Our total for the early week system was 2.24 inches bringing us to 9.14 inches since June 1st in Otsego. Last year we had 14.36 inches for the same time period.
Mostly sunny skies can be expected today with highs ranging from 75 to 82 degrees. Beach hazards will develop later today north of Whitehall as winds and waves increase. Rain chances will increase tonight, and continue into Thursday with a frontal system moving through.
Weather History for SW Michigan
August 13
2002: Severe weather produces widespread wind damage across southwest Lower Michigan. A tornado struck near Rockford in Kent County, causing minor damage to several homes and vehicles.
August 14
1987: A total of 3.61 inches of rain falls at Grand Rapids, making this the second wettest August day on record and contributing to a record monthly total of 8.46 inches.
1988: A tornado struck East Lansing and then proceeded southeast, leaving an intermittent damage path south of Okemos to Gregory. A man camping near Stockbridge was killed when a tree fell on him.
1995: Lightning struck and killed a 33-year-old man walking through his campsite in Coldbrook Park in Kalamazoo County.
August 15
1951: Tornadoes hit near Grand Ledge in Eaton County, Fowlerville in Livingston County, and Kings Mill in Lapeer County. Several barns were destroyed.
1978: A waterspout moved inland off Lake Michigan just south of Little Sable Point, about 8 miles west of Shelby in Oceana County. Several cottages were damaged and Scenic Drive was blocked by falling trees. One person was injured when a picture window was blown in.
August 16
1938: A tornado struck between Oil City and Mount Pleasant in Isabella County. No one was injured but a home was torn apart with the roof carried about 100 yards.
1979: High pressure from Canada brings record cold temperatures with Muskegon falling to 36 degrees, the coldest ever recorded there in August. At Grand Rapids, it falls to 40 degrees, and at Lansing 39.
August 17
1988: It is the last hot day of the hot and dry summer of 1988. Record highs were set at Grand Rapids with 98 degrees, Lansing with 95, and Muskegon with 93. Thirteen of the first seventeen days of August had highs over 90 degrees at Grand Rapids, but none after today. The transition to cooler weather is marked by severe thunderstorms that bring large hail and damaging winds during the late afternoon and evening.
August 18
1943: Autumn is in the air with record cool temperatures of 41 degrees at Grand Rapids and 43 degrees at Muskegon.
1955: West Michigan is in the midst of another heat wave with Grand Rapids setting a record high of 97 degrees, helping this become the second hottest August on record there.
August 19
1939: A total of 4.22 inches of rain falls for the wettest August day on record at Grand Rapids.
1977: Cool air from Canada brings record lows of 37 degrees at Lansing and 43 degrees at Grand Rapids.
1996: Severe thunderstorms produce damaging winds from Cadillac to Ionia. Montcalm County is one of the hardest-hit places. Numerous trees are blown down from Greenville to Sheridan. In the town of Sheridan, there are several reports of building damage mostly to roofs. A school in Greenville had a large plate glass window blown out.
SE Michigan Weather History
August 13
On August 13, 1975, a 60 mph wind gust accompanied a severe thunderstorm just after dawn at 6:45 a.m. in Genesee County. Also, in 1947, the temperatures reached 94 degrees on the 12th and 96 degrees on the 13th in Flint.
August 14
On August 14, 1964, the overnight temperature dropped to 41 degrees in Flint, which was the record-low temperature for the day. Curiously enough, the very next year, in 1965, the daytime temperature rose to 97 degrees, setting the record high temperature for this day.
August 15
On August 15, 1951, an F1 tornado developed from a severe thunderstorm at 3 p.m. and hit Lapeer County.
August 16
On August 16, 1968, 4.45 inches of rainfall fell in Flint. This is the record for the greatest precipitation recorded in Flint in the month of August and is actually greater than the normal amount of precipitation for the entire month (3.43 inches).
August 17
On August 17, 1988, the high temperature reached 100 degrees in Detroit, 96 in Flint, and 91 in Saginaw. This was the last 90-degree day of the very hot summer of 1988. A significant cold front moved through Michigan on the 17th. High temperatures ranged from 65 to 80 degrees for the rest of the month of August 1988.
Also on August 17, 1926, 4.51 inches of rainfall fell in Detroit. This is the third-greatest daily rainfall amount ever recorded in Detroit. The greatest was on July 31, 1925, when 4.74 inches was recorded.
August 18
On August 18, 1914, 3.73 inches of rain fell in Saginaw. This is the second-highest daily total to be recorded in Saginaw in the month of August. The highest is 6.93 inches, which fell on August 10, 2012.
August 19
On August 19, 2010, a supercell developed over far northern Saginaw late in the afternoon, and then tracked southeast along a frontal boundary. This storm produced a swath of wind damage with winds up to 80 mph, large hail up to golf ball size, and eventually two tornadoes as it moved through Macomb County. The first tornado touched down near the intersection of 22 Mile and Hayes Road, tracking south-southeast before lifting just east of Hayes Road on M-59. Maximum winds were estimated to be up to 90 mph with this EF1 tornado. Damage included multiple homes with roof damage, along with downed trees and power lines. The second tornado touched down just east of Romeo Plank and north of Canal Road. The tornado tracked southeast before lifting just west of the intersection of 14 Mile Road and Harper Avenue. Maximum winds were estimated up to 85 mph with this EF0 tornado. A few homes sustained window, garage, and shingle damage. Numerous trees were blown down.
Also on August 19, 1998, Flint experienced a record cold temperature of 41 degrees for that day.
Grand Rapids Forecast
8 16 grrForecast Discussion
.SHORT TERM...(Today through Thursday) Forecast concerns deal with the convective risk associated with the approaching cold front late tonight and Thursday. A generally sunny day is expected today. Winds will begin to increase this afternoon as a cold front makes a move in this direction. If you are headed to the beach today, make sure you take a look at the Beach Hazards Statement; south sides of piers will become dangerous as waves increase. The cold front that will move across the cwa late tonight and Thursday has been well advertised by the models during the past few days; there hasn`t been too much change. A narrow ribbon of high precipitable water...1.75 inches...will exist just ahead of the front, brought north by a 40 kt low level jet. Given the late overnight timing of the front into the northwest cwa, instability will be a bit limited...500-700 j/kg MUCAPE. However, bulk shear values around 45 knots could help any storms that develop to potentially organize. As the sun comes up, instability will increase a bit, despite the cloud cover around. HREF shows a strong signal for precipitation beginning around 10z near LDM and continuing southeast across the cwa during the morning and afternoon. Initially, the first round of storms (there will possibly be an encore a few hours later) will see strong winds as the main threat. They will likely clear the cwa by 17z. CAMs show a second line of storms developing around 19z and this is more associated with the upper short wave and associated cold pool aloft. Indeed mid level lapse rates climb to just over 6C/km during the mid afternoon. Hail would be the main threat with this group of storms. SPC continues to highlight most of the cwa in a Marginal Risk Thursday. Most of the precipitation should be through the cwa by 00z Friday or shortly thereafter. .LONG TERM...(Thursday night through Tuesday) Once the system moves east of the area by Thur a second round of storms is possible on Thursday night, we are looking at a mostly quiet/dry and increasingly warmer period from Friday through next week Wednesday. The likelihood of this continues to increase with every new set of ensemble data. The driving force for this pattern change for the area is the expanding heat dome that has been dominant over the southern U.S. this summer. This massive ridge will be building north as there looks to be fairly strong energy that will be just off the U.S. West Coast pushing inland a bit. The center of this ridge is forecast to build to 600 dam or so centered to our SW. There is very good agreement that this ridge will hold in place through at least Monday, with some uncertainty showing up around Tuesday of next week. The uncertainty is that a couple of members of the GEFS want to drop a strong enough short wave through the area to suppress the ridge a bit. There has been good agreement and consistency for most of the Euro ensembles and many of the GEFS members that this ridge will stay in place through mid week next week. We believe that very warm and dry forecast is the most likely scenario, and will run with that at this time. Given the upper ridge expected to be in place, and 22+ C 850 temps likely, we are expecting temps to approach, if not exceed 90F late in the weekend and early next week. Our forecast numbers based off of the NBM are not quite that warm, with some of the cooler GEFS members impacting the blended forecast. We have nudged max temps a bit higher to reflect the warmer consensus that has the higher likelihood of happening. The next chance for rain appears that it will hold off until after this forecast period when there is a chance that some of the Pacific energy will beat the upper ridge down some.
No heat waves are in sight!
Sunny and mid 70’s! Not sure it could be better than that! Keep the rock n roll rolling!!!!
Today is absolutely amazing! low humidity, nice breeze, comfortable temp, and blue skies without clouds or smoke
Just mowed. Can’t keep up it’s growing so quickly. You’re right. It is a picture perfect day. It won’t be long before the average lows will be <60.
The official H/L yesterday was 76/61. There was 0.28” of rain fall, for August the total is now 2.26” and the YTD total is 25.75” There were no HDD’s and 4 CDD’s the highest wind gust was 30 MPH out of the NE. There was 33% of possible sunshine. For today the average H/L is 81/62 the record high of 99 was set in 1913 and the record low of 40 was set in 1979. The record rain fall amount of 1.74” fell in 2016. Last year the H/L was 82/55 and there was no rain fall.
With clear skies the current temperature is a cool 52 here in MBY. The week ahead looks to start off today with sunny skies today with highs in the upper 70’s there is a good chance of rain tomorrow with cool highs near 70. Highs on Friday and Saturday should be in the 70’s before warming up well into the 80’s to almost 90 from Sunday on. Lows will range from the mid 50’s to mid 60’s
Slim