Today we will see some wet snow showers mainly from I96 to the south. Little or no accumulations are expected. Temperatures will be in the mid-30s. Temperatures will rise into the upper 40s to low 50s by the end of the week.
Forecast
SW Michigan Weather History
2001: This is one of the warmest December days on record in Lower Michigan. Grand Rapids and Lansing set record highs of 69 degrees. Holland and Flint both hit 70 degrees.
SE Weather History
On December 5, 2007, a significant lake effect snowstorm dumped up to 10 inches of snow over portions of Huron and Sanilac Counties. Several dominant lake effect snow bands made their way onshore with snowfall rates up to 2 inches per hour in the morning. Some of the higher snowfall reports received included Richmondville (Sanilac) 10.0 inches, Deckerville (Sanilac) 8.0 inches, Forestville (Sanilac) 8.0 inches, and Harbor Beach (Huron) 7.0 inches.
Also on December 5, 2001, the temperature rose to 70 degrees in Flint. This is the record maximum temperature for the month of December in Flint. Detroit and Saginaw both reached 67 degrees, which easily set the record high temperature for the date. This was part of a very warm December which was the 9th warmest for Detroit, the 4th warmest for Flint, and the 5th warmest for Saginaw.
U.S.A and Global Events for December 5th:
December 5, 1886:
A southern storm dumped heavy snow up into far southwest Virginia. The storm dumped 11 inches in Montgomery Alabama and 22.5 inches in Knoxville, TN. It also dropped 25 inches in Rome, Georgia, and 26 inches in Ashville, North Carolina.
December 5, 1953:
A tornado outbreak occurred over northeastern Louisiana, southeastern Arkansas, and western Mississippi on this day. At least four confirmed tornadoes touched down. The strongest tornado was rated F5 as it destroyed the town of Vicksburg, Mississippi. This tornado first touched down just west of the Mississippi River in East Madison Parish in Louisiana. The tornado crossed the Mississippi River and tore through the downtown area of Vicksburg. On the ground for seven miles, this tornado caused 38 deaths, 270 injuries, and cost an estimated $25 million in damages in 1953. Estimated cost adjusted for inflation in 2013 Dollars would be over $200 million. The NWS Office in Jackson, Mississippi has an interactive track map of this event which includes photos and personal accounts.
Forecast Discussion
A weak clipper system will move in from the northwest today and bring very light snow and flurries from around daybreak through early afternoon. Weak omegas are fcst in and near the dgz and we only expect less than a half an inch of snow across our southern fcst area from around 11Z - 18Z today. Only minor (if any) impacts are expected given how light the snow will be and that temps will be near to mainly above the freezing mark. A few very light nnw flow lake effect snow showers are expected late tonight (mainly between 06Z and 12Z Wed) with h8 temps down to around -7 to -8 C. However only a couple tenths of an inch or less of snow are fcst given relatively low delta t/s and weak sfc convergence/omegas. Mostly cloudy and tranquil wx is fcst Wednesday with seasonable temps for this time of year. The late week period will feature well above normal temperatures with highs in the 40s and 50s as an anomalously warm air mass east of the Rockies continues spreading eastward with the help of a low pressure system tracking across srn Canada. The warmest day will be Friday, before a slow moving/stalled frontal boundary extending south from that low sets up shop by the weekend. Ridging aloft will promote dry weather on both Thursday and Friday before rain chances ramp up on Friday night and Saturday as a longwave trough evolves/digs over Plains and gulf moisture begins streaming northward along the frontal zone. We continue to monitor the increasing potential for a strong, deepening cyclone to track through the GrtLks Rgn late in the upcoming weekend. The evolving synoptic pattern is ideal for this to occur, with the digging upstream longwave trough eventually ejecting a strong/negatively tilted wave northeastward along a tight baroclinic zone and Gulf influence sending PWATs over 1" northward. Unfortunately the range/spread of potential outcomes/sfc low tracks is still quite large but that is not unusual with a system that far out. If we end up more within the warm conveyor belt then we could be looking at locally heavy rainfall and perhaps some tstms. On the other hand if the system goes far enough east then we could be primarily in the cold conveyor/trowal component of the cyclone and see several inches of impactful snow. The new 00Z EC ensemble mean sfc low track is trending farther west which favors more rain more than snow but there are still a few members suggesting a swath of 6" or more snow setting up across the area. Strong winds could also be a concern by Sunday night/Monday depending on the depth/track/timing of the sfc low. Regardless of the low track, we do turn cold enough for all snow by late Sunday night into Monday on the back side of the system with some lake enhancement possibly factoring in as well.
Big cold front coming through this weekend! Look at all this snow across the country! Bring it!
https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/models/?model=gfs®ion=us&pkg=asnow&runtime=2023120518&fh=354
3 inches for our area over the next 354 hours?! That comes out to an average of about 0.2” per day. Won’t be needing the yardstick for that.
So far this December there has been just 0.1″ of snow fall and for the season so far just 2.0″ and looking ahead it looks mild for the rest of December. I had a seasonal snowfall guess of 55″ for GR but in looking at past winters when there was this little snowfall by December 5th I may have to take that down to around 40″
Slim
The rest of December will not be mild and if you are taking bets, I will bet you any amount of money you care to risk that GR will receive more than 40 inches of snow! I do accept credit card payments!
Rock on Slim, keep the warm facts coming!
Earliest sunset of the year is this Saturday. Even though we probably won’t notice until mid-January, it is a nice thought sunlight will start increasing in the evening.
Also very light snow here this morning, but nothing has been sticking
That is good news. That is one thing I dislike about this time of year – the lack of daylight.
Same here. We had some flurries here this morning, but all melted after they reached the ground.
Snowing lightly at my house this morning. Light dusting on the ground and trees.
The official H/L yesterday was 39/30 there was no rain/snow. There was just 9% of possible sunshine. For today the average H/L is 39/27 the record high of 69 was set in 2001 (that is also the record high for any December day at Grand Rapids. The record low of 4 was set in 1964. The wettest was 1.23” in 1994, the most snowfall was 7.7” in 1991 the most snow on the ground was 10” in 1940. Last year the H/L was 42/26.
Slim