Snowfall totals
Yesterday’s snowfall has left some areas with a nice white blanket on the ground. Here are some of the totals: 3 miles north of Muskegon 11.3, 10″ Cloverville, 9.5″ Ferrysburg, 9.5″ Fruitport”, 9″ Spring Lake, Muskegon Airport 8.8″ (heaviest October snowfall ever and heaviest ever prior to Nov. 14), 6.8″ Grand Haven, 5.5″ Stanwood and 1″ in Comstock Park. (totals from Bill’s Blog). We had around half an inch in Otsego.
We ended October with 7.28 inches of rain here in Otsego and 10.26 inches since September 1st.
Forecast
Weather History for SW Michigan
October 29
1925: October feels more like December as snow and cold prevail for much of the last half of the month. Measurable snow falls for three consecutive days with high temperatures at or near freezing from October 28th to the 30th.
October 30
1988: Record cold temperatures in the teens and lower 20s close out the month. The low of 18 degrees at Grand Rapids on this day ties the record for the coldest ever recorded in October.
October 31
1917: One of the coldest Octobers on record ends on a wintry note with about an inch of snow and high temperatures only in the lower 30s.
1950: Halloween treats Lower Michigan to balmy temperatures. Grand Rapids hits 79 degrees and Lansing 77, both record highs for the date.
November 1
1950: Warm weather starts the month with temperatures around 80 degrees across Lower Michigan. Lansing sets their record high for the month of November at 81 degrees.
1976: Cold weather will rule this month across Lower Michigan. Grand Rapids sets a record low of 21 degrees to start the coldest November on record there.
November 2
1938: A record high of 77 degrees is set at Grand Rapids as a three-day spell of very warm weather begins the month.
November 3
1966: A record early-season snowstorm drops 6 to 12 inches of snow across southwest Lower Michigan.
1990: Heavy fog resulted in a fatal aircraft accident near Shelby, Michigan. A private plane trying to land at the local airport in the fog stalled and crashed, killing the pilot.
November 4
2003: Heavy rains of an inch or more across southwest Lower Michigan on this day set the tone for November 2003. This turns out to be the wettest November on record at both Grand Rapids and Lansing.
SE Michigan Weather History
October 29
On October 29, 1999, record highs were set in Detroit with 77 degrees and in Flint with 75 degrees.
Also on October 29, 1906, Saginaw received 3.5 inches of snow.
October 30
On October 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy merged with a system over the eastern United States to produce a large extratropical system capable of producing widespread strong winds across much of the northeast U.S., including Southeast Michigan. Strong northerly winds gusted to 75 mph, hurricane force, at Port Huron and to 65 mph at Port Sanilac. Elsewhere, widespread wind gusts of 45 to 55 mph led to downed power lines and minor property damage.
Also on October 30, 2004, a strong low-pressure system tracked through Lake Superior led to high winds during the afternoon hours. Wind gusts of 60 mph lead to widespread power outages, downed trees and wires, along with some minor property damage throughout all of southeast Michigan. Utility companies reported power outages to 283,000 customers across lower Michigan, with at least half that total coming from southeast Michigan, where damage was estimated to be 3.5 million dollars.
Also on October 30, 1966, the overnight temperature dropped to a freezing 19 degrees in Flint. This ties with October 21, 1974, for the record minimum temperature for the month of October in Flint.
October 31
On October 31, 2013, Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw all had their wettest Halloween on record. They recorded 1.59″, 1.19″, and 1.14″ of rain respectively.
Also on October 31, 1993, was a very cold Halloween with high temperatures only reaching 43 in Detroit, 37 in Flint, and 39 in Saginaw. The 37 in Flint is the record-low maximum temperature for the date. During the early morning hours, snow fell and accumulated across portions of Southeast Michigan. Detroit had 0.4 inches of snow, while Flint had 0.8 inches.
Also on October 31, 1950, children experienced a warm Halloween with a record high of 79 degrees in Detroit.
November 1
On November 1, 1950, the temperature rose to 81 degrees in Detroit, 79 in Flint, and 80 in Saginaw. All three cities recorded their maximum temperatures for the month of November. The Flint record would later be broken in 2015.
November 2
On November 2, 1966, the earliest snowfall of 4 inches or more occurred in Detroit with a measure of 7.8 inches of snow occurring over 3 days from the 2nd to the 5th. During this early season snowstorm Flint received 8.6 inches and Saginaw had 11.3 inches of snow. This turned out to be the snowiest November in Detroit with 11.8 inches and 2nd snowiest in Flint and Saginaw with 13.5 inches and 20.3 inches respectively.
November 3
On November 3, 1951, an early cold snap on the 2nd through the 6th brought several record lows to southeast Michigan. Detroit had 22 degrees on the 2nd and 16 degrees on the 3rd. Flint had 20 degrees on the 2nd, 12 degrees on the 3rd, 14 degrees on the 5th, 13 degrees on the 6th and Saginaw had 18 degrees on the 2nd, 12 degrees on the 3rd, 16 degrees on the 4th, 12 degrees on the 5th and 14 degrees on the 6th.
November 4
On November 4, 2015, Flint set a new record for the highest November temperature on record when it reached 80 degrees. Detroit reached 77 degrees, its second-highest November temperature while Saginaw reached 75 degrees, its 3rd warmest.
Forecast Discussion
-Cold and clear the next two days In the wake of the exiting upper level trough a positively tilted ridge will stifle any residual instability. There does remain slow light snow showers just off the coast of the lakeshore. However, these will stay primarily over the water and will fade towards daybreak. High pressure through the mid levels will move northward as upper level zonal flow will dominate the weather for the next few days. The northerly winds and the cold air advection coupled with the clear skies will allow for Max and minimum temperatures well below normal. While these should reach any records, Max temperatures will be 10 to 15 degrees below normal today and 5 to 10 degrees below normal tomorrow. Temperatures will warm into the tomorrow as warm air advection moves into the area ahead of an approaching front. - Tranquil weather and warming temperatures through the weekend Our overall weather pattern will remain fairly quiet through the start of the weekend, as the upper level pattern remains quite zonal with no major disturbances. At the lower levels of the atmosphere, southwesterly flow will usher in a more seasonably normal airmass with temperatures warming back toward the lower 50s by this weekend. Dry conditions are expected until Friday night/Saturday - so after this abrupt preview of winter weather we will definitely be moving back toward more typical fall weather. - Unsettled Weather Returns for the weekend and beyond Beginning this weekend, we start bringing through some generally weak disturbances through the zonal flow - which will bring back more showery conditions and temperatures a bit cooler (back to the 40s, which is still below-average for this time of year). While no significant wind or precipitation events look likely at this time, available ensemble guidance is suggesting the best window for some more widespread rain in our future could be early next week as flow becomes a bit more southwesterly - allowing some deeper atmospheric moisture to move up toward Michigan from the Plains.
That snow event yesterday Rocky deserves a wow to the wow wow WOW! Definitely deserving of the extra “wow” because of how rare it was.
Here is another link to a winter 2023/24 guess.
https://www.severe-weather.eu/
Slim
Here is the this winters guess from John Dee. His guess follows the trend of a El Nino winter season with warmer temperatures and less snow fall.
https://johndee.com/forecasts/forecast-text/
While just a guess my guess for Grand Rapids Michigan is that there will be around 50 to 55″ of snow fall and temperatures will run about 2° above average for December, January and February.
Slim
It seems most sources agree this will be a warm winter. But I don’t necessarily know if “less snow” is a certain for areas 131 west…
131 toward Lake Michigan can get a LOT of snow in a warm winter. Just look at last winter along 131. Even since 1900, Grand Rapids sees about double the average snowfall likely due to warmer temps (more water vapor and a warmer lake for LE).
So I’d say likely a warm winter with below-average snow away from the lake, and 50/50 near the lake depending on the lake effect setup this season
Of the 5 most recent strong to very strong El Nino winters Grand Rapids had 4 winters with much lest snow fall than average and one with above average snow fall. And at Muskegon they are like you said 50/50 with tow above average snow fall two below average and one that has missing data.
Slim
Who loves winter? Who wouldn’t want snow in MI during the winter season? Winter wonderland baby!
Lots of trick or treaters out last night. I’m glad the wind died down otherwise it would have been miserable for the little goblins and their parents. We did get some flakes on and off. It was cool to see snow and lightning over Lake Michigan.
I feel honored to have been able to experience such a historic Halloween type of snow event. It was a wild storm. Will never forget it. Lots of people still without power in that area. I’m home now.
You can look at the Consumer’s outage map and see precisely where the snow fell.
https://www.consumersenergy.com/outagemap
A record breaking snowstorm in October! Wow just wow, WOW!
Those temps in the 20’s feel GREAT! I love temps below 32 degrees! Refreshing and crisp! Forget golf and it is time to start thinking about getting those skis ready!!! Incredible!
You could easily have gotten the snowmobile and snowshoes out in the Muskegon area. I plan on doing more snowshoeing this winter.
That actually crossed my mind!
Welcome to November. For October the mean at Grand Rapids was 52.6° that is a departure of +1.1. The month started off on the warm side with 4 days in a row of highs in the 80’s reaching 86 on the 3rd. The low for the month was 28 on the 31st it was a wet month with 5.51” of rain/melted snow. That is a departure of +1.49”
Slim
What? Another below normal temp month! How is that possible with all the warm weather hype? We have been locked into an overall below normal temp pattern for months, even though some on here keep telling us it is above normal for temps! Wow!
Ummm….Slim, the temp departure was +1.1 for the month of October. Just another above average temp month, despite all the cold weather propaganda on here!
The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 39/28 there was 0.05” of melted snow fall and a reported 0.1” of snow fall. The highest wind was 25MPH out of the S. There was 8% of possible sunshine. For today the average H/L is 54/37 the record high of 81 was set in 1950 that is the record high for November and is the latest 80 day in the year. The record low of 21 was set in 1976 The record rain fall of 1.24” fell in 1982 the record snow fall of 4.0” fell in 1912. Last year the… Read more »
At Muskegon yesterday a new record snow fall amount of 8.8” it was also the most snow fall for any October at Muskegon. Here in Grand Rapids the reported amount of snow fall was 0.1” here in MBY I have just under a half inch of snow on the ground. I also have a temperature of 22 at the current time. The official reading at GRR is 25.
Slim
What a storm and double digits below normal for temps yesterday! Incredible cold and snow!!!!