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Winter Weather Advisories – Weather History

Posted on by MichaelV (Otsego)

We are right at freezing at 5am this morning at the Weather Center with over a tenth of an inch of freezing rain and around an inch of wet snow having accumulated since yesterday afternoon.

Our Winter Weather Advisory is set to expire at 9am for Kent County on to the south and 4pm to the north.  There is currently a large area of rain pushing northeastward from Illinois and Indiana.  A wintry mix and snow will be mainly north from Holland to Alma and Bay City where two to five inches of snow could fall – south of that line we will be seeing mainly rain as temps rise into the mid 30s.  Rainfall totals could be a third to a half an inch.

Tonight our temps begin their downward spiral once again as we get Arctic air moving into the picture and the lake effect snow machine gets cranked up especially late tomorrow on through the weekend.  I will have more on this tomorrow with my weekly winter update.  As a spoiler Dr. Judah Cohen is saying our cold air may last right into March.

It would be a good idea to get the wet snow and ice off the driveways and sidewalks before they refreeze.  Us older folk don’t tend to be as dexterous on the ice as I have found a couple times over the past week having landed on my face and backside.

Weather History

January 20

1906: Temperatures soar into the 60s after a warm front moves through. Grand Rapids hits 64 degrees and Lansing rises to 62, the first of three days of record highs at Lansing.

1985: A vast stream of arctic air keeps high temperatures from rising much, with highs of zero degrees at Lansing and one above at Grand Rapids, along with a bitter west wind gusting to 25 mph.

January 21

1984: The temperature hits a record low of 15 below zero at Grand Rapids for the second consecutive day. The temperature at Lansing only manages to reach zero degrees during the day.

January 22

1883: Bitter cold arctic air sends the temperature down to 14 below zero at Lansing and 8 below at Detroit. The high for the day at Lansing is 4 below zero, the coldest high temperature ever in the month of January there.

2005: A blizzard drops a foot of snow across southern Lower Michigan with strong winds creating drifts up to 4 feet deep.

January 23

1909: Lower Michigan is in the midst of a three day stretch of warm weather. Lansing hits a record high of 60 degrees. Grand Rapids reaches 56 degrees, also a record.

1948: Record lows on this date include 19 below zero at Grand Rapids and 13 below at Muskegon as arctic high pressure and deep snow cover have Lower Michigan in the deep freeze.

January 24

1967: A huge storm is gathering over the Plains States. Out ahead of it, strong southerly breezes bring record warmth to Lower Michigan. Lansing soars to 66 degrees, the warmest on record for the month of January.

January 25

1950: Muskegon sets the record high for the month of January at 63 degrees. Grand Rapids also ties their monthly record high of 66 degrees.

1967: Temperatures reach the 60s for the second day in a row across Lower Michigan. However, the spring-like weather is about to give way to one of the greatest snowstorms on record.

January 26

1967: Temperatures in the 20s are some 40 degrees colder than the day before, and heavy snow begins falling, piling up a foot or more along with increasing winds.

1978: A storm known as the Cleveland Superbomb moves north from the Gulf of Mexico and deepens explosively, becoming one of the worst blizzards in Midwest history. From one to two feet of snow falls across southern Lower Michigan, whipped into huge drifts by strong gusty winds. Several new records were set including a new record low sea level barometric pressure of 28.68 , observed at 6:00 AM. At least 9 deaths were attributed to the blizzard, most roads were impassable, roofs collapsed under the weight of the snow and the airport in Grand Rapids was closed from late on the 25th until the 27th. Governor Milliken declared a state of emergency and requested additional federal aid for snow removal.

Here is a look at snowfall totals in cities around the Michigan over that time period according to the National Weather Service.

  • South Bend, Ind. – 36 inches
  • Muskegon – 36 inches
  • Jackson – 23 inches
  • Saginaw – 22.5 inches
  • Kalamazoo – 20 inches
  • Grand Rapids – 19 inches
  • Lansing – 19 inches
  • Flint – 10 inches
  • Detroit – 8 inches

I was in my 20s back then and as with many who were around back then I have some great stories to tell of that event.

Here is a video of blizzard conditions on Mt Washington in New Hampshire the windiest place on earth – I visited there several times when I lived in New England.

 

Category: Michigan Weather Forecast

49 thoughts on “Winter Weather Advisories – Weather History”

    1. Yes the models have been showing the Monday storm consistently. It looks like a strong clipper with synoptic snow, lake enhanced snow, lake effect snow, cold and wind! It sounds like the perfect storm!

  4. *****Winter weather advisory Thursday 12pm to Friday 7pm ***** I’m thinking this will become a winter storm warning tommorow for some areas …Stay tuned INDY!!

    1. I think the Winter Storm warning will depend on how heavy the snow is and the wind too. A few on here have said some of the snow has melted. We got 4r-5 inches here last night and still have most of it. Kids will love sledding this weekend.

  5. I think they should just put us in a WWA for the next 2 straight weeks and call it good!

    1. LOL!! That would be too easy. I see we are going to be in one again tomorrow till Friday night. Lake effect. Very cold temps coming.

      1. Based on the mid and long range models it will fluctuate new wwa and wsw! Incredible!

  6. We had about 5 inches of snow last night and only about 2 inches of that left. One word “Slop” ..

  7. Love the weather history, pic and video. I lived on the east side of the state during the 1978 storm. 8 inches was a decent amount for the Detroit area, but those other totals are impressive!

  8. Roads today were alot better then yesterday! The way the snow was falling last night I was surprised at how good they were.

  9. What a slop out there! Almost half an inch of rain today and still coming down. Bye bye to the 2 inches of snow we received.

  11. Once again snow country is getting hammered with snow! I will be heading north tomorrow morning? The near perfect conditions will be transformed to Perfect conditions up there! Who would have thought?

  12. Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain! Another day with horrible conditions for winter sports – unless you like your snow icy and mushy.

  13. While the snow continues to pile up at near historic levels by some, it is once again raining here with a temp of 37.

  14. Wind driven snow storm coming Sunday night into Monday could it be shaking out Blizzard conditions stay tuned …Lots of weather to track very very active winter pattern over the the great lks …INDYSTORM!

  15. Reading on some weather blogs Thursday night into Friday morning could be very bad with heavy lk effect snows and blowing snows with white out conditions start preparing now we will be tracking all day stay tuned…INDY ..

    1. Not much to prepare. I had the snow blower prepared in October. It’s been used once and is just rotting away in the barn.

  16. One of our coworkers just went down in the parking lot. Her arm is basically snapped in a weird position, off to the hospital. Rain on ice has to be one of the slipperiest surfaces there is. Be careful out there today!

  17. Measured 6.3 inches of snow on the ground now out at thee YARDofBRICKS NE GR .. Friday will mark a week straight with snow on the ground heck it may last to March now ..Temp 33* degrees out at thee YARDofBRICKS and lgt mix.. stay storm turned INDYSNOW!!

    1. 5 days in a row with snow on the ground at the end of January is pretty sad. We’ve had many Winters when there is snow cover from early December on into March. Very short Winter this year, maybe a month at best, and that being the shortest month of the year.

  18. When does the cold move in today? Would like to get slush off the driveway before it freezes back up.

  19. Currently we are getting plastered with snow! It is bueatiful outside right now!!!

  20. Just had a heavy downpour come through. Only lasted a couple minute, but crazy to see at the end of January.

  21. High of 9* degrees on Saturday and snow better Bataan the hatches down again this coming weekend….INDY!!

  22. So our impressive streak of below average days ends today at 4. During this streak we’ve had rain, ice, and a couple inches of snow, which incredibly was below average for those 4 days combined.

  23. Friday is the anniversary of the super bomb blizzard I was just a little lad to remember but the storys I was told where great if only we could go back in time ….Great post MV thank you INDY!

  24. Surprised how much ice we had yesterday. Not sure how thick it was, but that’s the most ice I’ve had to chisel off my car in a long time. A lot of the tree branches looked like glass.

  26. We have had snow on and off all night out at thee YARDofBRICKS can’t wait to go out a measure away little laaaa laaa in the storm now but should ramp up again around 8am Im thinking we go under winter storm watches or advisorys tonight for tomorrow lk effect coming where several more inches of snow may fall and the weekend all snow we have about 27 schools closed or delay in Kent county lots of slide offs reported reading the blog thoughts of it being cold through March great Scott!! Lots more storm talk coming up stay tuned..INDY .

  31. What a storm and what a winter outlook for the next week or two and for that matter the next 2 months! I love it!

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