With the end of meteorological summer, it now time to turn our attention to September and the start of fall. Here in Grand Rapids the mean average temperature for September is 62.6° The hottest it has been here in Grand Rapids in September was 98° on September 16th 1899 and September 2nd 1913 it also has been 97° in 1954 and 1939 and a 96° was recorded in 1960. We went to a Tigers game on September 2nd 2011 and the official high in Detroit that day was 98° but on my car and on the banks there was a reading of 101 (my car) and 103 on several banks. The all-time record coldest maximum temperature in September was a chilly 43° and that was on September 28 1912 and once again on September 29th 1967. A trace of snow was reported on the 1967 date. The all-time record low for September is 27° on September 28th 1991. The last two Septembers have been very warm with 2015 coming in at 67.2° good for number 6 and last year mean of 66.4° was good for the 10th warmest September in GR history. The hottest day last September was 90° on the 6th and the coolest it got all month was a mild 48° on the 27th I have a feeling this year will be much cooler than last year was.
Here is a list of some of the warmest Septembers in Grand Rapids history
1. 69.0 1931
2. 68.1 1908
3. 68.1 1933
4. 67.9 1921
5. 67.5 1906
6. 67.2 2015
7. 67.2 1927
8. 67.0 1961
9. 66.5 2005
10. 66.4 2016
The coolest Septembers here in Grand Rapids
1. 56.2 1918
2. 56.4 1974
3. 56.5 1993
4. 58.1 1949
5. 58.3 1943
6. 58.3 1924
7. 58.9 1902
8. 59.5 1951
9. 51.5 1956
10. 59.6 1957
For the meteorological fall season as a whole
Average (1981-2010_ 51.3°
The warmest 57.5° in 1931
The coldest 45.8° in 1976
The wettest 17.68 in 1988 (after a hot and dry summer)
The driest 2.59” in 1956 (September only had 0.68” with 0.33 of that on the last day and then October 1956 only seen 0.39” BUT those were NOT the record least for either month as the record for September is just a trace in 1979 and for October its just 0.03” is 1952 so there have been some real dry fall months in the past.)
As for snow fall on average Grand Rapids sees 7.3”
The most snow fall for the fall season was 28.6” way back in 1895
And the least was just a trace set in several different years.
On average the first 32° temperature around October 13th with the earliest having been September 3rd 1946 and the latest November 14th 1918 as for a hard freeze (28°) the average date is October 28th the earliest being September 23rd 1974 and the latest being November 29th 1948. As for snowfall the average date of our first 1” snow is November 19th the earliest one inch snow happened on October 12th 2006 and the latest was on December 23rd 2011. As for the 3” mark the average is December 5th the earliest was October 19th 1989 and the latest was March 16th 1949 (for the winter of 45/49 a winter were Grand Rapids only recorded 33.2” of snow that is my kind of winter LOL)
So now its time to see how the fall of 2016 will play out. I have been looking as some past years that have gone from a El Nino to a weak central based La Nina (hint) not too many recent years to look at but one was cold and snowy and the other was mild and came with little snow.
Added afterthought
With the end of meteorological summer already passed its time to see the mean and last days of the days for the last of the summer like temperatures.
1. 90° mean last day August 22nd latest September 29, 1953
2. 89° mean last day August 29th latest October 1, 1897
3. 88° mean last day September 2nd latest October, 8 2007
4. 87° mean last day September 6th latest October, 13 1975
5. 86° mean last day September 9th latest October, 13 1975
6. 85° mean last day September 14th latest October, 21 1953
7. 84° mean last day September 18th latest October 21, 1953
8. 83° mean last day September 21st latest October 23, 1963
9. 82° mean last day September 26th latest October 23, 1963
10. 81° mean last day September 27th latest November 1, 1950
11. 80° mean last day September 29th latest November 1, 1950
12. 80° mean first day April 30th latest first day June 12, 1924
As you can see we have about one month left when the temperature can reach into the 90’s and in most years we have days that will reach into the 80’s in September but fall off very rapidly as we head deeper into the month. And after September we can have a very long time before we see 80° again in the spring/summer so get out and enjoy what is left this year. (unless you are planning a trip down south this winter LOL)
A guick look back at August 2017.
August 2017 is now in the history books. For most of Michigan the month was cooler than average and is some locations it was the coolest August in many years. Here are some of the mean temperatures and the departure from average for several locations in Michigan. Here in Grand Rapids mean 68.7° (-2.1) coolest August since 2004. Lansing 68.0° (-1.8) Muskegon 68.6° (-1.3) Detroit 71.1° (-0.9) Flint 66.9° (-1.9) Saginaw 67.9° (-0.9) Alpena 65.7° (+0.3) the only location with above average mean. Houghton Lake 63.7° (-1.3) The Sault 64.3° (-0.3) Marquette 59.3° (-4.4) At Marquette this August was the coolest since 1992. There were no 90° days at any of the above locations in August and there more likely that not there were none in Michigan this August. There were frost at both Marquette and Houghton Lake and several other locations in Michigan this past August.
SlimJim