Weather History For 4/7

1954: A tornado destroyed two barns and damaged a house and apartment building near Fulton in Kalamazoo County.

1982: Temperatures plunged to nearly zero as Arctic high pressure persisted over the Great Lakes states. Lansing falls to 2 below zero for a record low for the date and the latest sub-zero temperature on record. Muskegon falls to one degree above zero and Grand Rapids to 3 above for their coldest April temperatures on record.

On April 7, 2020, several clusters of severe thunderstorms tracked across the area including supercells, multicells, and bowing segments. The first area impacted stretched from the Tri-Cities southeast into southern portions of the Thumb. The second occurred mainly across a stretch that included Livingston, Washtenaw, Lenawee, Monroe, and portions of Wayne counties. Numerous reports of large hail were reported with these storms with golf ball-sized hail observed in Midland and Lapeer Counties.

On April 7, 1954, an F2 tornado hit Genesee County at 6:40 pm causing 2 injuries and $25,000 in damages.

Forecast Discussion

A cold front will push south through the area this morning, bringing clouds, some snow showers and colder air. Little to no accumulation is expected. Skies will trend towards partly cloudy this afternoon. Highs will be well below normal today in the middle 30s to lower 40s. A brisk northerly wind will make it feel even colder.

- Brief period of light snow this morning possible, chilly

Low pressure moving across northern Lower will pull a cold front
south across the region today, ushering in another round of winter
weather. Regional radar shows a weakening band of light snow
stretching from northeast Wisconsin east across the Straits with
the band sinking slowly south.

Short range models have scaled back the amount and duration of
snowfall considerably with recent model runs. What looked like a
few inches of snow possible several days ago now looks more like a
half inch to an inch over the northern two rows of counties with
little if anything south of there.

H8 temps will fall to around -12c behind the front later this
morning and afternoon. That will be enough to produce some
scattered lake effect snow showers. Little if any accumulation is
expected.

The chilly air will be with us through Tuesday as highs will
remain in the 30s before climbing into the 40s Wednesday and
Thursday.

- Mid week mixed rain/snow

Models have held onto the theme of a weak low developing in the
lee of the Rockies mid week as a northern stream wave helps to
carve an upper trough over the Great Lakes. The GFS continues to
be the more robust of the model solutions and is considerably
deeper with the low than the ECMWF. We`ll continue with the theme
of mixed rain and snow developing Wednesday day and continuing
into Thursday before the low moves east. Once the upper trough
moves east of the region, temperatures will warm considerably as
ridging moves in. Highs will be into the 60s over the weekend.