Warmer Today – Weather History 5/7

Weather History

1947: Cold and snow prevail across Lower Michigan with lows in the upper 20s and highs only in the upper 30s to lower 40s.

1974: Temperatures tumble as cold high pressure builds into Lower Michigan. Record lows on this date include 22 degrees at Lansing, 25 at Grand Rapids, and 27 at Muskegon.

On May 7, 1974, a two day span of record lows occurred in Detroit on the 6th with 31 degrees and on the 7th with 27 degrees.

Forecast Discussion

Temperatures will be warming up today with highs in the low 70s.  We will remain mainly dry through the early part of next week.

- Mostly dry and sunny pattern through the weekend

The regional weather pattern overall will shift toward supporting
drier conditions and clear skies much of the time through the
weekend. Just a couple exceptions with small chances (less than 20
percent) for showers both this evening and on Saturday.

Some patchy dense fog this morning, particularly in the
Lansing/Jackson areas, will give way to temperatures quickly
rising into the upper 60s to mid 70s in most locations. Brisk
northeast winds arrive this afternoon-evening with a cold front
augmented by cooler air off Lake Huron. Temperatures should
quickly drop back into the 60s and 50s, particularly in Mid
Michigan, during evening activities.

Normal high temperatures this time of year are in the mid-upper
60s, and we won`t be too far from there over the next few days.
Thursday will be a little cooler but the trend is for gradually
warmer temperatures each day going into the weekend. The European
ensemble does have greater spread in the temperature solution for
Sunday, and is overall cooler than the NBM, dependent on the
magnitude of troughing and cooler air over the region following
cold front passage on Saturday.

Some increasing fire weather concerns mainly for the pine forests
in west-central Lower Michigan going into the weekend, with low
daytime relative humidity over the next several days. But the
threat should be mitigated by reasonably light wind speeds.

- Frost potential Thursday night

While there is some potential for frost or locally freezing
temperatures in the typically colder spots of interior Central
Michigan tonight, areas of frost/freeze are more likely over much
of Lower Michigan Thursday night into Friday morning. With a
cooler air mass in place and high pressure centered over Wisconsin
Thursday night, clear skies and very light northeast winds are
expected, with temperatures at 2 meters likely to drop into the
mid to lower 30s. If winds stay minimal, pooling of cooler
temperatures closer to the ground and within dips in the terrain
may result in areas of frost.

- Some rivers above bankfull

Following 0.75 to 1.25 inches of rain yesterday in the Lansing and
Jackson areas, a few creeks/rivers are above bankfull or will be
over the next couple of days. This includes the Red Cedar river
(East Lansing and Williamston) and Sycamore Creek (Holt). The
Grand River at Ionia is expected to rise above bankfull over the
next few days. Limited impacts are expected with just the typical
nuisance issues occurring within the low spots and flood plains of
each river.