I think April will turn out warmer than average in West Michigan, despite starting out with well below average temperatures on April 1. Thursday happens to be the Tigers opener (against Cleveland at 1:10 pm). Will the weather be fair or foul? I can tell you the big story will be the cold weather. Temperatures during the game are likely to be in the mid-upper 30s with a healthy northwest wind. Wind chills will be in the 20s. It’ll be partly sunny. I can’t rule out a couple of snowflakes, but nothing that would interfere with the game. It’ll be quite a shock from playing in Florida with temps. in the 70s and 80s. The Whitecaps are starting later…opening on the road on May 4 with their first home game on May 11.
I didn’t grab this pic. until after midnight, so the days advanced and there is no Monday. Today should be mostly sunny- chilly early – below freezing – then up into the low-mid 50s this afternoon as winds pick up from the south. Gale Warnings will be in effect on Lake Michigan from 5 pm today until 11 am tomorrow. Winds will be south-southwest, with waves increasing to up to 8-10 feet in Oceana and Mason Counties. Tuesday we’re up to the low-mid 60s (cooler at Lake Michigan). A cold front comes through with some light showers Tuesday evening/night, then colder weather moves into Lower Michigan. We’ll be in the low-mid 40s on Wednesday, then just the 30s on Thursday. We’ll have a quick rebound to the upper 40s on Friday and near 60° for Saturday and Sunday.
Here’s the latest 8-14 Day Outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for April 5-11. They predict warmer than average weather over the eastern 3/4ths of the country, centered in the Plains states, where temperatures should soar into the 80s. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a 70-degree day in West Michigan.
So far this month of March is averaging 5.9° warmer than average – kind of balancing out February, which was 6.0° colder than average. Sunday, Grand Rapids was 5° warmer than average. I know that sounds wrong. The temperatures were in the mid-upper 30s during the day, but temperatures are measured from midnight-to-midnight and Grand Rapids had a high temperature of 54° at 1:19 am right before the cold front went through.
This is rather unusual. This is the Severe Weather Forecast Map for today (Mon.) from the Storm Prediction Center. Not only do they expect no severe thunderstorms in the U.S. today…they’re not expecting any thunderstorms in the entire U.S. today. You can see that in mid-winter, but it’s pretty unusual to have that happen at the end of March.
Check this out – before and after pic. of house leveled by Newnan GA tornado. Volleyball next to a volcano. Full moon right now…the “Worm Moon”…and the worms came out at my house after the recent rain. Also, I heard the spring peepers.
Well, they weren’t caused by thunderstorms, but there were sure severe winds in Montana on Sunday. My wife spent a summer working at Glacier National Park. Montana is one of the few states that I have never visited.
Here’s peak wind gusts in West Michigan from Sunday. Gale Warnings were in effect for Lake Michigan with waves crashing over the piers and breakwaters.
West Michigan had a few flakes dancing through the air Sunday PM. Heavier snow fell across N. Lower and Upper Michigan. This was the scene at the Mackinac Bridge. New snow: 6″ Herman, 4.6″ Marquette, 4.5″ Ishpeming, 4″ Grand Marais and 2-3″ in the Sault Ste. Marie Area. Painesdale still has 16″ of snow on the ground with 14″ at Hancock.
Here’s peak winds in N. Lower Michigan on Sunday. Areas that had both the strong wind and the snow had a pretty wintry day.
Here’s peak gusts from N. Indiana, NW Ohio and far Southern Lower MI (inc. Benton Harbor, Three Rivers, Hillsdale and Coldwater.
The water temperature of Reeds Lake is 44° and at Holland St. Park the water temp. is 43°. Muskegon has had less than 11/2″ of precipitation this month (0.48″ – that’s 1.53″ below average). Battle Creek has ha 2.04″ and that’s 0.36″ above average.
Here’s some rainfall totals from Saturday evening/night. Mendon had the most and there was generally more rain the farther SE you went.
The South has already had severe days with severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. The same storms brought very heavy rain to Tennessee and the mid-South. Nashville TN had 5.75″ of rain on Saturday, their wettest March day ever.
Also: Double rainbow. Beautiful magnolias. High fire danger in the Plains.
