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Tornado in Arizona
Posted:Tue, 21 May 2019 05:21:52 GMT
A rare tornado touched down in Arizona on Monday (5/20) about 6 miles south of the town of Moenave in Coconino County. (video at the link) The twister has not been rated and probably won't be - hard to tell the strength of the wind when all it did was move around some sagebrush. It occurred around 9:50 am. 7/10" hail was reported at Lower Antelope Canyon AZ.
A little history of Arizona tornadoes: The state averages 5 tornadoes per year. Most are small and short-lived. From 1950-2017, Arizona recorded 246 tornadoes. There have been only 3 tornado fatalities. Two occurred in East Tucson in August 1964 when an F2 twister touched down.(pic. of that tornado at the link). Here's a pic. of the damage in Tucson that day. A tornado in Tucson in June 1974 resulted in 41 injuries. The longest a tornado was on the ground in AZ was Oct. 6, 2010, when a twister covered 34 miles in 51 minutes. Over 100 homes were damaged near Bellemont. Another tornado had a 32 mile track and was 1/2 mile wide. That storm also produced 2" diameter hail. On Oct. 5-6, 2010 there were 9 tornadoes in Arizona. Here's tornadoes in Tucson.
High winds also hit part of AZ and southern CA. Wind gusts hit 58 mph on I-40 near Two Guns and 55 mph at Springerville. In California, 4 semi trucks were tipped over by strong winds on US 395. One of them was leaking oil.
Flagstaff had 0.9" of snow, an inch fell at the Grand Canyon, where the high temperature was just 34. 2" of snow fell at Forest Lakes AZ with 3" at Monds Park and 4" at Nordic Village.
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Record Rainfall in Marquette
Posted:Tue, 21 May 2019 06:04:10 GMT
Marquette continues to set records for heavy precipitation. As you can see above, Marquette had the 6th wettest summer in 2018, then the 4th wettest fall, the 4th wettest winter and now the 4th wettest spring (and we'll likely move up on that list before spring is over).
Marquette had record daily rainfall on both Saturday (2.46") and Sunday (1.45"). Their 3-day total was 4.26". For the month, Marquette is up to 7.26" which is 5.4" above average. For the calendar year 2019, Marquette is 9.4" above average.
This is Mt. Ripley near Houghton MI - this is a pic. from the webcam there (from Michigan Tech) and they still have some patchy snow on Monday (May 20). Marquette actually had 1/10th inch of snow over the weekend. The high temperature of 37 on Sunday at Marquette was 26 degrees colder than average. So far, the month of May has been averaging 7.6 deg. cooler than average in Marquette.
Marquette sent out this tweet...the computer checking to make sure the value entered was correct.
Duluth has had 13.3" of snow this month and they woke up on May 9 with 9" of snow on the ground. Here's video of snow in NW Wisconsin on Sunday 5/19/19.
The heavy rain flows into Lake Superior - adding to the high lake level. Water then flows from Lake Superior into Lake Michigan/Huron through the St. Mary's River. This will act to keep the lake levels high through the rest of 2019 and probably beyond.
Speaking of snow and cold, check out the Winter Storm Warnings (in pink) for the Colorado Rockies (Winter Weather Advisories in purple). Up to 18" of snow is expected in the mountains. I-70 was closed west of Denver because of multiple accidents involving multiple vehicles.
Here's a look at the snow piling up from FOX21 in Colorado Springs. Here's more pics. of the Colorado snow.
The Colorado Dept. of Trans. put this pic. on their facebook page...snow west of Denver on Monday.
This is the Utqiaġvik, Alaska (Barrow) webcam at 1:49 am EDT - this is the land of the midnight sun in summer. They won't see a sunset again in Barrow until the first week of August. Of course, it's cloudy much of the time. On Monday, they had a high temperture of 33 and a low of 29. The Barrow Airport still has 6" of snow on the ground (as does Kotzebue AK).
The highest temperature in the U.S. on Monday was 109 at Rio Grande Village, Texas (someone ought to check that thermometer, because they are consistently higher - significantly higher sometimes - than surrounding weather stations. The coolest spot was 13 at Chepeta, Utah
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/05/20/Marquette%20record%20rainfall%20tweet_1558409987454.JPG_88400980_ver1.0_640_360.jpg
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Frost Advisory
Posted:Mon, 20 May 2019 07:51:01 GMT
A Frost Advisory will be in effect from 2 am until 8 am for Muskegon, Newaygo, Montcalm and Gratiot Counties to the north, mainly for scattered frost, mostly in low spots. We're expecting low temps. near 40 in urban areas...mid-upper 30s to the north and northeast of G.R. with cold spots reaching the low 30s. In those areas that usually get colder than the temperatures we give for the Ford Airport, it would be wise to cover anything frost sensitive that might have been planted already (tomatoes, melons, marigolds).
We also have a Small Craft Advisory in effect until 5 pm today (Mon.)
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/05/20/Advisory_1558338425060_88276992_ver1.0_640_360.png
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HIGH Risk of Tornadoes!
Posted:Tue, 21 May 2019 05:23:36 GMT
The above map was the Severe Weather Outlook Map for Mon./Mon. night (5/20). There was a rare High Risk of severe weather. Get this...we did not have a single day all of last year with a high risk area and we have had only 11 high risk days in the last 8 years. So this was a big deal.
Here's a look at Monday's Severe Storm Reports as of 1 am EDT. There were a total of 18 tornadoes (including one in Arizona - see separate thread on that). Fortunately, the tornadoes went mostly over open country, avoiding towns and cities. Extremely large hail (up to 4" in diameter at the town of Collinsvorth) and very strong winds (up to 94 mph at Marshall OK) were reported.
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/05/20/day1_1558333174547_88276695_ver1.0_640_360.JPG
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Summary of Sunday Storms
Posted:Mon, 20 May 2019 06:16:52 GMT
The top picture shows the South Haven beach about mid-afternoon Sunday. The water level of Lake Michigan is 27" above the May average level. Add to that the strong southwest wind that pushed the water toward the Michigan shore and you can see the water pushed up all the way to the edge of the parking area. You're going to see more of this, as the water level of Lake Michigan is still going up.
Wind Gusts Sunday - 64 mph at the S. Haven lighthouse, 59 mph at St. Francis WI, 51 mph at Kalamazoo MI, Union WI and Harvard IL, 48 mph at Racine WI and Battle Creek MI, 47 mph at Pewaukee WI and Capron IL, 46 mph at Benton Harbor MI, Michigan City IN and Watertown WI, 45 mph at Chicago, St. Charles and W. Chicago IL., 43 mph at Holland MI.
Here's some rainfall totals from Sunday. Rainfall for May so far: 3.56" Grand Rapids, 3.98" Muskegon, 4.38" Kalamazoo. Rainfall surplus for 2019: Grand Rapids +4.17", Muskegon +5.72".
Minor wind damage (trees/power lines-poles) was reported at Clarksville in Ionia Co., Edmore in Montcalm Co. In Cass Co. MI and at Fort Atkinson and Hartford WI. 0.7" diameter hail fell at Ripon WI and there were four reports of pea-sized hail in Berrien Co. MI.
Special Marine Warning for Lake Michigan until the line of t-storms passes. Small Craft Advisory remains in effect thru tomorrow afternoon
Here's G.R. radar:
And regional radar:
Check out national lightning, local lightning and current weather observations.
Here's the Severe Weather Outlook Map for Monday (5/20). There' a Moderate Risk Area. Motel space in OKC may be at a premium, as (literally) hundreds of storm-chasers head to Oklahoma. SPC says: "Severe thunderstorms capable of all severe hazards, including strong tornadoes, are expected across portions of the southern Plains on Monday."
We'll be tracking the storms.
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Tornado Touchdown in Barry Co.
Posted:Mon, 20 May 2019 15:14:41 GMT
0625 PM TORNADO 3 NNE LACEY 42.53N 85.17W 05/19/2019 BARRY MI SURVEYED BY NWS EMPLOYEE
NWS STORM SURVEY FOUND DAMAGE FROM A TORNADO WITH TOP WINDS ESTIMATED AT 80 MPH (EF0). THREE BARNS ON ONE FARM WERE DAMAGED AND A TELEPHONE POLE AS WELL AS SEVERAL TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
There are several damage pictures here from the G.R. NWS facebook page. Most of the damage was at one farm. There were 3 barns damaged here. The damage path ran from southwest to northeast for approx. 1.3 miles. The tornado was approximately 50 yards wide, or about half the length of a football field.
Here's another picture of the damaged barns. The damage also included a telephone pole blown down and a dozen uprooted or snapped off trees.
Fortunately, there were no fatalities or injuries. Someone asked about animals and I don't know the answer to that.
The damage path started on Barryville Road north of Lacey about 1/4 mile south of Cloverdale Road. It ended on Marshall Road about 1/4 south of Maple Grove Road. This is southwest of the town of Nashville. Had the tornado continued on the ground, it could very well have come right into "downtown" Nashville. This is SE of Hastings, N of Battle Creek, E of 6 Mile Road and W. of the town of Maple Grove.
This last bit of damage (a roof lofted and set down here). The farmer, or someone else may find additional debris downstream in the coming days.This is the 5th tornado in Michigan this year. Four small tornadoes touched down on March 14 in the Flint Area. It's another of these small and narrow tornadoes that spin up and dissipate before we can get on TV (this one lasted 4 minutes. We did see rotation in the cloud, which does not mean there is an actual tornado on the ground. The NWS did issue a tornado warning for parts of Barry and Eaton County. Read my thread on the Sunday Storm Wrap for wind and hail reports.
As of 1:30 am - there were 2,330 Consumers Energy customers without power. That included 742 in Misaukee Co., 566 in Saginaw Co., 455 in Calhoun Co. and 113 in Kent Co. The line of showers and thunderstorms contained relatively little lightning, but it did contain gusty winds and heavy rainfall.
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/05/20/Lacy%20Tornado%20Map%20NWS_1558330414011.jpg_88276958_ver1.0_640_360.jpg
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More Snow in Wisconsin and Minnesota
Posted:Mon, 20 May 2019 04:19:44 GMT
Up to 6" of snow fell in parts of MN and WI Saturday night into Sunday. The above picture is from the National Weather Service in Duluth MN. Snow was even accumulating on the roads. Here's some snowfall totals:
5.9" Poplar WI, 5.8" Wentworth WI, 5" Brunett WI and Blueberry WI, 4.5" Foxburo WI, 4" Ouly WI. Duluth officially recorded 2.4" of snow, bringing the monthly total to 13.3" and the season total to 106.8", which is 20.7" above average. The 2.4" was not only a daily record for Duluth but was 12 times the perious record high snowfall for the date.
This is what it looked like at the Coast Guard station in Duluth on Sunday with waves coming over the breakwaters.
Also: Check out the snow in Austria! Look at the snow at Mt. Shasta in CA.
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/05/19/Snow%20Duluth_1558316739820.JPG_88263985_ver1.0_640_360.jpg
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Record Great Lakes High Water Levels
Posted:Fri, 17 May 2019 20:23:05 GMT
OKThe top pic. is high water on Lake Erie in 1986. The big news this week is that there are now three lakes with record high water levels for the month of May.
Lake Superior is now an inch higher than it has ever been in May. Superior's level has gone up 7 inches in just the last month due to snowmelt and above average precipitation. The 7" rise represents an increase of 3.85 TRILLION gallons of additional water in the lake. Since January 1, Marquette is 5.59" above average precipitation. Sault Ste. Marie is 6.72" above average and that is the main reason that the level of Lake Superior has shot up so fast. There was also well above average ice cover on Lake Superior (and the other Great Lakes) this past winter (and four of the last six winters). That causes less evaporation.
Lake Erie is up 10" in the last month, up 6" year-to-year and is now 30" above the average water level. Erie is now 4 inches higher than it has ever been in the month of May. Same story on Lake St. Clair. That lake is up 9" in the last month, 6" higher than one year ago, 30" above the May average and 2" higher than the previous May record.
Lake Michigan/Huron is up 8" in the last month, up 9" in the last year and is now 27" above the May average level. The level is now only 4" below the record May level set in 1986. The lake is expected to go up another 3" in the next month.
Lake Ontario is up a whopping 23" in just the last month! It's up 17" in the last year and is now also 27" above the May average. The level is just 4" below the May record level set two years ago in 2017. A State of Emergency has been declared.
Rivers that connect the Great Lakes continue to have well above average flow. The St. Clair River at Port Huron has a flow of 250,000 cubic feet per second, compared to an average flow of 187,000 cfs. The Detroit River at Detroit has a flow of 251,000 cfs compared to an average flow of 199,000 cfs.
Here's the flow on inland rivers: The Grand River at Grand Rapids has a flow right now (2 pm Fri.) of 6,610 cfs - average flow for May 17 is 4,580. The Muskegon River has a flow of 3,220 cfs - average is 2,890 cfs. The Kalamazoo River has a flow of 1,450 cfs - average flow is 1,019 cfs. The St. Joseph River at Niles has a flow of 7,290 cfs - average flow is 4,120 cfs.
Message in a bottle thrown into Lake Michigan is found 21 years later.
Also: Lake Superior facts. After 182 days (half a year) there is no ice on Lake Superior. Maximum ice cover on the Great Lakes this year was 81%, compared to an average maximum ice of 55%. Great Lakes Levels in Constant Flux. Here's historic Great Lakes water levels. There is (IMHO) no indication that the levels have been drastically moved by so called "global warming". High water levels affecting the Coast Guard. High-tech buoys on the Great Lakes. High water on the St. Lawrence River. Searching for Great Lakes shipwrecks. Great Lakes steel output shows significant gain. They needed 40 scientists to state the historical obvious. Dogs are helping. Cruising the Great Lakes. The "Holy Grail" of shipwrecks. Historic new Great Lakes ship. Mystery foam. Worst case scenario. Closing nuclear plants will spike pollution. This is nonsense...We have NOT seen an increase in the frequency and intensity of severe storms. Invasive species $$. Ancient secrets. Kayak express. Flying under the Mackinac Bridge. Yemini sailors on the Great Lakes. Biggest birding festival. Burns Harbor port expanding (good economy). Is it legal to walk Great Lakes beaches.
I remember this day well. Line of thunderstorms with strong wind pushes the water toward the Michigan shore. As the storm passes, the winds die down and sometimes even reverse direction to come out of the east or southeast. The water sloshes back away from shore "pulling" swimmers out away from shore. This is called a seiche. If you get a thunderstorm with strong winds, best not to go right back into the lake. The fact that it was July 4 and a warm day meant there were many more people at the Michigan beaches, including visitors who might be swimming in the lake for the first time.
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/05/17/Erie%20Lake%20High%20Water%201986_1558113084888.jpg_87942608_ver1.0_640_360.jpg
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Severe Weather Thursday PM
Posted:Fri, 17 May 2019 06:48:09 GMT
Hail up to baseball size pounded northern Indiana Thursday afternoon and evening. The hail broke windows and accumulated on the ground.
In SW Michigan, the storms produced heavy rain and frequent lightning. There were several reports of small hail in Calhoun County near Albion, Marshall and LeRoy. Here's some rainfall totals:
Austin Lake is just north of Vicksburg. The rain that fell east of Austin Lake and at Fulton came in about one hour. Here's some peak wind gusts that occurred before we got the rain during the afternoon:
The gusts were remarkably the same across the area.
Here's a couple of kite surfers at S. Haven. You can see a shower behind them in the distance (showers are OK - these guys are wet anyway - they do have to be careful if there is lightning - remember Benjamin Franklin did the kite experiment in 1752). With a southwest wind, they move to the north side of the breakwaters...where they get the wind, but waves are smaller than on the south side of the breakwaters. With a northwest wind, they might prefer the calmer south side of the breakwaters.
This pic. from the South Haven GLERL camera (from NOAA Coastwatch) looking north at some rain streaks.
Here's a nice pic. around sunrise with an early fishing boat going out of the channel. The sunrise today (Fri.) is at 6:18 am in Grand Rapids. The sunset is at 9 pm - giving us 14 hours and 42 minutes of daylight.
Here's severe weather reports from the Chicago area, NW Ohio and N. Indiana.
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/05/17/hail%20wane%20one_1558074259496.JPG_87877394_ver1.0_640_360.jpg
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Great Lakes Ice Free - First Time Since Nov. 14
Posted:Fri, 17 May 2019 06:12:41 GMT
Thursday was the first day of 2019 with 0.0% ice on all the Great Lakes. That ends a strring of 182 consecutive days, going back to Nov. 15 with at least some ice on Lake Superior (half a year).
There's still snow left on Mt. Ripley in Houghton, Michigan
Here's historic maximum ice extent on the Great Lakes. We have had well above average ice extent on the Great Lakes in four of the last six winters.
Here's current North American snow and ice cover. There is still some ice on Lake Nipigon, Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay. Snow covers Labrador, much of Quebec and Nunavut. There is still a good amount of snow in the Western mountains.
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/05/17/great%20lakes%20ice%20extent_1558073228687.JPG_87877387_ver1.0_640_360.jpg
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Severe Storms Possible on Sunday
Posted:Fri, 17 May 2019 00:30:24 GMT
The map above is the Risk Area for Severe Thunderstorms for Sunday May 19 from the Storm Prediction Center. It includes much of Lower Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Southeast Wisconsin. The primary threat is wind damage, though an isolated tornado is possible. Here's what the Storm Prediction Center says:
"On Sunday/D4, a fast-moving negative-tilt trough will move from the middle MS Valley toward MI, with substantial height falls/lift. A surface low will rotate northeast from WI into Lake Huron, with a surging cold front behind. Although instability will be weak ahead of this system across IL, southern WI, IN and Lower MI, damaging winds appear possible due to fast mean wind speeds. Therefore, have expanded the previous area northward for damaging wind threat."
Watch 24 Hour News 8 for updates. Daybreak on Saturday and Sunday is 5 am - 8 am. In the meantime, check out our 12-minute online Severe Weather Special.
Watch the whole thing! Storm Team Severe Weather Special: https://www.woodtv.com/weather/severe-weather/storm-team-8-severe-weather-special/2006056806
· Easy FB share: https://www.facebook.com/woodtv/posts/10157106587431236
· Easy RT: https://twitter.com/WOODTV/status/1129175981892280321
Each element has an individual sidebar story. These are linked throughout the full story and included in the “Related Content” box. Video will be added to these next week as they air on #the7on8. Here they are:
https://www.woodtv.com/weather/severe-weather/west-michigan-s-most-severe-weather-events/2006771378
https://www.woodtv.com/weather/severe-weather/severe-weather-numbers-down-in-past-decade/2003671840
https://www.woodtv.com/weather/severe-weather/where-to-take-cover-during-a-tornado/2006988480
https://www.woodtv.com/weather/severe-weather/how-damage-determines-a-tornado-s-ef-rating/1998254573
https://www.woodtv.com/weather/severe-weather/warm-gulf-will-fuel-summer-storms-in-mi/2006740834
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/05/16/day4prob_1558052449857_87853372_ver1.0.gif
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Severe Weather Special
Posted:Fri, 17 May 2019 00:19:21 GMT
Right now (or when you choose), you can watch the Storm Team 8 Severe Weather Special here. Learn about past storms, like the Hudsonville-Standale Tornado:
, the Palm Sunday Tornadoes:
, the Kalamazoo Tornado:
, the Grand Rapids Tornado of 1967:
and the famous "derecho" thunderstorms of May 31, 1988:
Learn how you can be safe when severe weather threatens and what might our chances be for severe weather this late spring and summer. It's the Storm Team 8 Weather Special at www.woodtv.com
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Spring Planting Behind Schedule
Posted:Wed, 15 May 2019 03:55:17 GMT
Spring planting is behind schedule this year due to the overall cool and wet weather pattern. The top graph from the USDA shows planting of sugar beets for this year compared to last year and average. 46% of the crop has been planted as of May 12 - compared to an average of 83%. Only 5% of the corn crop had been planted, compared to an average of 34%. Fruit blossoming was also a week to 10 days later than average (which is not a bad thing).
Here's Illinois rainfall for May 6-12. Illinois has had significant rain and there is some ponding of water in fields. As of 5/12, only 11% of the corn crop had been planted in Illinois, compared to an average of 82% (88% at this time last year). Only 3% of soybeans had been planted compared to 61% last year at this time. At this point, it's not a serious problem, but we need to get these fields dried out soon so we can get the crop in the ground.
Here's high temperatures Tuesday. Marathon Key FL hit 96°, a new record warmest for the month of May (records go back to 1950). The last 3 days, Marathon has had highs of 93°, 95° and 96°. Key West had a high of 94°, a daily record (records there go back to 1872) Miami had a daily record 95° and Fort Lauderdale topped out at 94°. Phoenix AZ had a sizzling 98° and the warmest in the country was 104° at Death Valley CA. The coolest spot was Mt. Washington NH, with a high of 28°, a low of 18° and 2.6" of snowfall. Other cool spots in the Northeast: Buffalo 49°, Providence and Boston 48°, Binghamton a high of 44° and Augusta ME just 43°.
Here's the Lake Michigan satellite picture from Tue. PM - the land is very slowly changing from the brown of winter to the green of summer...still a long ways to go. Tuesday was just the 4th day this month with more than 50% sunshine.
Here's a pic. just after sunset at S. Haven. There's some high clouds in the distance, the lake is pretty calm and the last boat is coming into the channel.
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/05/14/sugarbeets_1557889790695_87582892_ver1.0_640_360.JPG
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Wrap-Up on Severe Weather Sunday
Posted:Mon, 20 May 2019 06:07:30 GMT
The top picture shows the South Haven beach about mid-afternoon Sunday. The water level of Lake Michigan is 27" above the May average level. Add to that the strong southwest wind that pushed the water toward the Michigan shore and you can see the water pushed up all the way to the edge of the parking area. You're going to see more of this, as the water level of Lake Michigan is still going up.
Wind Gusts Sunday - 64 mph at the S. Haven lighthouse, 59 mph at St. Francis WI, 51 mph at Kalamazoo MI, Union WI and Harvard IL, 48 mph at Racine WI and Battle Creek MI, 47 mph at Pewaukee WI and Capron IL, 46 mph at Benton Harbor MI, Michigan City IN and Watertown WI, 45 mph at Chicago, St. Charles and W. Chicago IL., 43 mph at Holland MI.
Here's some rainfall totals from Sunday. Rainfall for May so far: 3.56" Grand Rapids, 3.98" Muskegon, 4.38" Kalamazoo. Rainfall surplus for 2019: Grand Rapids +4.17", Muskegon +5.72".
Minor wind damage (trees/power lines-poles) was reported at Clarksville in Ionia Co., Edmore in Montcalm Co. In Cass Co. MI and at Fort Atkinson and Hartford WI. 0.7" diameter hail fell at Ripon WI and there were four reports of pea-sized hail in Berrien Co. MI.
Special Marine Warning for Lake Michigan until the line of t-storms passes. Small Craft Advisory remains in effect thru tomorrow afternoon
Here's G.R. radar:
And regional radar:
Check out national lightning, local lightning and current weather observations.
Here's the Severe Weather Outlook Map for Monday (5/20). There' a Moderate Risk Area. Motel space in OKC may be at a premium, as (literally) hundreds of storm-chasers head to Oklahoma. SPC says: "Severe thunderstorms capable of all severe hazards, including strong tornadoes, are expected across portions of the southern Plains on Monday."
We'll be tracking the storms.
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Warmer Weather Ahead
Posted:Tue, 14 May 2019 17:00:28 GMT
Warmer weather is moving into West Michigan. The above map shows high temperatures across the U.S. and S. Canada on Monday. Some warm places: Miami 94° (usually, Miami has a wind off the water and it's hard to get warmer than about 92°. Miami had a southwest wind and it got to 94°. Key West hit 89°. On the cooll side, it didn't get warmer than 41° at Binghamton NY and 44° at Toronto, Canada. Snow was falling Monday evening in the mountains of the Northeast (Catskills, Adirondacks, Green and White Mountains.
The warmest temp. in the U.S. Monday was 105° at Death Valley CA and the coolest was 22° at Mt. Washington NH, Peter Sinks UT and Copper Basin ID,
Here's some cities that had significant rain on Monday: Midland TX 1.72", Tampa FL 1.55", Raleigh NC 1.32", W. Palm Beach FL 1.21", Syracuse NY 1.14", Orlando FL 1.08", Wilmington DE 1.07".
Here's sunset at the Muskegon Channel Monday evening. The days continue to get longer. Tuesday we'll have 14 hours and 37 minutes of daylight in Grand Rapids. The high temperature here at the Channel weather station was 58° at noon, when the wind was from the ENE off the land. Then the wind shifted to come off the water and the temperature dropped to 45° by 1 pm - a drop of 13 degrees. During that hour, the relative humidity increased from 44% to 81% and the wind speed increased from 7 mph to 17 mph. It's actually a lake-effect cold front that moved inland.
So far, the month of May is averaging 4.1 deg. cooler than average in G.R. and we've had 2.53" of rain, nearly an inch above average to date.
Low temps. Tue. AM: 42° S. Haven Beach, 41° Muskegon Beach, S. Haven airport, 40° Gr. Rapids (airport), 39° Sparta (high spot), 38° Kent City (high spot), 37° Kalamazoo, Mt. Pleasant, Ionia, Sturgis, Belding, 36° Lansing, Holland (airport), Battle Creek, Coldwater, Hillsdale, Grandville, 35° Alma, East G.R., Hastings, Clarksville, Hudsonville, 34° Muskegon, Charlotte, Fremont, Three Rivers, Hopokins, Bloomingdale, Fennville, Hartford, Albion, Allegan, 33° Jackson, Benton Harbor, Watervliet, Hart, 32° Big Rapids, 31° Ludington, Cadillac, Houghton Lake, Gaylord and Evart, 30° Manistee, Lake City, 29 Pellston, 26° Leota (Clare Co.) and Raco, 24° Roscommon.
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/05/13/High%20Temperature%20Metar_1557803091401.png_87456325_ver1.0_640_360.jpg
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See the International Space Station
Posted:Tue, 14 May 2019 03:01:49 GMT
There will be many opportunities to see the Internationial Space Station over the next couple weeks. First, the position of the sun allows for more opportunities to see the Space Station in late spring and summer, plus we have more clear nights now than we have from mid-fall to early spring. The complete list of times for West Michigan is at this link. There are great opportunities from the 15th into early next week. However, most of them are in the early morning (or during one of our newscasts when I'll be busy). The best one is Sat. May 18 at 4:45 AM, when the station will be as close to directly overhead as I can remember it ever being.
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Kalamazoo Tornado May 13, 1980
Posted:Mon, 13 May 2019 07:40:31 GMT
Today is the 39th anniversary of the Kalamazoo tornado of May 13, 1980.
The tornado first touched down in far western Kalamazoo County (wind damage from the storm was reported in E. Van Buren Co.) and moved west to east right through downtown Kalamazoo. It was on the ground for at least 11 miles and for approx. 22 minutes. The twister caused 5 fatalities and 79 injuries (treated at hospitals). These were the first tornado deaths in Kalamazoo County since August 1939. Huge trees were uprooted in Bronson Park and windows were blown out of downtown buildings. Here's a couple of eyewitness accounts. The tornado caused over 50 million dollars in damage (in 1980 dollars).
Here's video of the tornado approaching downtown Kalamazoo and video of the damage right after the tornado. Here's the 10-minute story from WOOD TV "there were reports of 2 x 4s being driven into cement walls...a rowboat was found 5 blocks from where it was parked." An initial report counted 47 homes destroyed with another 216 heavily damaged. 116 businesses were heavily damaged.
Kalamazoo Township to decommision their 9 tornado sirens. Richland tornado 9/1/18 (best toward the end of the video. Another view of the Richland tornado (note the larger rotation). Story from the Kalamazoo Library.
I had done the morning shift that day. Craig James had come in early to track the storms. I remember hand-plotting a surface weather map...showing the warm front between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids and low pressure over Southern Lake Michigan. I remarked that the map looked similar to a Texas case study that I had participated in at a meteorology conference. At the time, all we had was the 1957 technology radar (RCA AVQ10) that was designed for aircraft use. However, even with better radar, storm spotters are an important link to warning the public when these storms threaten.
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Pictures from Alaska
Posted:Mon, 13 May 2019 03:50:20 GMT
Thought you'd like to see some pics. from Alaska. Despite the fact that the days are long and the sun is climbing higher in the sky - winter hangs on a long time in our 49th state. The top pic. is the Kahiltna Glacier. It's located on the SW slope of Denali (Mt. McKinley). At 44 miles long, it's the longest glacier in the U.S. Much of the glacier is above 10,000 feet, where temperatures stay below freezing thru much of the summer.
This is McKinley North - again about halfway between Anchorage to the south and Fairbanks to the north. A very wintery scene.
Here's Wainwright on the northwest coast of Alaska. You can see there are still some big drifts of snow here. Wainwright is north of Arctic Circle - the sunrise today is at 3:07 am and the sunset at 2:05 am...giving them about 23 hours of daylight (soon to be 24 hours).
The sun was shining here at Arctic Village, which is inland NE Alaska. Just some high clouds. Despite the nearly 24 hours of sunlight, very little melting has occurred here.
This is Gambell, Alaska one of the most remote places in the U.S. It's on St. Lawrence Island, about 200 miles southwest of Nome. The climate is harsh - windy and cold - with an average high temperature of +12 in January and +50 in July. Only 4,000 people live on this island of nearly 1,800 square miles.
This is Port Hope, Alaska. This place didn't get named for the weather, which is often cold, breezy and gloomy. It was actually named for Sir William Hope. There is no road or rail connection - the city (town of 670) is accessible only by plane or (when the ice goes out) by sea. The population is 88% Native American and the average family income is $67,000. As you can see - even though it's May, it looks like mid-winter...only brighter with nearly 24-hour daylight.
This is Wrangell Alaska in the Southeast Peninsula. The snow has mostly melted in the valleys, but still clings to the mountains (which John Denver sang about). Wrangell was first settled by Russians. The weather is wet and mild, with an average high temperature of 34 in January and 64 in July. The warmest it has ever been here is 84 and the coldest -10F. Wrangell gets an average of over 81" of precipitation per year and rain or snow falls on an average of 229 days each year.
This is Merrill Pass, Alaska.
Chandalar Shelf, Alaska
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Mother's Day
Posted:Mon, 13 May 2019 00:31:45 GMT
Sunday 5/12/19 - 7:30 pm. I just got off the phone with my mother, who now lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in a senior living center about 1/2 mile away from where my sister lives. She had a great day. They went to church, then back home for a wonderful brunch. After that a walk along the lake until some showers started moving in. Oak Ridge had over 2" of rain yesterday into last night. Like much of the country, it's been a wet year there.
The pic. above is my mom last year along with Rosie the cat. Rosie was a stray that was hit by a car and lost its tail. My mother didn't want a cat (we had one for 17 years when us kids were growing up) because she was afraid of stepping on the cat's tail. So...perfect match! When mom moved from her condo into the senior living center, she didn't want to take the cat, afraid that the cat would get out of her rather tiny apartment. So...Gayle and I drove to Tennessee, picked up the cat and took it to daughter #3 in Traverse City, where it's adjusted very well and has a big house to call home.
My mother is exactly two months shy of 100 years old today (Sunday 5/12). When she was born in 1919, Woodrow Wilson was President, women were not allowed to vote, and there were only 2,200 people living in the tiny town of Las Vegas, Nevada. Mom is older than UCLA and older than the Green Bay Packers. When mom was born, Babe Ruth played for the Boston Red Sox and two of the newer inventions were the toaster and the zipper (that's why many men had suspenders 100 years ago).
This pic. is from her 99th birthday party on 7/12/18. We actually made 5 trips to Tennessee in 2018. Here father lived to be 98. Her grandfather died at age 29 from a disease that would be easily curable today.
Mom and my sister came north to visit us in Michigan last year, too. This was a feast that we had at our house, complete with Michigan wine and moose napkins (my wife and I call each other "sweet moose" - my wife is part Swedish and she first called me sweetheart in Swedish - which sounds like "sweet moose"). My wife's Swedish grandmother also lived past 100 and was alive every day of the 20th Century!
This pic. is mom and I at the Oak Ridge bowling alley last summer. She actually bowled at 99 years old...a couple games and she had a couple strikes! Tonight (Sun.night) the Senior Citizen Center was all getting together to watch the movie, "The Sound of Music". It's a favorite of my mother, who is part Austrian (and part Dutch and part a few other nationalities). She first went to Austria in 1930 with her mother to see if there was any inheritance left for my grandmother's family - nope, none. She went back to Europe several more times. She and my father (who's family came from Luxembourg) spoke German quite well and had no problem going off on their own. My father went to Europe for about 5 months in (I believe it was) 1938 as the drummer/percussionist of the band that Northwestern Univ. assembled to bring American big band, swing, dixieland and jazz to Europe.
We'll go down to Tennessee for the big party in July. I'll try and do a facebook live and I'm sure I'll have some pics. to share from the trip. Happy Mother's Day everyone.
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Record Near/Record High Water Levels on the Great Lakes
Posted:Sat, 11 May 2019 07:53:54 GMT
Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair continue to set record high water levels for May - the other Great Lakes also have levels significantly higher than average.
Lake Erie rose a whopping 11" in the last month. It's 9" higher than one year ago and is now 30" (2 and a half feet!) higher than the average May level. The level is at 574.41 ft. above sea level and chart datum is at 569.20 ft. The lake is now 4" higher than the previous record May level set in 1986 and it's 65" higher than the lowest May level set in 1934.
Lake St. Clair is up 12" in the last month and is up 11" in the last year. It's 31" above the May average level, and is also 4" higher than the previous highest level for May set in 1986. It's 59" higher than the lowest level for May set in 1934.
Lake Superior is getting close to a record high level. It's up 5" in the last month, up 8" in the last year and is now 14" above the average May level. The level is only 1" above the record May level also set in 1986.
Lake Michigan/Huron is up 8" in the last month, up 9" in the last year and is now 26" higher than the May average level. It's still 6" below the highest May level of 1986 and 55" above the lowest level recorded in May back in 1964.
Lake Ontario is up a whopping 20" in the last month, up 12" in the last year and is now 21" above the average May level. It's still 9" below the highest level set just 2 years ago.
The biggest reason for the high water levels is above average precipitation. For 2019, here's how far above average precipitation these weather stations are: Grand Rapids +4.23", Muskegon +6.06", S. Ste. Marie +6.96", Marquette +5.95", Chicago (Midway) +4.40", Toledo +2.70", Erie +2.21", Buffalo +4.10". We've also had well above average ice cover on the Great Lakes in four of the past six winters. That lowers evaporation. We've also been on the cool and damp side.
River flow remains higher than average: Grand River at Grand Rapids 9,790 cfs (average is 4,670 cfs), Muskegon River at Croton 5,150 cfs (3,020 cfs), Kalamazoo River at Comstock 1,780 cfs (1,070 cfs) and the St. Joseph River at Niles 8,580 cfs (4,190 cfs average).
There is still a little ice left in Lake Superior - mainly in Black Bay and Nipigon Bay.
Great Lakes News: (coming later)
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First 80-degree Day
Posted:Wed, 15 May 2019 01:28:13 GMT
Here in West Michigan, we're still waiting for our first 80-degree day. The graphic above from the G.R. National Weather Service gives the average dates for the first 80-degree day and when we had the first 80-degree day in the last several years.
The first 14 days of May were 4 degrees cooler than average...continuing a trend we've had since last fall. Beginning with October 2018, every month has been cooler than average with the exception of December.
This is the 6-10 day temperature forecast from the Climate Prediction Center for May 20-24. It calls for a high chance of below average temperatures in much of the West and then east to Upper Michigan and a high chance of above average temperatures from the southern Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and east to the Atlantic.. This pattern (with colder than average northwest and warmer than average southeast) would mean a significant temperature contrast and that could fuel a fair number of strong thunderstorms and areas of heavy rain and potential flooding. The Plains states look particularly susceptible to severe weather
Here's U.S. high temps. Friday, May 10. It was warm in Florida (90 deg. at Ft. Myers and Orlando) and up the East Coast, with a couple of 80-degree readings in Eastern PA. The Northwest Coast was warm (86 in Seattle and 88 in Portland). Cool weather ruled from Montana to New Mexico and West Texas - across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley into New England. Imokalee FL was the warmest in the U.S. at 93 deg. and there were 4 locations in UT and WY that shared the nation's lowest temperature at 12 deg.).
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Frost Advisory/Freeze Warning
Posted:Sat, 11 May 2019 06:17:42 GMT
A Frost Advisory will be in effect from 2 am until 8 am for much of West Michigan for early Saturday. It includes four Indiana counties that border Michigan from S. Bend (St. Joseph Co.) to Angola. It's a Freeze Warning for Oceana, Newaygo, Mecosta and Isabella Counties to the north.
Temperatures at ground level (most temperatures are taken at the 5-foot level) will reach the upper 20s to mid 30s.
In the meantime, the sun should break through this PM, but it will be a cool day with temps. 10 deg. cooler than average in the mid 50's (upper 40s at Lake Michigan). We'll see partly sunny skies on Saturday with a chance of a few showers later Saturday night into Sunday.
The cooler than average pattern continues into next week.
Much of Europe is also seeing colder than average temperatures right now. Look at the snow in Italy.
Graduation in the snow - University of Colorado at Boulder - pic. by Glenn Asakawa.
Also: Huge hail in Texas. 125,000 were without power from the storms in SE Texas. 2.14" of rain fell in Galveston TX in 32 minutes. Time lapse - here comes the wind and rain. Flash flood in Russia. Unseasonably cool air in the Southern Plains. Rays and a rainbow. Ka-Boom! Rainbow in Poland. Record warm temps. in OR/WA. Severe t-storm in Moscow - video of trees falling on cars.
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U.S. Drought at Historic Low
Posted:Thu, 09 May 2019 00:53:32 GMT
The amount of drought in the U.S. remains at a historic low. The Drought Monitor shows wet conditions over much of the country, with significant spring flooding in Nebraska and Iowa and high water on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and on the Great Lakes.
The above graph is soil moisture - similar to the Drought Monitor. The entire Corn Belt has above average soil moisture content. The relatively small area of significant drought in the Northwest covers land that is either not used for agriculture or is mostly irrigated (Washington State fruit crops).
This graph shows historic annual corn yield. You can see a couple of years with signficant drought, 2012 - when G.R had the hottest weather since the 1930s - and 1988 - when Grand Rapids had only 1/4" of rain in the entire month of June. You can see the steady increase in yield over the past 30 years.
I was in high school when I first realized that some of the books I had to read seemed to be selected to teach a certain perspective. When I was in college I had to read a book called "The Population Bomb" by Paul Ehrlich. He forecast massive worldwide famine from increasing population. It never happened. What happened was people like Norman Borlaug were making great progress improving yields AND teaching these improved farming methods to other countries and continents. Look at how many people just in China have been brought out of poverty in the last 50 years. It's people like Borlaug who should be read and emulated.
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More Snow for Upper Michigan?
Posted:Thu, 09 May 2019 01:31:24 GMT
This is the European model snow forecast for the U.P. with the higher elevations getting up to 5" of snowfall. This would be wet, heavy snow and temps. would be near 32°, so the snow would compact and some would melt when it hit the ground. The most likely areas to see snow accumulations would be the higher hills in he Keweenaw Peninsula and the higher elevations from the Porcupine Mtns. to just west of Marquette. The most likely time for snow to accumulate would be tonight/Thursday AM. The Marquette NWS Wed. PM discussion said: "GIVEN THE TRENDS AND OBS, BEST GUESS SCENARIO IS 1" TO 3", WITH THE HIGHER END OF THOSE AMOUNTS FALLING IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN LOCATIONS. HOWEVER, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT IF TEMPS END UP COOLER THAN EXPECTED, HIGHER SNOW AMOUNTS WILL BE POSSIBLE."
Here's the Lake Superior satellite picture from Tue. PM. It shows there is still a little snow left on the ground along the spine (higher elevations) of the Keweenaw Peninsula and to the south of Houghton. There is still some ice in the NE corner of Thunder Bay and in Black Bay and Nipigon Bay.
Winter Storm Watches and Winter Weather Advisories are up for the Colorado Mountains, where up to 13" of snow is expected. Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin and Winter Park Ski Areas all remain open on a daily basis in Colorado.
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Spring Peepers - A Chorus Frog
Posted:Mon, 06 May 2019 23:51:36 GMT
Spring peepers have emerged and you can hear them mainly on mild/warm spring nights. The peepers are a variety of chorus frogs and they inhabit much of the Eastern U.S. and Canada. They are relatively small, around an inch long. You might see an X on their back and they tend to be a greenish/tan/light brown color. They blend into their surroundings, so their not easy to spot. They tend to be around smaller ponds and marshes, laying their eggs in calm water (so Lake Michigan and many inland lakes won't do. Tadpoles emerge after around 12 days. You can often hear them 1/2 mile away or more.
They can survive the cold winters and even the polar vortex by burrowing down under logs. A good portion of their body can actually freeze. They like to eat ants, spiders, beetles and flies and they live for about 3 years.
They're one of the many signs of the season unfolding around us, as the land comes alive with the wide variety of plants and creatures who spring to life as temperatures warm and the days get longer.
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Overall Cool Pattern - Wed. PM Update
Posted:Thu, 09 May 2019 01:26:22 GMT
This is 8-14 day outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for May 16 - 22. You can see they expect a large part of the country to see below average temperatures. The darkest blue color on the map is over the Southwest and the Great Lakes. In fact that letter "B" is stamped out right over Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.
The blossoms are out on the ornamental trees (a lot of Bradford pear trees have been planted in urban areas - they have prolific and beautiful white blossoms in the spring - produce little to no fruit, so not so messy and hold their leaves around a week longer in fall - these trees have some shortcomings, which I won't get into here).
The usual spring progression of blossoming of the fruit trees is apricot first, then cherries, then the pears and peaches and then apples. We root (pun intended) for the blossoms to come out later, because there is less chance of a spring frost. That's certainly the case this year, with the cooler (and occasionally drier air with low dewpoints that can result in cool temps. when it's clear and calm) air hanging on here into mid-May.
Last Sunday was the best weather day of this week - we were mostly sunny and low 70s inland to low-mid 50s at the Lake Michigan beaches - with a few showers on Monday...the highest chance of rain in the late Wed. night/Thurs. time period and then it's on the partly sunny and chilly side for Friday PM and Saturday. I'm doing the evening shift this Thursday (5 pm 6 pm, 7 pm 10 pm, 11 pm), so check in and I'll have a fresh forecast for you.
Here's the South Haven beach looking north this Monday morning. You can see a little rain falling out of the clouds. The South Haven beach had a high temperature of 65° Sunday at 10 pm. The wind then was southeast off the land. At 1 pm, their temperature was just 49° with a wind off the cold water. The water temp. at the S. Haven buoy Monday AM was 43.8°. That's cold!
Also...flooding going on in Texas from recent and current heavy rainfall. Flooding along the Mississippi River into Iowa the result of rainfall plus some late -season snowmelt on generally wet ground. Much of Europe is cold - here's very late season snowfall in Luxembourg (side note - my father was 100% Luxembourger - Luxembourg is less than 1,000 square miles and has about 50,000 fewer people than Kent Co. Michigan.
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Severe Storms Fri. - Sun.
Posted:Fri, 10 May 2019 17:11:21 GMT
The above map is the Severe Weather Outlook from the Storm Prediction Center for this PM/night - which is Friday, May 10 PM/night. There is a Marginal Risk Area (in dark green) that runs New York to N. Virginia. General (not severe) thunderstorms are expected to be scattered across the South, the East and Southwest plus the Northern High Plains. No storms in Michigan today.
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Here's the Severe Storm Map for Sat. May 11. Strong storms with a Marginal Risk of Severe Weather are likely across the South...form the Carolinas to SE Texas. The main threat is isolated wind damage.
This is the Severe Weather Map for Sunday May 12 - Mother's Day. There is a Slight Risk of severe weather from the Carolinas down into Georgia. That is surrounded by a Marginal Risk Area (in dark green).
Right now it looks like in a generally cool pattern, the greater risk of severe weather will be south and south of Michigan.
Here's storm reports from Wed. - 70 in all, including 2 tornadoes in Texas and 2 in Louisiana with little damage. There were two reports of a couple trees down in Illlinois. Also, winds gusted to 46 mph at Peru IL and 43 mph at Rochelle IL. We had gusty winds in Michigan Wed. with a peak gust of 40 mph at the Ford Airport in G.R. It was cool in N. Michigan Wed. AM with a low of 17 at Doe Lake, 19 at Raco and Stonington and 23 at Marquette.
Dry weather in Michigan for this Fri. and Sat. Chance of a shower on Sunday. Here's Lightning Tracker and GRR radar:
Regional Radar:
and Southern Plains Radar:
Also: Tarp trap! st
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Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair reach record high water levels
Posted:Sat, 04 May 2019 16:44:12 GMT
The picture above is from Friday PM and was taken at the Chicago water intake (Harrison-Dever Crib) looking west toward downtown. You can see both a low layer of cloiuds and a high layer of clouds. As moist air reaches downtown, the numerous buildings force the air to lift and condense out in a layer of low clouds. Those clouds would not be there if the buildings were not there.
Imagine you're riding an "ouitside" elevator up the John Hancock building. You start out with good visibility at the ground with the low cloud layer above you. Then as you go up you enter the cloud layer (very foggy). Then you come out of the low clouds and you have a low undercast and a high level overcast with breaks in the high clouds. The visibility is good and you can see the tops of the other high skyscrapers poking above the low clouds.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports that the water level of both Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair has reached a record high for the month of May. The water level of Lake Erie rose 10" in the last month. The lake is 7" higher than one year ago and is now 27" higher than the May average. The level is now 1" higher than the previous record high level set in 1986. Erie PA is 2.63" above average precipitation since Jan. 1. and Toledo OH is +2.87" for the year.
Lake St. Clair is also up 10" in the last month and is 11" higher than one year ago. The Lake is now 30" (two and a half feet) higher than the May average and 2" higher than the previous record May high also set in 1986. This kSat. AM - the flow on the Maumee River at Waterville OH was 31,300 cubic feet per second. That's more than 7 times the aveage May 4 flow of 4120 cfs. The Sandusky River at Fremont OH was running at 4,640 cfs compared to an average flow of 508 cfs.
The water level of Lake Michigan/Huron (these lakes are at the same water level - connected by the Stait of Mackinac) is up 8" in the last month, up 9" year-to-year and is now 24" above the average May level. The level is still 7" below the record May level of 1986.
Lake Superior is up 6" in the last month. That's an incredible increase of 3.3 TRILLION gallons of water...mostly due to snowmelt. S.Ste. Marie has had 14,55" of precipitation this year and that's 6.45" above average. Marquette has had 15.60" of precipitation in 2019 and that's 4.64" above average. (pic. from upmatters.com. Lake Ontario is up a whopping 16" in the last month, up 10" in the last year and is now 16" above average.
This is sunshiny Lake Macatawa - late morning Sat. 5/4/19. The water level of lakes connected to the Great Lakes (Lake Mascatawa, Muskegon Lake, etc.) will also rise and fall with the level of Lake Michigan, so these lakes and connecting rivers near the lake also have high water levels now.
Fishing on the Grand River in Grand Rapids. The flow on many Great Lakes area rivers is well above average. Some examples: The Grand River at Grand Rapids has a flow of 11,900 cubic feet per second this Saturday - compared to an average flor for May 4 of 4,550 cfs. The Muskegon River at Croton shows a flowof 4,790 cfs compared to the average of 2,980 cfs. The Kalamazoo River at Comstock is at 2,310 vs. an average flow of 1,100 cfs. The high water flow will continue to feed into the Great Lakes, keeping water levels high or evening increasing them during the month of May.
It's May and there is still a little ice on the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes as a whole is down to 1/2 of 1% ice cover with most of that in a couple of bays in Lake Superior (Black Bay). There is still a little ice and a few floating bergs in Lake Huron and at the east end of Lake Erie, but those should go quicly.
Here's historic maximum Great Lakes Ice Cover. Four of the last 6 winters, Great Lakes maximum ice extent has been well above average.
Here's a record of Lake Michigan ice extent this past winter. Not much ice into about the 3rd week of January because it was mild...then down came the Polar Vortex and ice extent increased rapidly and remained well above average for much of February into early March (rising and falling as strong winds broke up the ice...then it reformed when winds calmed down).
Here's the water temp. of Lake Michigan compared to average. The cloudy, cool pattern over the last week is evident. To warm the lake, we not only need warmer surface temperatures, but we also need the strong sunshine of May and June.
Buoys: South Haven buoy, Port Sheldon buoy, Muskegon buoy, Ludington buoy. The mid-Lake Michigan buoy isn't out yet (as of May 4), but should be out soon.
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Barrow AK reaches 40°
Posted:Sat, 04 May 2019 13:43:37 GMT
The picture above is from the Barrow (now known as Utqiaġvik) webcam Friday evening shortly before 11 pm. This is the land of the midnight sun, north of the Arctic Circle and today the sunrise is at 4:12 am local time and sunset at 12:35 am. In another couple weeks, the sun will be up 24/7 and remain above the horizon until August 2. Barrow reached 40° on April 29. That was the first 40° temp. since last October 9th. So far this winter (they can get snow in any month of the year, even mid-July) they have had 43.9" of snow - that's 9.3" above average. They get less than half the snow that Grand Rapids gets during the winter. There is solid ice on the Arctic Ocean and will be for another couple months, perhaps.
The Barrow Airport still has 8" of snow on the ground. They have had at least 3" of snow on the ground since October 18th.
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Really Low Clouds
Posted:Fri, 03 May 2019 03:25:28 GMT
The top picture is the Mackinac Bridge Thursday. Note the low clouds. The road rises to 200 feet off the water and that's about where the cloud base was located.
This picture of downtown Chicago from Thursday afternoon was taken from the water intake, about 2.75 miles east of downtown. I looked at a loop of pictures and you could see the cloud base moving up and down. It was a pretty sharp cutoff with clouds/thick fog above about the 12th floor.
A cloud at the ground is called fog, of course.
Speaking of the Mackinac Bridge...the bridge will be closing for a brief time between midnight and 3 am Friday night so two scaffolds can be raised for bridge painters. These are the same scaffolds that were raised in 2017 and 2018. Because of the painting, there may be periodic lane closures on the bridge.
Construction on the Bridge started in May 1954. The bridge was opened to traffic on Nov. 1, 1957. The sole source of funding for the bridge is tolls collected from those traveling over the bridge. All revenue is used to maintain, operate and protect the bridge.
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May Snow in Upper Michigan
Posted:Thu, 02 May 2019 03:16:11 GMT
How'd you like to shovel snow on the first day of May? Up to 5 1/2" of snow fell in the U.P. on Wednesday. Here's some snowfall totals:
Marquette is up to 227.1" of snow for the winter and that's more than 2 feet above average. Painesdale started Wednesday with 11" of snow on the ground. Other snow totals from Wed: 4" Laurium and Tamarack, 3.8" National Mine, 3" Ishpeming, Calumet, Harvey and Negaunee, 2" Bruce Crossing, Three Lakes, Allouez, Herman and Little Lake.
Tamarack reported 16" of snow on the ground with 357.2" for the season.
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Heavy Rain in Michigan
Posted:Fri, 03 May 2019 04:20:27 GMT
Here are some rainfall totals from Wed. 5/1/19. There was some flooding in the Detroit area, notably in Dearborn. The 1.2" in Muskegon was a daily record for 5/1. For the year, Grand Rapids has had 14.26" of precipitation - average is 9.72", so that's 4.54" above average. The above average precipitation has come without any significant flooding, but it has contributed to the high water levels of the Great Lakes and some inland lakes.
There were 29 reported tornadoes on Tue. from SW Missouri and SE Kansas south to N Texas. Several injuries were reported near Blue OK.
This map shows the probability of severe weather for May 1. At this time of year, the most likely area to see severe weather is Oklahoma into N. Texas.
Here's Grand Rapids radar - more showers today and perhaps an isolated non-severe thunderstorm.
and Regional Radar. Here's national lightning, local lightning, Michigan weather observations and the latest G.R. NWS forecast discussion.MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/05/02/Rainfall_1556774145698_85564492_ver1.0_640_360.jpg
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30-Day Outlook For May
Posted:Fri, 03 May 2019 02:12:45 GMT
The Climate Prediction Center released their 30-Day Outlook for the month of May today. They are expecting warmer than average weather in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states and also along the West Coast. They expect cooler than average temperatures from the Rockies and Upper Midwest down through the Southern High Plains. This should produce a healthy (for May) contrast of temperatures and lead to a storm track from Texas up into the Great Lakes and Northeast.
This is the 30-day precipitation outlook for the month of May. Much of the country continues to be in a wetter than average pattern and there could be more heavy rain on saturated ground from Central Texas up into Missouri. As of May 2 evening, Grand Rapids is 4.25" above average precipitation for 2019.
Here's the Severe Weather Climatology Map for May 3rd. The greatest likelihood of severe weather is in Oklahoma and North Texas. Note that there is a greater chance of severe weather in S. Lower Michigan than over far South Texas and over much of the Florida Peninsula.
Look at how the map changes as we get into early summer. Severe weather shifts north with the most likely area to see a severe storm on June 24 in Kansas and far S. Nebraska. There is a higher risk area from E. Indiana into Ohio, where stalled fronts generate thunderstorms with wind damage. There is also a peak area from NE Georgia up into the Western Carolinas. On June 24th, there's a greater risk of a severe storm in Kalamazoo or Battle Creek than in Dallas, Texas, where severe weather is more common in April and May.
It's been too cool for much severe weather in Michigan of late, but that will change as temps. warm as the month continues.
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Good Weather for the Start of Tulip Time
Posted:Wed, 01 May 2019 03:08:08 GMT
Showers and an isolated thundershower for tonight, tomorrow and Thursday. We could easily see over an inch of rain. After that the sunshine returns and the weather should be good for the official start of Tulip Time this coming weekend.
Saturday, look for high temperatures in the upper 50s in Holland (low 50s at Lake Michigan). Winds should be light and mainly from the north, swinging around to the west-northwest off the lake during the midday and afternoon. Look for partly sunny skies on Sunday with highs in the low 60s in Holland.
This picture is from Windmill Island Tuesday. You can see DeZwann ("the swan"), the authentic Dutch windmill. This windmill was constructed in The Netherlands in 1761, so it's 258 years old. It was brought to Holland, Michigan in 1964. The five-story windmill is 125 feet high and the sails are 40-feet long. There are 100,000 tulips planted at Windmill Island and you can see kind of a small version of the Mackinac Bridge and authentic Dutch buildings.
The idea for Tulip Time came from Lida Rogers, a biology teacher at Holland High School. In 1928, the city purchased 100,000 tulips and sold them to residents for a penny apiece. Those tulips bloomed in 1929 and in the early 1930s, Tulip Time in early May was an annual event, with thousands of visitors coming to see the city's tulips. By the mid-1930s, Tulip Time in Holland was a nationally-known event that lasted 9 days.
Traditionally, there are 3 parades, all occurring at 2 pm. On Wednesday is the Volksparade (or people's parade). Thursday is the Children's Parade and Saturday is the big Musiekparade. That parade lasts 2 hours and is known for the many school bands and colorful floats. Former WOOD-TV employee and ABC (WOTV4) Meteorologist Ginger Zee will be this year's Grand Marshal. I'll be walking in the parade along with the WOOD news anchors, so wave and say "hi" when we pass by. The first year I was in the Musiekparade was 1975 and I've either been in it or I've done the live broadcast pretty much every year since. I don't remember a Tulip Parade with snow...but I do remember heat, cold, wind and rain during he parade.
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Cool and Wet
Posted:Tue, 30 Apr 2019 03:31:49 GMT
Here's the high and low temperatures for Monday. The high of 46° in Grand Rapids was 18° cooler than average for the date. The record high temperature for Monday was 90° set in 1899. That's the only time the temperature has reached 90° in Grand Rapids during the month of April. That was also the year we had the coldest temperature ever in Grand Rapids (-24° on Feb. 13-14, 1899). It was also the coldest air mass ever over the Eastern U.S. with temperatures as cold as -2° all the way down at Tallahassee, Florida!
The record low temp. for Monday is also interesting. It occurred three times, in 1977, 1979 and in 2012. In 1977 and in 1979 we were coming slowly out of very cold and snowy winters. You might remember 2012. That year we had the warmest March ever, with a week of days in the 80s. The blossoms came out too soon. The low of 28° was a hard freeze and after that we have virtually no fruit crop. We also had another big heat wave in July of 2012, when we had the warmest temperatures (up to 104° in Gr. Rapids) since the 1930s.
Here's high temperatures Monday in W. Michigan. Benton Harbor was the only location to reach 50 degrees. The meteorology students at CMU reported a few snowflakes mixed in for a while at Mt. Pleasant. Light snow fell across N. Lower and Upper Michigan, but temps. were above freezing and the snow was pretty much melting on contact with the ground.
Here's high temperatures for the rest of the week...a warming trend will bring temps. to the mid 50s today, low-to-mid 60s on Wednesday and near 70 over the coming weekend.
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Wet Weather This Week
Posted:Tue, 30 Apr 2019 13:09:38 GMT
No more snow this week, but we'll have several chances of rain. The map above is the 3-Day Total Rainfall Forecast from the Weather Prediction Center for Wednesday AM to Friday AM Heavy rainfall is forecast from Texas to Southern Michigan. Totals could be as high as 2" in West Michigan. The Southeast U.S. stays quite warm and generally dry.
Sscattered showers this afternoon with showers and thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow. Here's current radar:
and Regional Radar:
So far this month of April is 0.3 deg. warmer than average, with a healthy average wind speed of 12 mph. Gr. Rapids has had 3.28" of precipitation and that's 0.29" above average. We've had snow on 6 days this month.
The highest temp. in the U.S. Sun. was 106 at Rio Grande Villa Texas and the lowest was +1 at Casa Vieta Meadows California.
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Snow and Ice
Posted:Mon, 29 Apr 2019 07:00:13 GMT
The map above is U.S. snowcover early Sunday AM. You can see the swath of snow that fell from NE Iowa across far S. Wisconsin and for N. Illnois into SW Michigan. Here's some snowfall totals from West Michigan.
More totals: Wayland 2.2", Kalamazoo 1.6", Hopkins 0.9", Caledonia 0.5". There is still snow on the ground in parts of Upper Michigan. Season snowfall stands at 81.3" for Grand Rapids (6.4" above average), 81.7" for Kalamazoo (3.5" above average) and 77.2" for Muskegon (16.5" below average). Fremont still wins the season snow total race this winter with 95.7".
Here's some snow reports from S. Wisconsin and N. Illnois - up to 6" fell. Check out the snow on the field at White Sox/Tigers game Sat.
This is the Mt. Ripley Ski Area by Michigan Tech. They still have snow.
This is a zoomed in satellite picture of the Keweenaw Peninsula. You can see snow on the ground both noth and south of Houghton.
This is Boyne Mt. Sunday evening. They wrapped up a great season this weekend. Ski Brule near Iron River in the U.P. also was open this past weekend. They opened on Nov. 9 - giving them a ski season of 169 days - that's over 46% of the year. Ski Brule is often the first to open and the last to close.
There's still some ice left on the Great Lakes, but we're down to 2% coverage. There's a little left in Lake Superior, in the North Channel of Lake Huron and at the east wnd of Lake Erie.
Here's the Lake Michigan satellite picture from Sunday PM - you can see a mixture of thin cirrus clouds coming in from the west and jet contrails. The Saturday night snow had melted by the time this picture was taken at mid-afternoon.
Here's a record of late-season snowfalls in West Michigan. The Saturday snowfall made it into 3rd place at Bloomingdale (Van Buren Co.) and 4th place at Kalamazoo. You can see that we've had snow events all the way into the second week of May.
Here's another view of North American snow and ice cover. This analysis was down after the snow across the S. Great Lakes had melted. You can see there is still a lot of snow across Eastern Canada and in the higher Western Mountains. Hudson Bay will likely have some ice on it into early July.
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Wind Advisory
Posted:Sat, 27 Apr 2019 15:38:36 GMT
A Wind Advisory will be in effect from Noon until Midnight for gusts of 35-45 mph. The advisory extends from the I-94 counties all the way north to cover all of N. Lower Michigan and eastern Upper Michigan. See counties in brown on the map below:
Winds will diminish after midnight. Waves are increasing out on Lake Michigan and Small Craft Advisories will be in effect into this (Fri.) evening. Here's a pic. of the lake from S. Haven at 9:03 am and the waves were already coming over the breakwater:
When I checked, the S. Haven buoy had a water temp. of 42.2 (cold!) and waves were approaching 4 feet. They should increase to +6 feet this PM.
Peak wind gusts Friday: 54 mph Battle Creek/Springfield, 52 mph Pellston, Jackson (Sandstone), 50 mph Ossineke, 47 mph Kalamazoo/Portage, Gobles, 46 mph Holland, Manistique, 45 mph Grand Rapids, Alpena, 44 mph Muskegon.
Here's the G.R. National Weather Service Graphic for Fri./Sat....windy Friday, (becoming) mostly sunny - windy, 60° inland, 50° at Lake Michigan, wind northwest 20-25 mph, gusts to 35-45 mph...there were a few downed limbs, isolated power outages. Winds calmed down Friday night - mostly clear and cold with scattered freeze/frost possible. Saturday, clouds arrive around or shortly after daybreak...the morning is dry...with precipitation moving in from WSW to ENE during the PM. For most of us, it starts as rain and goes over to snow. There may not be any raini or snow north of Newaygo Co. See my snow thread (story) for more on that.
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Snow Saturday Night
Posted:Sun, 28 Apr 2019 06:03:13 GMT
Snow totaled 1-3" from Allegan and Barry Counties south to the Indiana Border. Clouds move east during the early morning and we'll be sunny this Sunday with any snow melting quickly. Rain is on the way for the period from Monday PM into Wednesday.
Snowfall totaled 3" in Oshtemo. Kalamazoo (WMU) was up to 1.6" which puts Kalamazoo AHEAD of Grand Rapids for seasnow snowfall. G.R. current total for this winter is at 81.3" (6.4" above average) and Kalamazoo at 81.7" (3.5" above average).
These were the counties under the Winter Weather Advisory:
Here's radar:
and regional radar:
Average high temperatures for inland areas are now in the mid 60s...so even a day that's 20 degrees colder than average still has highs in the mid 40s - so snow doesn't stick around, especially with the high sun angle at this time of year.
This has been a "bookends" winter...with snow at the beginning in November...then nothing much in December and the first two and a half weeks of January...then a lot of winter weather in late January and February with occasional snow events in March and now April.
The record daily snowfall for Grand Rapids on 4/27 is 0.2" in 2004 and the record daily snowfall for G.R. on 4/28 is 0.9" in 1961 (which was our snowiest April ever).
Storm Team 8 talked about the snow potential on WOOD AM1300 and 106.9FM this Saturday afternoon, April 27 from 3 pm to 4 pm. We'll took your questions on the air. You can go here and hear a recording of the show.
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Wet Pattern Continues
Posted:Thu, 25 Apr 2019 11:29:39 GMT
The above map is the precipiation probability forecast for May 2 - 8 from the Climate Prediction Center. Much of the country and all the Great Lakes are expected to see above average rainfall.
So far, the month of April has brought Grand Rapids 3.15" of precipitation. That's 0.49" above average. For the year, G.R. has had 11.71" of precipitation and that's 2.8" above average. The above average precipitation has kept river levels above average, which in turn has continued to keep the water levels of the Great Lakes significantly higher than average. Lake Michigan is now 2 feet higher than the long-term April Average.
The Drought Monitor has hit a record low amount of area experiencing significant drought. There isn't a single acre experiencing even mild drought in the Midwest and the ground should have good soil moisture across the Corn Belt as planting season gets underway.
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Dredging at S. Haven
Posted:Thu, 25 Apr 2019 10:30:41 GMT
This pic. was Lake Michigan at S. Haven Wed. evening. You can see a small fishing boat, to the left of that...a barge that's dredging and - look to the right of the logo and you'll see a ship in the distance. That's the "Alpena" heading toward Muskegon at about 14 mph. The daily high temp. at S. Haven was 51.1 at 11 am, then the lake breeze kicked in and the temp. fell into the 40s and stayed there all afternoon. It then rose back to 53.8 at 11 pm when the wind went east off the land.
Here's another view of the dredger out past the lighthouse. The dredging area is from the Dyckman Bridge out through the channel and out around the channel mouth. They hope to take out 45,000 cubic yards of sand in two weeks. They are using 10 sections of 1000-foot pipe. Hopefully, we won't have too many really windy days. The water level of Lake Michigan is 2 feet higher than average. The high water level means it's possible for some ships to carry a little heavier load and set a few inches down into the water. In general, more dredging has to be done when water levels are low.
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Scattered Frost Wed. AM
Posted:Wed, 24 Apr 2019 17:08:31 GMT
A Frost Advisory was in effect from Ottawa and Kent Counties to the south this early Wed. AM. The reason counties to the north were not included in the Frost Advisory is that vegetation isn't quite as far along as it is to the south. However, scattered frost did occur in all counties overnight.
These were predicted low temperatures...most areas in the low-mid 30s, but the coldest low spots will see daybreak temperatures in the 20s.
Bulb flowers like tulips, daffodils and hyacints may wilt a little if temperatures fall below freezing, but bounce right back when temperatures warm. Some other flowers like pansies will also shake off a brief time at or just below freezing.
Here's low temps. Weds. AM: South Haven Lighthouse 38.5°, Muskegon Beach 37°. It dropped to 35° in Grand Rapids (airport), Sturgis and Hillsdale, 34° Ionia (airport), 33° Kalamazoo, Coldwater, Grandville, Sparta, Mendon and Lawton, 32° Three Rivers, Alma, Mt. Pleasant, Marshall, Charlotte, Battle Creek, Jackson, Hastings, Hudsonville and Albion, 31° at Holland (airport), S. Haven (airport), Benton Harbor (airport), East Gr. Rapids, Bloomingdale, Belding, Clarksville, Fennville, Allegan, Hartford and Watervliet, 30° at Muskegon, Big Rapids, Fremont, Shelby and Ludington, Entrican (Montcalm Co.), West Olive and Grand Junction, 29° at Houghton Lake, Lawrence, Hart and Mecosta, 27° at Kent City, Evart, Manistee and Cadillac, 26° Benona (Oceana Co.), 24° Pellston and Vanderbilt, 23° Baldwin and 22° at Leota.
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Great Lakes Ice
Posted:Tue, 23 Apr 2019 06:28:41 GMT
The above picture is the Lake Erie satellite picture from Monday, April 22. There is still some ice at the east edge of the lake.
Here's Great Lakes ice cover Monday PM (4/22). You can see Lake Erie still has a 4.5% ice cover. It'll be interesting to see if any ice is left on May 1 - pretty late in the spring for the last ice to disappear from the lake. Lake Michigan is down to 2/10ths of 1% as of Monday PM - that may be gone today or tomorrow. Lake Huron had the highest percentage at 13.1% - some floating ice in Georgian Bay and some ice in the North Channel. Lake Superior is at 6.9% - with ice in Whitefish Bay, west of the Keweenaw Peninsula and some ice in Thunder Bay, Black Bay and Nipigon Bay.
Looking back through recent years with the most ice, I found that the first ice free day on Lake Erie in 2014 was May 1 and the first ice free day in 2015 was April 20. For Lake Superior, the first ice free day was June 6 in 2014 and May 28 in 2015. I did the Pictured Rocks day-long kayak trip in August 2014 and the guide said the first day they did not see any ice in any of the caves was July 1.
Check out this story, which quotes me from back in 2014.
This picture from the Marquette NWS facebook page and Dan Van B. and this picture from Melissa Ellis circulated all over the globe.
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Bill and Gayle - 41 Years Together
Posted:Mon, 22 Apr 2019 06:29:20 GMT
Just a quick note - today Gayle and I are celebrating our 41st wedding anniversary. Gayle has been an incredible helper all these years and my bestest friend. The weather that day was perfect...sunny and pleasant, low 60s with light winds. We left after the wedding that evening for several days at Disneyworld, then several days on Sanibel Island.
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Severe Weather So Far in 2019
Posted:Mon, 22 Apr 2019 06:37:07 GMT
The map above shows severe weather reports for the U.S. so far in 2019. A red dot represents a tornado, a blue dot wind damage or a gust of 58 or more mph and a green dot is hail 1" in diameter or greater.
Here's the 22 severe reports in Michigan so far this year. All but 2 of the wind reports came in the afternoon/evening of March 14. You can see the reports in a straight line from on t-storm that moved from Cass Co. to the Thumb area.
Here's a map that shows where the Tornado Watches have been so far this year. None in Michigan. This year we've had a lot of severe storms in MS, AL and western TN - and from GA up into VA. Severe weather usually starts in late winter in the South...moves west to OK and TX in mid-late spring and then north in the summer.
Here's severe thunderstorm watches so far this year...one so far in SE Michigan...with the highest concentration from TX and LA north to SW Missouri.
There have been 27 tornado fatalities so far this year. We only had 10 fatalities in the U.S. from tornadoes last year. Twenty-Three of the fatalities were in Lee Co. AL. on March 3rd. There have been 4 killer tornadoes so far this year. Two of them hit Monroe Co. MS on separate days (Feb. 23 and Apr. 13). The other two fatalities were north of Houston TX also on 4/13.
This map shows the percent probability of a severe weather report within 25 miles of a given location on April 22 in the U.S. The area of Northeast Texas into Central and Eastern OK has the highest chance of severe weather anywhere in the world on April 22.
This is the Severe Weather Probability Map from the Storm Prediction Center for this Monday PM/Night (4/22). The highest risk is in the (yellow) Slight Risk Area across parts of NW Texas. That's surrounded by a (dark green) Marginal Risk Area. There is a second Marginal Risk Area across parts of S. Wisconsin, N. Illinois and E. Iowa. Lower Michigan is in the (light green) non-severe thunderstorm outlook for mainly tonight. SPC says: ",,,low-level veering of the winds with height may support rotating storms with marginal hail, wind, or a brief tornado (especially over WI where LCLs will be lower). We'll be tracking the showers and storms this evening following what should be the warmest day of 2019 so far with highs in the upper 70s.
Humidities were very low over the weekend. Lowest humidity Sunday: Muskegon 17%, Kalamazoo 23%, Holland 24%, Battle Creek 26%, Grand Rapids 27%. With a lot of dry brush on the ground, the wildfire danger is elevated today and will remain on the high side until things green uo.
Also check out - The National Lightning Map. U.S. Power Outages. Michigan Weather Observations.
And...Volcano erupts on Bali...
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A Walk in the Park
Posted:Mon, 22 Apr 2019 02:00:59 GMT
First some mood music - one of my favorite happy songs. I usually work in the church nursery every Sunday, but got today off, so I actually wore a suit - just wanted to dress up once for church. There wasn't an empty seat - glad we got there a little early. My 3 daughters either went to other sides of the family or had to work...so Gayle and I had a nice lunch - opened up the 3-season porch. We have been trying to walk regularly. In winter, that's usually the treadmill...in spring we can get out. Today, we went to nearby Dwight Lydell Park - on West River Drive in Comstock Park.
Comstock Park was first called North's Mill back in the 1830s (after Daniel North). Then it was known as Six Mills and was referred to as "Little Chicago". In 1848, it was named Mill Creek. Finally, in 1906, it was given the name Comstock Park, after George Comstock, who was a local congressman (and lived on the other side of the Grand River).
Here's a long view of the paved path that circles much of the park. The path is over 1/2 mile long. The park is 39 acres and is partly in Plainfield Township and partly in Alpine Township.
Look at the people on the park Sunday...I saw walkers, joggers, scooters, 2 segways, quite a few dog walkers, kids in strollers. The temperature was a perfect 72 and the sun was warm.
There's a nice playground at the park. Lots of people (and happy kids) were at the park on Sunday. I remember when my kids (now in their upper 30s) played here.
In 1976, the Comstock Park Rotary raised the funds to put up a mill wheel just west of West River Dr. For safety purposes, the wheel does not turn. This is where there was a mill dam back in the late 19th and early 20th century. The dam washed out in a flood in 1911. There were 7 mills that ground grain and helped at the saw mills. There were also two tanneries here. Mill Creek begins at Cranberry Lake, goes under the building on the east side of West River Dr. (that used to be Comstock Park Foods).
There were kids and parents at the baseball diamond Sunday PM. When I was a kid growing up near Chicago, we used to play whiffle ball (it wouldn't go so far) in the street - I then played 3 seasons in Little League. I had two glory moments in Little League - hitting a grand slam home run in the 9th inning to win a game...and hitting a double in the B League All-Star Game.
Along the path, you'll pass the old train station, built in 1914. It's now the H.Q of the Grand Rapids Model RR Historical Society. When I was a kid, I got a Lionel Train for Christmas one year...four cars, just went around a small track in a circle.
We saw a number of flowers along the path. Here's some pretty daffodils across the creek in the "backyard" of the Comstock Park Congregational Church.
I saw white flowers and a couple different kinds of purple flowers along the path.
And what would spring be here in Michigan without our bright yellow dandelions.
There are several fish ponds at the park. The ponds were part of a state fish hatchery that existed until the 1940s. Fish were loaded into tanks and taken around Michigan by train. Gayle and I saw dozens of small fish in the ponds this PM.
There were a pair of geese at the ponds. This appeared to be a male and there was what appeared to be a female sitting on a nest. The geese are safe behind a fence. I saw another pair of geese fly overhead and there was a pair of ducks in the creek.
Red buds are out on (I think they are) maple trees by the ponds. I don't have a pic. of it, but the forsythias are turning yellow.
Here's some berries that made it through the winter and some green buds by a pond along the path in the park.
Here's a tornado siren across the creek next to the Comstock Park (Plainfield Township) Library. Sirens in Kent Co. are tested on the first Friday of the month from April through October.
You could see branches under some of the trees that were broken off during the ice storm we had in early February.
There are two bridges over the creek in the park. This is looking east toward the Grand River. You can see the cement walls along the creek - some of those crumbling walls are over 100 years old, going back to the days of the mills. A big construction product will start soon. The old walls will be taken oiut and the river will be cleaned up. A couple years from now, the park will look quite a bit different.
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Crazy Temperatures Saturday
Posted:Sun, 21 Apr 2019 07:15:05 GMT
Some crazy temperatures on Saturday. Top pic. is sunset at the Muskegon Beach - 5 boats - all behind the breakwater where the water was much calmer - probably all 5 fishing. The temperature here at the beach was 60.8° at 1 pm - with a wind off the land from the east-northeast at 14 mph. One hour later at 2 pm, the temperature was 43.0° - a drop of 17.8° during the hour of highest sun in late April. The wind shifted to the NNW off the cold water.
This is the S. Haven Channel Sat. PM. It looks like the channel is cloudy, but there is full sunshine...the water coming out of the river is just that much darker. Also note the higher water level on Lake Michigan makes it easy for the waves to come over the breakwater. You really have to be careful - a rogue wave can wash you into the water, which is very cold at this time of year. You don't want to be in the water without an appropriate wet or dry suit. Here at S. Haven, the high temperature for the day was 45.3° at 11 pm. During the afternoon it was in the low 40s with a brisk and chilly NNW wind off the water.
A short distance inland, it was much warmer. At the same time the Muskegon Airport (3 miles inland) reached a high of 71°, the beach temp. was 43.7°. Inland high temps. where it was sunny: Fremont 69°, Cadillac 67°, Grand Rapids 66°, Big Rapids 65°, Kalamazoo 64°,
Now, check out this Saturday satellite picture, showing the swirl of clouds and rain in SE Michigan. Under the clouds and in the rain, it was chilly. High temps. Saturday included 44° in Detroit, where they had 0.82" of rain, 43° in Ann Arbor, where they had 0.74" of rain and 44 at Jackson, where they had 0.48" of rain. When was the last time Jackson was 27° cooler than Muskegon?
It was a warm day in Upper Michigan, despite some snow on the ground. You can see the snow around the lake on the Sat. PM Lake Superior satellite picture. S. Ste. Marie had a high temp. of 63° despite ending the day with 4" of snow on the ground. Pelkie had the warmest temp. in the U.P. with a high of 71°. Baraga Plains rose from a morning low temp. of 24° to a high of 70°. Iron Mountain rose from 22° to 69°, a climb of 47°. The late April sun climbs high in the sky and can really warm the clear and relatively dry air we had over us.
Here's a great Lake Michigan satellite picture from Sat. PM - showing the clouds to the east of Kalamazoo and Ionia. Note that there was still some snow on the ground east and northeast of Traverse Bay. The land is pretty brown, but the mild pattern should make the land noticeably greener in the next 10 days to 2 weeks. Timing looks good for the tulips in Holland. Tulip Time starts Saturday, May 4th.
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Great Lakes Water Levels, Ice Extent and News
Posted:Sat, 20 Apr 2019 20:08:04 GMT
The top picture is at South Haven, Michigan Friday Evening. A brisk north wind kicked up waves up to 6 feet that crashed over the breakwater. I saw surfers, a kayak, a paddleboard and a couple of kite surfers on the south side of the channel.
This was South Haven Friday evening - waves up to 6 feet were crashing over the breakwater. Great Lakes water levels are high and should remain high through the summer. The water level of Lake Michigan/Huron (one big lake for lake level purposes) is now 23" higher than the April average level. It's up 4" in the last month and up 7" in the last year. Lake Superior is up 2" in the last month (fortunately, they are melting the deep snowpack without heavy rain) and up 6" year-to-year. Superior is 14" above the April average and only 2" below the record highest level for April set in 1986. Lake Erie is up 6" in the last month, unchanged in the last year, but remains a full 2 feet higher than the April average. Lake Ontario also went up 6" in the last month. Ontario is 2" higher than one year ago and 9" higher than average for April. Lake St. Clair is also up 4" in the last month, down 1" from one year ago and is now 25" above the April average.
All the rivers that connect the Great Lakes have above average flow and that should continue through most or all of 2019. The St. Mary's River at Sault Ste. Marie has a flow of 90,300 cubic feet per second. The St. Clair River has a flow of 256,000 cfs and the Detroit River has a flow of 275,000 cfs - all well above average flow.
This is Tahquamenon Falls April 15 - snow has been melting at a pretty quick pace across the U.P. and rivers are high. Precipitation has been above average this month over much of the U.P. and rivers are high. As I write this, the Tahquamenon River at Paradise has a flow of 4,960 cfs compared to an average flow of 2,960 for today. The Ontonagon River at Rockland has a flow of 9,990 cfs compared to an average April flow of 3,300 cfs. Marquette has had 3.37" of precipitation this month - 1.37" above average and S. Ste. Marie has picked up 3.25" of precipitation and that's 1.68" above average.
This is the Grand River in Grand Rapids. This time of year, fishermen are looking to catch steelhead. The river level in G.R. at this time (Sat. 4/20 PM) has a flow of 9,560 cfs (average for 4/20 is 5,620 cfs). The Muskegon River at Croton shows a flow of 5,540 cfs (average = 2,940 cfs) and the Kalamazoo River at New Richmond has a flow of 3,640 cfs (average is 2,740 cfs).
Great Lakes ice extent is down to 6.5%. The first ice on Lake Superior was Nov. 14, so we've gone 5 months and a week with some ice on the lakes. There's just a smidgen of ice left in Lake Michigan. Ice is gone from Lake Ontario and Lake St. Clair and will be gone from Lake Erie in a couple-three days.
Great Lakes News: Great Lakes buoys are going to be deployed soon. Check buoy data here. Strait of Mackinac a bird superhighway. Why is Isle Royale part of Michigan instead of Minnesota? Protection from Asian carp. Improving water quality. Cruisin' the Great Lakes. Day trips planned to Lake Michigan's most remote lighthouse. Fishing Lake Erie. The giant ice boom on Lake Erie. Wolves on Isle Royale. Adopt-a-beach. $225,000 available. Trout limit on Traverse Bay cut in half. Shooting the waves. Split Rock Lighthouse keeper retires after 36 years. Marine sanctuary moving forward. The engineering marvel that unlocked a continent. Will wolves move into Lower Michigan? Dune photos sought for research project. Creepy parasites. Thousands of dead fish. Film on Great Lakes birds. Golfball pollution. Labor shortage in the Great Lakes in strong economy. A story about moose poop. Opening up mines in Upper Michigan. Famous freighter returns to the Great Lakes. Tall ship update. Lake Michigan property to become nature preserve. Strong shipping season forecast. Removing the Boardman Dam. Grand River concerns. Dogs chasing gulls.
This story is plain and simply not true.
Look at the graph of Great Lakes ice cover. It's steady - not declining! They're very clever at manipulating the data. Note they say "40 years ago". 40 years ago was 1979 - the year with the highest ice extent on the Great Lakes. What if they started with 1983? They could say that Great Lakes ice was increasing rapidly. Great Lakes ice extent peaked at 80.87% this year in early March. That's well above average ice extent in 4 of the last 6 years. Why did they use 40 years - I'll guess it's to fit the narrative. Here's the graph - the complete record - show the graph and let people make up their own mind.
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Easter Sunday
Posted:Sun, 21 Apr 2019 23:23:18 GMT
It'll be sunny for the bunny,,,Fair for the hare...no hail on the cottontail! We'll be dry and warm this Easter Sunday. First, here's regional radar:
and local G.R. radar:;Clouds and rain that covered the SE part of Lower Michigan are moving east and those areas will be much warmer this Sunday PM.
We were partly to mostly sunny this Easter Sunday with highs in the low 70s (low-mid 50s at the Lake Michigan beaches most of the afternoon). Winds have been light south-southwest. Monday should be even warmer, with afternoon temps. in the mid-upper 70s. We'll have a chance of a shower or thunderstorm Monday night into early Tuesday.
High temperatures Sunday so far: 72 Grand Rapids and Holland (airport), 71 Kalamazoo, 70 Battle Creek and Muskegon (airport). The high temp. at the Muskegon Beach has been 57.7 at 7 pm.
Also check out - The National Lightning Map. U.S. Power Outages. Michigan Weather Observations.
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: https://media.woodtv.com/nxs-woodtv-media-us-east-1/photo/2019/04/18/Easter%20Graphic_1555605261890.jpg_83144662_ver1.0_640_360.jpg
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Season Snowfall Update
Posted:Mon, 15 Apr 2019 13:34:00 GMT
Grand Rapids officially added 4.1" of snow on Sunday (airport), bringing the season total to 81.2". That's 6.7" above average. Note that Matt Kirkwood's pre-season snowfall forecast was 85" - so this is coming pretty close. The 4.1" was a daily record for Grand Rapids. Muskegon had 6.7" of snow on Sunday - the 5th greatest midnight-to-midnight snow ever in Muskegon during the month of April. This was also a daily record. Muskegon's season snowfall is at 77.2" - less than G.R. That's 16" below the season average. Kalamazoo added 3.6" to bring the season total to 80.1", whih is 2.4" above season average.
Snow on the ground Mon. AM: 1" Lansing and Manistique, 2" Hastings, Saginaw, 3" Grand Rapids (airport), East Gr. Rapids, 4" Grandville, Comstock Park, 5" Hart, Holland, 6" Muskegon, 8" Big Rapids, 9" Ishpeming, 10" Atlantic Mine, 14" Newberry, 17" Marquette, 19" Munising, 20" Hancock.
Precipitation totaled 0.82" in Gr. Rapids, 0.97" in Muskegon, 0.73" in Holland, 0.52" in Kalamazoo and 0.57" in Battle Creek
Peak wind gusts Sunday: Grand Rapids 45 mph, Holland 36 mph, Muskegon 32 mph.
Chicago had a daily record 5.4" of snow (O' Hare). Other Illinois snow totals: 8.5" Woodstock (where they filmed the movie Groundhog Day), 8.0" Sycamore, 7.5" Huntley, 7.4" DeKalb, 7.2" Medinah, 4.4" Midway Airport
Wisconsin snow totals: Union Grove 9.0", Twin Lakes 8.5", Camp Lake and Paddock Lake 8.0", Powers Lake 7.8", Caledonia 7.0", Kenosha 6.7", Racine 6.0", Milwaukee 3.6".
I talked to my sister in Oak Ridge TN. - very windy there today - Knoxville had a temp. of 81 with sunshine and a wind gusting as high as 46 mph at 4:30 pm. By 2:10 am, the temperature was down to 46.
There were 192 reports of severe weather on Sunday in 13 states. There were only two tornadoes - one of them in Northern Ohio. Winjds hit 76 mph at Buckhannon W. VA and 2" hail fell at Wattsburg PM. We're tracking the chance of severe weather in the S. Great Lakes next Thursday - more on that later.
Here's Great Lakes ice cover:
You can still see a little floating ice in this Mon. AM shot of the Mackinac Bridge:
Here's snow on the ground with sunshine and blue sky in Holland:
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