We had a high of 45° at midnight today and yesterday’s low was 25°. So far, this year our high has been 94.5° (back in August) and the low was -8°. This week we will see temperatures warmer than normal to start then falling back to colder than normal mid-week.
Snow Totals
The warm Great Lakes and cold atmosphere teamed up for a week after Thanksgiving to deliver heaps of lake-effect snow. New snow measured daily amounted to over 4 feet in parts of Northern Michigan. Some places saw 1 to 2 feet of snowfall in a day. Usually, lake effect snow is rather fluffy, but even so, this amount of snow up north settled into a good 2-foot base of snowpack. In southwest Michigan, mainly southwest of Grand Rapids, snow totals were around 1 to 2 feet, though a fair amount of it would settle and melt into the ground days later. Less than 6 inches of snow was more typical in Mid and Southeast Michigan.
Weather History
1966: Temperatures reach record highs in the mid-60s only four days after record lows on the single numbers at Grand Rapids. The high of 64 degrees on this date followed the low of 8 degrees on the 4th.
2005: Cold weather prevails during the first half of December with record lows of 2 degrees above zero set at both Grand Rapids and Muskegon on this date.
On December 8, 2006, high temperatures were below freezing including 29 degrees at Detroit and Saginaw, and 27 degrees at Flint. This would be the last day in the month of December 2006 when the temperatures stayed below freezing. This December ranks as the 2nd warmest in Flint history, the 3rd warmest for Saginaw, and the 5th warmest for Detroit.
Also on December 8, 1966, Detroit Metro had a record high of 66 degrees.
Forecast Discussion
- Light Rain/Drizzle Sunday Night into Monday Increasing low-level moisture will trigger a period of precipitation tonight as warm air advection and a nearby mid-level wave support a period of ascent. South of I96 where better moisture depth allows a DGZ connection light rain showers, while further north shallower moisture will favor mainly drizzle. There is a low chance that surface temperatures will be below freezing (less than 20 percent and mainly from the NAM/NAM3 solutions) across Clare, Isabella, OSceola, and Mecosta counties which would allow for a brief period of freezing drizzle. While this outcome can`t be ruled out, the strong air advection at play makes this unlikely so the outgoing forecast will feature rain/drizzle. The warm air advection also brings above normal temperatures today and Monday. Highs today look to be in the low to mid 40s while Monday will be mid to upper 40s. This will cause much of our present snowpack to melt. - Cold With Lake Effect Snow Tuesday Through Thursday The warmup is short lived as a cold front Monday night marks the start of a notable cooldown into mid-week. Mid-level troughing moves overhead Tuesday persisting into Thursday with notable cold-air advection sending 850mb temps down into the negative teens by Wednesday Night. Highs crash into the 20s, and possibly the teens for Thursday. With lake temps still around 10C this would also lead to delta-Ts north of 20C setting the stage for lake effect snow to return to West Michigan. ECMWF and GFS RH progs do show that low- level dry air may be an issue so amounts remain uncertain at this stage. Current NBM probabilities of at least 2 inches of snow between Monday Evening and Thursday Evening are 60-80 percent near and west of US131, so at least some accumulation looks likely at this time. This cold and snowy period does not last long as troughing exits and low-level ridging arrives Thursday into Thursday night. This allows temperatures to begin to moderate and lake effect snow chances to diminish across the area.
Perfect day to hang lights outside. 40s with sun and little wind.
I heard that today has the earliest sunset of the year. The solstice is nearly upon us.
Have a great Sunday, friends.
Yep! Today is the earliest sunset of the year… while we probably won’t notice anything until late January, it’s nice knowing the evenings are getting “longer”
We hung ours in November!!! Although I could always hang more!! 😂
We are putting some up today. The weather is perfect.
With the temperature getting up to 46 just after midnight it did not take long for all of the snow to melt here in MBY. At the current time it is now down to 32 here with clear skies. As I stated there is no snow on the ground just the snow piles.
Slim
The official H/L yesterday at GR was 45/25 there was no rain/snow. The highest wind was 41 MPH out of the W. There was 28% sunshine. For today the average H/L is 38/27 the record high is 64 in 1966. The coldest high 17 in 1909 the record low of 2 in 2005 the warmest low of 47 in 1946. The wettest 0.78” in 1980 the most snowfall 4.5” 1937 the most on the ground 9” 1909.
Slim