I have everything planted in my garden now. We have five varieties of tomatoes (we love tomatoes), sweet peppers, onions, and cucumbers. I have had a garden of some sort over the past 50 years or so. My grandparents had a huge garden, close to an acre which had every conceivable vegetable planted which they canned every fall. My mother did likewise though on a smaller scale. There is nothing like the flavor of homegrown food.
We have 38° at 6:30 this morning. Yesterday was dry with a high temp of 60° and the low was 43°.
Today is likely to be the sunniest day of the week though it will remain chilly with highs only in the mid-60s. There will be a slight warming trend into midweek, however, by Wednesday afternoon showers and thunderstorms will become widespread. The storms are expected into Wednesday night, then showers and cooler temperatures are expected into Friday. Warmer weather returns just in time for Memorial Day weekend, highs will reach the 80s by Sunday and on Memorial Day.
Forecast Discussion
...A dry couple of days, then a wet couple of days... Latest surface analysis shows high pressure settled over the western Great Lakes. We`ll see quite a bit of sunshine today, though it will be filtered somewhat by high clouds streaming north from the weak tropical low in the Gulf. Temperatures will be a little warmer today with highs in the mid 60s. Dry and warmer weather will continue Tuesday with highs closing in on 70. GFS/ECMWF have been in pretty good agreement for several days regarding a low developing in the southern Plains and moving northeast toward the Great Lakes mid week. That`s still basically the case. However a couple of differences are now appearing. The low is still on track to affect the cwa Wednesday. However, the latest track is a bit farther west which may delay the onset of precipitation. The other difference is that the ECMWF now moves the low northeast and out of the area faster than the GFS. This is likely because the ECMWF opens up the wave quicker than the GFS. Am leaning toward the slower GFS because cutoff lows tend to take a little longer to open up. The slower evolution will result in more showers and scattered thunderstorms. So, Wednesday and Thursday looks wet at this point. There is some elevated instability, but CAPE is very limited. The precipitation will likely diminish Friday as the low moves northeast. The ECMWF shows a warm front moving north across the CWA Saturday and producing showers and we have pops in the forecast to account for it. Temperatures will increase through the 80s during the Memorial Day weekend and the air will be increasingly more humid.
Saturday derecho which traveled from SE Michigan to western Maine:
https://www.woodtv.com/weather/deadly-derecho-8-fatalities-900000-lost-power/
Another well below average May Day in my hood feels like early Fall outside yeahhhh .InDY
It just keeps rocking! Incredible!
Well I have all of my summer plants now planted. If the long CPC guess plays out we would have a very warm summer.
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=2
We shall see how that plays out.
Slim
A long hot summer just like the past few! I love it!
We will be having a near normal temp summer! Mark it down!
What about the frost and freeze warning to our North last night! Our below normal temp year just keeps going and going! Wow just wow! Incredible year so far!
“Stop talking about places not GR,” says Rocky to me.
That is exactly why I posted that to make a point! Thanks for taking the bait! Incredible!
Wow that was some the derecho that formed in SE Michigan and then moved thru Ontario and into Quebec. See link above.
Slim
Yes that was quite the derecho!
In terms of total wind speed, the Gaylord tornado ranks higher than the Dexter tornado. Anyone know the last time we had a tornado with 150MPH winds or greater in Michigan?
I have not yet found a list of tornadoes of wind speed here is a list of the total reported Michigan tornadoes by year in Michigan since 1951
https://data.lansingstatejournal.com/tornado-archive/
and the top ten counties for tornadoes in Michigan
Genesee 41
Monroe 33
Lenawee 32
Berrien 31
Kent 31
Oakland 31
Allegan 29
Wayne 29
Ingham 28
Washtenaw 27
Slim
May not be the last one but one I did find was the West Bloomfield F4 tornado on March 20th 1976. That storm four miles long and 350 yards wide across Oakland County before dissipating near Maple Road between Middlebelt and Inkster Roads. The tornado killed one, injured 55 and produced $50 million (or about $155 million in 2001 dollars) in damage.
Slim
Interesting, thanks for the reply Slim!
Not too bad this week – warmer than the forecasts a few days ago. And then 75, 82, 82 right on time for the long weekend! CPC continues to look warm.
Even the coolest day (today) is still 63… and with the high sun angle it feels much warmer.
Exactly. And today is picture perfect!
Today is nice, but I love my 80s
I like the weather today. Warm sun, cool/dry air. Hoodie and shorts kind of weather.
SS: I’m sorry to hear of your Dad’s passing a few months ago. Yes, the aging and passing of our parents is part of life, but those “firsts” like gardening without him can be painful. It becomes one of the many “new normals” that we encounter. I will send up a little prayer for you when my wife and I plant ours this week 🙂
Awe Bernie, thank you so much!!! Yes, we have had a couple of big firsts without him already and it is tough. Thanks again for your kind words. Maybe I will just have to come here for comparisons. Lol.
The official H/L at Grand Rapids yesterday was 61/46 and 0.01″ of rain was reported. We went up to Bay City for the day. It was mostly cloudy going there with a few breaks in the clouds. There were also a few sprinkles on and off. The overnight low here at my house was 38 and it looks like the official overnight low at GRR will be 42. At this time it is clear and 39 here at my house.
Slim
This year I have planted just tomatoes (yes I love tomatoes) and cucumbers. I also love strawberries but I do not grow them. My youngest son bought a house last December and he has strawberry plants in his yard.
Slim
Slim,
I have strawberries in 2 different places. One in a garden where they seem to get eaten by critters and last year I put some in a horse water trough to keep critters out. Lol
Michael,
We were getting our garden prepped yesterday. My rhubarb is looking pretty good, raspberries are all green and lots of tiny buds starting (they bloom around 4th of July), strawberry & blueberry plants have lots of flowers. I will be planting a lot of green beans.. we love them!!! My gparents always had big gardens as well. This year will be odd without being able to compare with my Dad since he passed early this year.