born in the northwest of the Caribbean Sea on this day. The hurricane would be one of the worst ever to hit Texas and would reach Texas late on August 3. The storm reached its peak as it made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas, as a strong Category 3 hurricane. Hurricane Celia is currently the last major hurricane to make landfall on the middle Texas Coast until Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
1979: A forty-minute hailstorm bombed Fort Collins, Colorado with baseball to softball size hail. Two thousand homes and 2,500 automobiles were damaged, and about 25 persons were injured, mainly when hit on the head by the huge stones. (Ouch!)
Forecast Discussion
.SHORT TERM...(Today through Monday) Familiar northwest flow pattern aloft sends another shortwave through the region this afternoon. However the air mass is rather dry with dew points in the 50s so shower potential is very low and will run with a dry forecast. All in all a pleasant Sunday with highs in the upper 70s and low humidity and just some diurnal cumulus inland from Lk MI. There have been a few isolated showers early this morning but those are expected to weaken/dissipate soon. Surface ridging currently west of MI builds eastward toward MI on Monday but guidance is still suggesting the possibility of scattered showers/storms over northeast lwr MI and the Thumb area where sfc convergence will be maximized. Some of this diurnal activity could flirt with the Clare/Mt Pleasant areas and have included 20-30 PoPs there in the afternoon. Otherwise another pleasant/comfortable day with afternoon inland cumulus clouds. .LONG TERM...(Monday night through Saturday) - Better rain chances now Wednesday night instead of late week - Confidence is high for a dry forecast Monday and Tuesday. The period will start with northwest flow aloft downstream of a sharp ridge centered over the northern intermountain west. This is a dry pattern thanks to QC subsidence and an attendant broad footprint of surface high pressure over much of the eastern CONUS that will prevent moisture transport into the western Great Lakes from the Gulf of Mexico. By Wednesday, the ridge flattens considerably and there is consensus among GFS/ECMWF/CMC deterministic runs that a PV max traversing the ridge will drop ESE into the western Great Lakes region. Coincident with this forcing mechanism, both ECMWF ensemble and NBM guidance advertise chance PoPs centered around the Wednesday night timeframe. Individual ensemble membership is appropriately spotty for what may be spotty precipitation coverage. Moreover, suboptimal moisture return is expected to prevent precipitation from achieving the type of intensity that we`ve grown accustomed to from our last few rainfall episodes. Impactful weather is not expected for the coming work week, but predictability with forecast details starts to drop considerably from Wednesday onward. This is largely due to a transition to swift quasi-zonal flow capable of hosting multiple hard-to-time PV maxima. In fact, it is entirely plausible that future guidance might revert to the previous forecast (best precipitation chances at the end of the work week). At least the stakes should be lower overall.
What a day! Perfect weather and now lows in the lower 50’s! Incredible week of cool weather is on tap! I love cool summers!
Had a amazing fire today with some cold sprites it definitely could be hotter outside…INDY
The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 84/68 there was 0.79” of rain fall. The sun was out 77% of the possible time. The highest wind gust was 32 MPH out of the west. One way to keep track of how hot or cold it has been is to keep track of Heating and Cooling Degree Days. At Grand Rapids yesterday had 0 HDD’s and 11 CDD’s For the month of July there so far there have been 0 HDD’s the average for July is 0. Since June 1st there have been 28 HDD’s that is a departure of… Read more »
For today the average H/L is 83/63 the record high of 101 was set in 1916 and the record low of 50 was set in 1956,1965 and 2013. The week ahead looks to be just a little cooler than average to start and at times near average. Most of the days look mostly dry at this time.
Slim
Get ready for another string of below normal temp days! ENJOY and the overall below normal pattern is locked in! No heat waves in sight! I love cool summers!
This summer at Grand Rapids so far had been near average. August looks to start out with below average temperatures.
Slim
Low dew points = Fantastic! Temps near or above 90 degrees = horrendous!