Weather History Day

 

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July 8

1885: A tornado damages several farms in and near Allegan, Michigan.

1936: The greatest heat wave on record gets underway across Michigan. Grand Rapids will see high temperatures at or above 100 degrees on six of the next seven days, including an all-time record high of 108 degrees on the 13th. Lansing will peak at 101 degrees on the 14th.

1951: Severe thunderstorms strike West Michigan with dozens of trees knocked down. Some of the trees block roads and damage cars and buildings

1984: Record low temperatures are set as cool air from Canada dominates the Great Lakes region. Grand Rapids falls to 46 degrees and Muskegon to 45.

July 9

1956: Cloudy and cool weather prevails with a record low maximum temperature of 64 degrees at Grand Rapids.

July 10

1895: Record cold temperatures occur on the second consecutive day at Lansing. The low of 39 degrees follows a low of 42 degrees on July 9th.

1897: A ten day heat wave, one of the most intense on record, peaked with highs near 100 degrees across the region. At Lansing, it was the third straight day with highs of 100 degrees, unprecedented in the record books.

1996: Cool weather prevails with Muskegon setting a record low temperature of 44 degrees.

July 11

1945: Muskegon falls to 40 degrees, setting a record low for the date. This is also the second coldest temperature for the month of July at Muskegon, just a degree warmer than the 39 degrees on July 2, 2001.

1957: Thunderstorms struck West Michigan with heavy rain and high winds. There was widespread flooding of streets, with some road washouts. The 3.19 inches of rain at Lansing made this the wettest July day of the 20th century there. Many trees were blown over by thunderstorm winds and lightning struck a TV antenna in Grand Rapids, burning out the transmission line.

1967: A tornado damaged a trailer, garage and silo about two miles west of Ferry in Oceana County.

July 12

1966: A tornado destroyed a barn at Coopersville in Ottawa County.

1978: Cool weather prevails with low temperatures in the 40s. Muskegon falls to 45 degrees, for a record low for the date.

July 13

1912: A tornado strikes downtown Grand Rapids at 4:10 AM. Several buildings are damaged and nine people are injured.

1936: The Dust Bowl summer of 1936 produces the hottest day on record across the state of Michigan. Grand Rapids hits 108 degrees, its highest temperature ever, with Mio, Michigan setting the state record of 112 degrees. At Grand Rapids, six out of the seven days from July 8th to July 14th were above 100 degrees.

1964: Clouds, rain and a cool northeast wind holds the high temperatures in the upper 50s to mid 60s across West Michigan. The high of 59 degrees at Grand Rapids is only the second time in over a hundred years of record that the temperature did not reach 60 degrees on a July day.

July 14

1950: Cold air filters into Michigan, setting records lows of 45 degrees at Grand Rapids and 41 degrees at Muskegon.

1974: Several tornadoes struck Lower Michigan during the afternoon, causing some structural damage but no injuries. In Mecosta County, a house and some farm buildings were damaged about four miles east of Sylvester. Apartment buildings were damaged near Plymouth, in Wayne County. Seven houses were destroyed and 50 damaged near Davison in Genesee County.

1995: An intense three day heat wave claims hundreds of lives across the Midwest, mostly elderly people in the greater Chicago area. The low temperature of 81 degrees at Grand Rapids on this day is the warmest low temperature ever recorded there. Temperatures in the upper 90s in the afternoon combined with high humidity to produce heat index readings near 120 degrees, some of the highest ever recorded.

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We still have a couple days before our extended dry period takes a turn to moister conditions.  The NAM is showing maybe a quarter inch of rain from Friday through the weekend with next week turning out mainly dry.  The GFS is showing only another inch or so of rain through the 27th so the month may end up with below normal precipitation and of course above normal temperatures.  I am not seeing any major cool down until we get into August – these are all model guesses…

High pressure will continue to bring fair weather through Thursday then scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible as a cold front moves through Friday into Saturday.  The cold front will wash out as it moves through so as I said above not a lot of rain with this system unless you are lucky to catch a stray storm.  Monday will be our best chance for rain.

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