Michigan Wx Michigan Wx

Weather History

Posted on by MichaelV (Otsego)

We had a couple of nice snow bursts yesterday which covered the ground.  With the ground temps being warm it didn’t hang around for long.  We could see some more snow today mainly south of Grand Rapids which could put down a quick inch or more later this morning.  Temps will remain in the mid-thirties to around forty degrees.

Weather History

April 12

1972: A tornado put down an intermittent damage path about four miles long southeast of Ludington in Mason County. A barn was destroyed, but there were no injuries.

1974: A tornado brief tornado damaged a building in Vicksburg in Kalamazoo County.

2014: Severe downbursts with winds over 80 mph struck from near Muskegon to Big Rapids. Damage to trees was widespread along with some structural damage. Heavy rains and melting snow resulted in severe flooding along the Muskegon and Pere Marquette Rivers following the storms.

April 13

1941: Temperatures reach the 80s across Lower Michigan. Record highs set on this date include 87 degrees at Detroit, 82 at Lansing and 80 at Grand Rapids.

1950: High temperatures struggle to reach the mid and upper 20s across Lower Michigan after morning lows in the teens. At Lansing, the high temperature is only 24 degrees after a morning low of 17.

2018: Wind and air pressure changes from lines of thunderstorms across northern Lake Michigan generated meteotsunamis that affected the coast at Ludington and Manistee. Several docks near the mouth of the Manistee River and the Ludington pier were submerged during the height of the water rises.

April 14

1953: It is a cold morning across Lower Michigan. Record low temperatures include the 20 degrees at Muskegon and the 21 degrees at Grand Rapids.

April 15

1943: Temperatures plunge into the teens as snowflakes swirl in the arctic winds. Record lows include 16 degrees at Muskegon and 18 degrees at Grand Rapids.

2002: A four day stretch of record warm weather peaks across Lower Michigan with Grand Rapids hitting 86 degrees and Lansing 84.

2018: A late season winter storm brought up to 4 inches of snow, 2 inches of sleet and almost half an inch of icing along with strong winds across Lower Michigan from the 14th to the 17th. Almost half a million people lost power.

April 16

1961: From 6 to 12 inches of snow falls across southwest Lower Michigan. The storm drops 12.2 inches at Grand Rapids, the heaviest April snowfall on record there.

April 17

1875: Extreme late season cold sets records across Lower Michigan. Detroit falls to 10 degrees on this date and 8 degrees on the 18th. Lansing bottoms out at an incredible zero degrees.

1922: Heavy rain from a slow moving thunderstorm causes some street flooding in Grand Rapids. The daily total of 2.94 inches at Grand Rapids is a record for April.

April 18

1880: A tornado struck Chester, in Eaton County where barns were destroyed and livestock was killed. A quarter-mile wide swath of trees was leveled in a forest by the tornado.

 

Category: Michigan Weather Forecast

21 thoughts on “Weather History”

  3. Freeze warning tonight for the SW counties. Lots of fruit crops in those counties. I hope they don’t get much damage.

  5. The Southern Arctic reaching “average temp?”…maybe in the good old days. Wasn’t last April and May the coldest ever? Embrace the new routine.

    1. ADA – Two inches of snow on the deck, trees covered…white as far as the eye can see.

      1. Sounds great and yes last Spring had well below normal temps and a very slow start to growing season.

  6. A solid inch of snow on the ground this morning. That was a nice surprise.

    Looks like the kids will be returning to school virtually next week. The district is still fine tuning the logistics. This will be interesting, to say the least. Sounds like half the time, teachers will be providing live instruction so the kids can ask questions. The other half will be self-study.

    1. Our kids have been doing online school since they were let out last month. Private school so state rules don’t apply, but they adapted very quickly. Up every morning by 730 to log in, just about a full day of learning with breaks built in for lunch. Keeps their schedule structured during this odd time.

    2. Yep… Eaton Rapids District is attempting to get everything ready for April 23rd start up on online. Should be really interesting. My son only has two High School classes since he is in dual enrollment via LCC. He has been doing online classes (LCC) since they were originally in person classes… sort of easy since really no “meat” to the classes at this time. I have a feeling his HS classes will be the same. Oh well… what are we gonna do.. I am just grateful that he is very dedicated to his studies 🙂 Good Luck to you all !!

      1. Thanks for the input, Sheri and Barry (hey, that rhymes!). Our high schooler daughter is excited about it. Our middle schooler son? Mmm, not so much.

  7. Getting moderate snow fall here now. Nothing says spring better than a spring snow fall
    Slim

  8. The ground is now snow covered here and I just took a measurement and there is now a half inch of snow on the ground. There is still light snow falling and the current temperature is 30.
    Slim

  9. Only need 4 more feet of snow for Rocky to meet his winter prediction! We are getting there!

  10. Keep the love ones in the house today we have snow on the ground in Mid April!! Only 15 more days to May…Have a great we will call this Winter Wednesday ….INDY

    1. Winter Wednesday is perfect and for that matter Wicked Winter month! I love these long winters! Start the beginning on November and still rocking and rolling in mid April! Incredible!

      1. We can finally agree on something! I love these winters too, where every month ends up above average for temps and we end up over 2 feet below normal for snowfall!! Wish every winter could be like this!

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