Happy Father’s Day!
The air conditioners will begin their workout today and through the rest of the week. Temperatures start with the upper 80s today and the low to mid-90s tomorrow through Saturday.
..EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH IN EFFECT FROM MONDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with heat index values up to 100 possible. * WHERE...Portions of central, south central, southwest, and west central Michigan. * WHEN...From Monday afternoon through Friday evening. * IMPACTS...Heat related illnesses increase significantly during extreme heat and high humidity events. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Heat index values near 100 degrees will have a cumulative affect through the course of the week. Temperatures at night will only fall into the 70s. So, the affect of the heat will build through the course of the week.
Weather History
1974: Cool and cloudy weather prevailed for the middle of June with high temperatures only in the middle 50s across the region on both June 16th and 17th.
On June 16, 1998, lightning struck and killed a person at 6 PM in Wayne County.
June 16, 1806: The great American total solar eclipse occurred from California to Massachusetts, nearly five minutes in duration. Click HERE for more information.
June 16, 1895: Heavy rain fell in portions of central Arkansas, damaging several roads and bridges. At Madding, east of Pine Bluff, 6.12 inches of rain fell in six hours.
June 16, 1896: A tsunami ravages the coast of Japan, killing between 22,000 and 27,000 people.
June 16, 1957: A violent F4 tornado struck the communities of Robecco Pavese and Valle Scurpasso in Pavia, Italy, flattening many large stone buildings. The tornado killed seven people and injured 80. Images of the damage indicate that the tornado may have reached T10 (low-end F5) intensity. Click HERE for more information on tornados in Italy. Click HERE for a YouTube video.
June 16-23, 1972: Agnes was first named by the National Hurricane Center on June 16, 1972: It would go on to make landfall between Panama City and Apalachicola, Florida, on the afternoon of June 19. Hurricane Agnes would later cause catastrophic flooding in the mid-Atlantic states, especially Pennsylvania. Agnes caused over 100 fatalities.
June 16, 1992: A devastating tornado ravaged portions of southwest Minnesota. Commonly referred to as the Chandler-Lake Wilson tornado, this tornado destroyed more than 75 homes, with another 90 houses, 10 businesses, a church, and a school damaged. In addition, the tornado caused over $50 million in property damage, resulting in more than 40 injuries and one fatality. Based on a detailed damage assessment by the National Weather Service, it is estimated this F5 tornado packed winds over 260 mph as it tore through the residential area of Chandler, Minnesota. This was the only F5 tornado to occur in the United States in 1992. Click HERE for more information from the NWS Office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
June 16, 2014: The Pilger tornado was the most intense of the family of tornadoes produced by the supercell. This tornado developed about 6 miles southwest of the town of Pilger and moved northeast, directly striking the city. Initially narrow and relatively weak, the tornado significantly intensified as it neared the Elkhorn River and moved into town. The tornado cut a path through town, destroying numerous homes and businesses. The tornado was responsible for 1 fatality in the town of Pilger and several injuries before moving northeast and weakening. During a weakening period, the tornado again intensified, producing additional violent damage 4 miles northeast of Pilger. Finally, the tornado narrowed, weakened, and turned east, wrapping around the developing Wakefield tornado before dissipating. Click HERE for more information from the NWS Office in Omaha, Nebraska. Click HERE for a tornado picture from storm chaser Aaron Rigsby.
The graphic above is from a tweet from the NWS Office in Omaha, Nebraska.
June 16, 2017: Mammatus clouds were seen over the National Weather Service office in Omaha. Click HERE for additional severe weather reports.
Forecast Discussion
- Excessive heat watch for most of our area Monday - Friday It will become very hot and humid Monday as upper level ridging strengthens and h8 temps moderate to around 20 C. This in conjunction with southerly flow waa and ample sun with 500mb heights reaching near 590dm will result in high temps reaching the low to mid 90s for much of our area tomorrow. This along with with dew pt values reaching the upper 60s to lower 70s will yield heat indices which will approach the 100 degree mark tomorrow afternoon. Thx for extensive coord on the excessive heat watch headline IWX/DTX/APX. - Low risk for showers and isolated storms today Increasing moisture and an upper disturbance in conjunction with weak instability will result in scattered showers and isolated convection mainly north of the I-96 corridor today as suggested by the 00Z HREF and to some extent our latest CAMs. Otherwise dry wx will prevail for much of the day and it will become hotter with high temps reaching the middle to upper 80s. - Heat and Humidity To Continue Through the Work Week We continue to be concerned with the heat and humidity through the work week and potentially into next weekend as well. We are leaning more on the ECMWF guidance as it has been consistent with the persistent warmth. The GFS has trended warmer with higher 500mb heights with each model run. Evening 850mb temperatures each day this week are between +19C and +21C over GRR. This should yield high temperatures in the lower 90s. When combined with dew points that should be in the upper 60s to around 70 we should have heat index values approaching 100 degrees each day this week. For that reason the Excessive Heat Watch was issued. The cumulative affect of many days of that kind of heat with no relief at night (lows in the 70s) will take its toll, especially on folks without air conditioning. We did not issue for the U.S. 10 row at this point but they may need to be added in as well. Each shift going forward will reevaluate the heat headlines. The current configuration was what we were most comfortable with at this point. Coordinated headlines will all neighboring offices. 500mb heights are impressive with both the GFS and ECMWF showing 590s dm heights the majority of the week. The surface boundary in the ECMWF has trended further northwest in the early to mid week time frame which should keep us more on the sunny side of the ledger. Bottom line, it is going to be a hot and humid week and we will need to check in on folks without air conditioning. People that work outdoors will need to take frequent breaks and drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. - Much of the Upcoming Week Trending Towards Dry Weather Given the high heights and warm mid level temperatures we are becoming less concerned with chances for clouds and precipitation. The one day possibly that we could see precipitation is Thursday as the boundary that was off to our north sags in. The boundary is very much losing definition though and washing out with time as the ridge is dominant. Much if not all the week is looking dry though. Mid summer heat and humidity with little in the way of precipitation is the weather story.
I see you got a tornado warning MV. Stay safe my friend!
* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for…
Van Buren County in southwestern Michigan…
Allegan County in southwestern Michigan…
Ottawa County in southwestern Michigan…
* Until 930 PM EDT.
* At 823 PM EDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line
extending from 7 miles west of Holland SP to near Lake Michigan
Beach, moving east at 30 mph.
I hope we can get in on some of that.
…Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of Van Buren, Allegan, Ottawa and Muskegon Counties through 930 PM EDT… At 802 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong outflow winds from scattered thunderstorms extending from 20 miles west of Saugatuck to 9 miles northwest of Benton Harbor. Movement was northeast at 40 mph. These storms have a history of producing 40 to 45 mph wind gusts in the Chicago area. Areas that do not receive a thunderstorm may still see the strong wind gusts. HAZARD…Winds in excess of 40 mph and pea size hail. SOURCE…Radar indicated. IMPACT…Gusty winds could knock down tree… Read more »
Blowtorch warning! Excessive heat watch all week. Wow!
We are definitely entering a hot and overall dry pattern. While low 90s are common mid 90s are a little more unusual. The one summer I’ll never forgot is 2012. That summer was probably the hottest I’ve ever seen it here and it just seemed to never rain. So I guess things could be worse.
Happy Father’s Day to the dads and the men in kiddos lives. Also to the mommas that have to play the part as well!!!
Stay hydrated and cool!!!
Great point. I would not be a father to two incredible young people if it wasn’t for my beautiful, amazing wife of 22 years (yesterday).
On that note, I wanted to wish all those fathers out there a Happy Fathers Day! Get out and do something fun with family on the last of the “cool” days for a while…
I was kind of surprised to see the NWS issue a EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH for our area. I may be wrong but I do not recall there ever being such a watch for our area. We shall see how this plays out. If we do indeed have a week of highs in the 90’s that is kind of rare in out area any time and more so in mid June. Some mid June heat waves were in 1987 and 1994.
Slim
I was just going to ask that. I don’t ever remember a watch like that either, at least not in recent memory. A week long watch?! Guess we will find out how well insulated and air tight our new building is this week.
We have had Excessive Heat Watches in the state before along with Excessive Heat Warnings. Not super rare but not common either.
Kyle I hate to disagree with you but I do not ever recall a Excessive Heat Watches. I do not even remember any Heat Warnings. 2012 would have been one year there may have been one. Of course there used to be Cold Wave Warnings.
Slim
There was excessive heat warnings in the state just last year for the southern border counties. Excessive heat watches for the Detroit area in I believe 2022. We had an excessive heat warning in both 2018 and 2019 in GR. I could probably find you more with a simple google search
Did we have Excessive Heat Watches for the 2018/2019 events? I don’t remember a “watch”, but it has been 5 years so I probably just forgot
The article from MLive I found states this from 2018: “The excessive heat watch for southwest Lower Michigan this afternoon into Saturday has been upgraded to an excessive heat warning. An excessive heat watch has been added just east of the excessive heat warning area.“
For 2019 I’m not sure. Sometimes you could have a case I guess where there is a “heat advisory” that is upgraded to warning without a watch too.
I never did know we had cold wave warning s before. That’s interesting!
Unprecedented all week heat in mid June!
I just realized that the Excessive Heat Watch is for the entire week – not just a day or two. I would be surprised if that has ever happened previously.
The overnight low here in MBY and the current temperature is 63. There was no rainfall yesterday or overnight. It is now getting noticeable dry and the grass is turning brown in many areas.
Slim
The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 82/55 there was no rainfall the highest wind gust was 23 MPH out of the E. the sun was out 74% of the possible time. For today the average H/L is 80/59 the record high of 96 was set in 1952 the coldest high was 55 set in 1974. The record low of 39 was set in 1917 and 1947 the warmest low was 70 set in 2022. The most rainfall of 2.17” fell in 1920 last year the H/L was 76/55.
Slim
The next six (+?) days are going to be brutal. It’s a good idea to check the air conditioner to make sure it’s clean and clear of debris.
Yes it looks like it is going to get hot in our area by our standards. And it also looks to stay dry so that will add to how warm it could get.
Slim
I just checked my air conditioner and I’m glad I did. It was pretty plugged up with that nasty cottonwood.