Weather History Day

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July 29

1916: Temperatures soared to record highs as a ten day heat wave reached its peak. The 102 degrees at Lansing would tie the record for the hottest day ever there. Grand Rapids hit 103 degrees as part of a record string of four consecutive days of 100 degrees or higher. Even the Lake Michigan shore was baking, with Muskegon hitting 95 degrees.

July 30

1913: Offshore winds negate the cooling effect of Lake Michigan as Muskegon hits 99 degrees for its all-time record high temperature. Temperatures are actually a bit lower inland as Grand Rapids is 96 degrees and Lansing 92 degrees.

1960: Two squall lines preceding a cold front produced widespread severe weather with high winds and hail. Severe crop damage from hail occurred across much of Kent County.

2008: A tornado struck about three miles north of Clare at 3:17 a.m. A barn collapsed and the roof of a carport was blown into a stand of trees. Several other trees were either snapped off or uprooted.

July 31

1883: Very heavy rains during June and July cause the Grand River to rise to unusually high summer levels. Lumber companies use the high water to float logs to a log boom upstream of Grand Rapids. The logs broke loose and crashed into the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railroad bridge creating a jam estimated at thirty-feet deep and seven-miles long. Sections of Grand Rapids were flooded by backwater. Eventually the bridge gave way and several bridges downstream were damaged by the cascading logs.  (On a side note:  when I lived in Maine they were still floating logs down river during the summer to get them to the paper mills to be ground to pulp).

1917: A heat wave produced record highs in the upper 90s as July ended, with Grand Rapids hitting 98 degrees and Lansing 96 degrees. There were also record high minimum temperatures of 79 degrees at Grand Rapids and 74 at Lansing.

2005: Hot and dry weather during the month leads to drought conditions along the Lake Michigan coast. Agricultural production was hampered as the dry conditions continue into August.

August 1

1886: A tornado moves from northern Kalamazoo County into Barry County, damaging several farms in and near Hickory Corners.

1947: What turns out to be the hottest August on record starts off on a decidedly cool note with record lows of 48 degrees at Grand Rapids and 43 degrees at Muskegon.

1993: A severe storm in Kent County produced grapefruit-sized hail in Cannon Township, northeast of Grand Rapids.

2002: A tornado struck north of Tustin in Osceola County. The tornado left a damage path six miles long, with dozens of large trees down and some roof damage to homes. One house had its attached garage destroyed. A weaker tornado also hit near Grant in Newaygo County, toppling a tree.

August 2

1927: Morning low temperatures fall into the lower to mid 40s during one of the coolest Augusts on record. Daily record lows are set at Lansing with 40 degrees, Muskegon with 42 and Grand Rapids at 46.

1964: Lansing hits 100 degrees and Grand Rapids 98 as a brutal four day heat wave continues.

August 3

1894: After two record heat waves in July, record cool weather arrives. Lansing falls to 32 degrees for a rare summer freezing temperature.

1964: Muskegon sets an August record and ties their all-time record high temperature at 99 degrees. The temperature hits 100 degrees at Grand Rapids, a record for the date.

August 4

1894: The second record cool morning in a row at Lansing with 37 degrees. Grand Rapids also sets a record low for the date of 42 degrees.

1988: A hot and dry summer continues with record highs of 96 degrees at Lansing and Grand Rapids and 92 degrees at Muskegon.

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According to CoCoRaHS most of the area around the west side of the state picked up a few hundredths to less than .20 of rain over night.  We had .02 mostly which fell between 2330 to midnight.  Areas in the southeastern side picked up 1.5 to 2.67 inches.

Today we can expect widely scattered showers mainly east of 131 mainly after 2pm.  Later tonight we may see showers redevelop in the NW side of the state near Ludington and Pentwater.

The feature image is the GEOS 16 satellite image from this morning….  GEOS 16 was launched in November of 2016.

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