Here we are – another Wednesday and time for our weekly weather history post for Michigan.
September 22
1952: Hail covered the ground like snow in Cascade Township, near Grand Rapids.
1961: A tornado hit two miles north of Marne. One person was injured and three buildings were heavily damaged.
September 23
2006: Small tornadoes hit Caledonia in Kent County and Muir in Montcalm County. The Caledonia tornado did some roof damage to a storage facility and a barn. The Muir tornado caused no structural damage but took down some tree limbs.
September 24
1950: Smoke from Canadian forest fires gave the sun an eerie bluish cast and darkened the sky across western Michigan.
September 25
1961: Widespread, heavy rain causes some flooding across western Michigan. Record daily rainfall totals occur at Muskegon, Lansing and Grand Rapids. The 3.52 inches of rain at Grand Rapids is a record total for any day in September.
September 26
1951: A tornado killed one person and injured three others near Bitely in Newaygo County. The tornado destroyed a tavern, carrying steel beams from the roof about 70 yards.
1965: Wet snow mixes in with rain across parts of western Michigan for a very early taste of winter.
1998: The temperature hits a record high of 89 degrees at both Grand Rapids and Lansing. The warm weather fuels a severe weather outbreak across the region as a cold front arrives during the late afternoon. A severe thunderstorm produced softball-sized hail in Clare County which smashed skylights, dented automobiles, and damaged roofs and antennas. Damage was estimated at up to half a million dollars.
September 27
1942: Snowflakes fly across Lower Michigan as temperatures fall to the lower 30s and only rise into the 40s during the day.
2009: A microburst with winds up to 70 mph struck just northeast of Greenville in Montcalm County. About a dozen trees were downed and a travel trailer was tipped over.
A microburst is a localized column of sinking air (downdraft) within a thunderstorm and is usually less than or equal to 2.5 miles in diameter. Microbursts can cause extensive damage at the surface, and in some instances, can be life-threatening. There are two primary types of microbursts: 1) wet microbursts and 2) dry microbursts. Wet microbursts are accompanied by significant precipitation and are common in the Southeast during the summer months.
It all starts with the development of a thunderstorm and the water droplets/hailstones being suspended within the updraft. Sometimes an updraft is so strong it suspends large amounts of these droplets and hailstones in the upper portions of the thunderstorm. There are many factors that can lead to evaporational cooling (sinking air) and therefore weakening of the updraft. Once this occurs, it is no longer capable of holding the large core of rain/hail up in the thunderstorm. As a result, the core plummets to the ground. As it hits the ground it spreads out in all directions. The location in which the microburst first hits the ground experiences the highest winds and greatest damage.
September 28
1991: A record freeze hits western Michigan. Grand Rapids falls to 27 degrees, setting record lows for the date and month. Muskegon also hits 27 degrees, setting a record for that date and tying the monthly low. Lansing plunges to 22 degrees, tying the record low for the date set in 1893.
The microburst is like getting slammed by the hand of God – very scary – hats off to whoever took the photos….
There are chances of rain this morning and early afternoon, perhaps a storm though nothing severe is expected. Highs today will be in the low to mid 70s.
Dew points have gone up this evening into the 60’s. Temps have a harder time cooling off with more humidity. Holding at 70 yet.
Harder time cooling off dew points are in the 40’s outside…keep that air conditioner crankin yeaaa …INDY
Barry will be running that ac in December! Ridiculous!
Currently 68* degrees out at thee YARDofBRICKS NE of GR boy now that it’s getting dark outside them 70’s sure drop off fast loving Fall ..INDY …
Warm this afternoon, 75 here, GR hit 74. Good for a +10 above average today.
This one’s for you, Rocky:
weather.gov/mso/
Bad link?
Yeah, sorry. Check out Missoula Montana’s NWS webpage.
Looks good!
Temp 66* out thee YARDofBRICKS NE GR nice Fall day …INDY
For anyone who is interested in history. Just two years ago much of the Great Lakes had one of its greatest heat waves and that one was in late September. Starting September 12th 2017 and ending on September 27th Grand Rapids had highs above average. As happens many times the hottest on the heat started on September 21st and for the next 6 days Grand Rapids set record highs with highs of 95,95,96,94,91. and 92. That was one of the greatest heat waves in Grand Rapids history.
Slim
Yes I’ll never forget that week. We were at Silver Lake for our anniversary and it was so hot in the dunes you couldn’t stand it. We went to the beach on Lake Michigan and it was just packed. Used to be around our anniversary it was always cool and about the time you’d turn the furnace on. Not so much anymore. Yesterday afternoon we were in Saugatuck and Oval Beach had a lot of people in the water.
Sixty seconds of rain?…just enough to soak the chairs outdoors for the day…great.
Yup more rain what’s new …Wet Fall we are having ..INDY
Grand Rapids mean temperature for September so far is 67.3°. The next 6 days will determine where this September ends up but it looks like we will end up is the top 15 or better. Yesterday the H/L at Grand Rapids was 57/55 and that is the 15 day in a row of above average temperatures. For today the average H/L is now down to 69/49. The record high is 91 set in 2017 and the record low is 29 set in 1947. The warmest minimum is 70 set in 1931 and the record coldest maximum is 46 set in… Read more »
15 warm days in a row and more 80’s next week! Love these long summers. It’s funny how 5 weeks ago some on here started to talk about leaves changing color and feeling like fall weather was going to start.
I’m thinking 5 weeks ago you where on vacation lol…Yes take a ride around town the leafs are starting to look fabulous with all the rain we have had the next two to three weeks look hot for color..Stay tuned…INDY
But how can you have any leaves left? You posted in early August the leaves by you were turning and falling already.
My wife and me took a ride on back roads NE of Grand Rapids. And yes there are a lot of trees that have some color on them. Not much red but a lot of yellow. And here in my area there are a few trees with color (some red and yellow)
Here is the latest color report for this year
https://www.foliagenetwork.com/index.php/foliage-reports/foliage-reports-southeast-us/current-season-southeast-us/129-foliage-reports/foliage-reports-midwest-us/foliage-reports-midwest-us-current-season/879-mw-foliage-report-5-2019
and for comparisons here is last years report on around the same date.
https://www.foliagenetwork.com/index.php/foliage-reports/foliage-reports-midwest-us/foliage-reports-midwest-us-archive/midwest-us-2018-reports/175-foliage-reports/foliage-report
Slim
There is currently little to no change in overall foliage in Southern Lower Michigan at this time.
Another very mild night and yet another above average day. This is becoming quite the extended streak we are on.