Sunshine!
February 4th, 2009 at 12:56 pm by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Weather
It’s been nice to see some sunshine. This has been a very cloudy winter. Since the first week of November we’ve had less than 20% of possible sunshine. We haven’t had even one minute of sunshine on 40 of the last 89 days and during that time we’ve only had six days with more than 70% sunshine. Daylight is increasing at a pretty good clip now. We’ll gain 17 minutes of daylight in the next week. We’ve gained one hour and eight minutes of daylight since the Winter Solstice occurred back on Dec. 21. The sun now climbs to 31 degrees above the horizon at solar noon (12:57 PM). However, when you have a fresh snowcover, much of the sun’s light and heat is reflected back to space. This morning the temperature dropped below zero at Holland, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. Holland has been zero or colder eight times this winter, at Kalamazoo it’s nine times and Battle Creek has been zero or colder ten times this winter. It was -27 at Pellston in northern Lower Michigan this morning. Check the satellite loop (daytime) and you can see the clear skies over much of Lower Michigan. Note the difference between the darker forested area north of G.R. with the whiter areas where snow is on the ground over the corn and soybean fields. Also note the band of lake-effect snow that’s been giving the big dump to northern Indiana (see thread below). A waxing (that means each night it’s getting a little bigger) moon and the bright planet Venus (in the WSW) grace our evening sky. Comet Lulin is now visible with binoculars rising shortly before midnight. The comet will be closest to Earth on Feb. 24th. Click for Grand Rapids radar, and current Michigan weather observations. Check out the ice on Lake Michigan (daylight only) at Holland, Grand Haven, Muskegon and Downtown Chicago and the north side of Chicago lakeshore…check out the 3-5 feet of snow on the ground at Gaylord and Twin Lakes (in the U.P.)
With all the cold weather in Michigan during January, my students and I are wondering how much of Lake Michigan is covered in ice.
hey if anyone can take a pic of that commet and send it to my email michiganfreak2008@yahoo.com …that would b awesome…i wanna see it but ill b at work
I see Miami has a “wind chill warning” HAHA! For temps below 35 degrees tonight =)
Bill, is the full moon in FEB. called the snow moon?
Let the sunshine in!!!!!!!!! what a great crisp morning…love it.
Bill, with the great day today….I got to thinking…How’s the Air Quality doing for West Michigan…I’d think with the cold air, windy days, less fuel consuptions and lack of industry working things would be very different than previous year????? I don’t expect the DEQ to say it is….no problem means no job/funding and its not in the best enviromental thing to say (that its OK ) let alone to the press “who cares if the air is clean”…that’s a non-issue thing….is there a site to get the real data????
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis/namer/gfs/12/images/gfs_slp_204l.gif
204 hours out and for the 13th..just thought i should share this
Full Moon Names:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_moon
Tyler this looks like a rain event yes? One more decent snow please?
Bill said last night during the weather segment, that if we receive our avg snowfall for Feb (22 inches) then we would break anither record for the snowiest. Could it happen? I know, first the BIG WARM UP right?
NWS is calling for -5* here. Brrrrr….
Hey Bill my previous question I asked wrong. I meant do you see any snowfalls for this month of February at all for GR? Even if they are 3 inches or less? Also take a look at this stat. Grand Rapids seasonal snowfall 95.2 inches and Minneapolis Minnesota at 30.1 inches. They say Minnesota is just cold weather country out there and hardly any snow except for the northern part gets alot. I believe the southern part of Minnesota gets more than the Twin cities itself along the Iowa Border. Atlanta Georgia was only expecting highs in the mid 30′s today. Brrrrrrrrrr other than that pretty dull out there in the weather world.
Already down to 8F here…
It will snow Tyler. On the broadcast tonight Bill said that the rest of February looks wintry after the end of next week.
Yeah, i agree with Michael, after about next tuesday/wednesday it looks like we will be back to more of a December pattern. The models have been consistently showing a storm cutting into the Great lakes sometime late next week.
Its clear and +7° here I had an over night low (well just before sunrise) of -2° and if it stays clear and the winds go calm it could be the coldest night of the year here.
SlimJim
this is how you move snow in the keweenaw after 200″‘s
http://eagleharborweb.net/images/0204092.jpg
7.8* here
http://www.johndee.com/discuss/messages/9/100975.html?1233788469
too funny
scroll down to Ubee
http://www.johndee.com/discuss/messages/9/101008.html?1233788633
any comments?
2F here now…..I’m getting close to the uncle word!
That being confessed, next ensembles that show a Texas hooker heading up over Cleveland and I’ll be like a kid in a cell phone store!
0*F now! Brrrrr
I really hope winter is over. I hope all of you saying more snow like December are wrong. I am SO over it already!
Jen – Feb 4th, Michigan…..Hmmmmm, doubt it! Sorry sister.
-2F here.
-0.1F here already =)
I can hope right Craig?
On a totally different subject. My husband and I are thinking of flying instead of driving to Disney. How do I get over my fear of flying? I have never been on a plane and have no desire to but DH wants to fly.
I need help
Slip on ice and hit head. Me hurt bad. 911 no answer.
Oranges freeze in Florida. Where am I??? If you know where I am please let me know, please! Feeling sleepy now…
Albutt
Well its still +4° over this way so not as cold as I thought yet! Jennifer as for flying instead of flying just think it only takes a couple of hours to fly instead of all that time in a car! But if you want to see the country then driving is the way to go. As for the fear? More people get killed in car accidents ever day then in airplanes…but if you can get a aisle seat…While down in Disney go on the Tower of Terror..its one of the best rides down there.
SlimJim
Cold!!!!!!!!!!!!! Driving home from work at 9:15 it -7. I just went outside and it’s -10. How cold was it suppose to get?
Bill what web site can I go to to check Great Lake’s water levels? USGS? I really love winter and the snow, But that big boat in the garage is looking lonely!!
2 sites for water levels
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/data/now/wlevels/levels.html
http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/greatlakes/hh/greatlakeswaterlevels/
Loving the sunshine, when it was cloudy up here this weekend South Bend, IN (where I was) was nice and sunny LOL
Great looking 5 days coming up enjoy it folks.
Dropped to -1F here for a bit back up to 2.2F now.
cold down in your neck of the woods Craig H..Lots of below zero, we rebounded already from -6 now 0*
It did not get as cold as I thought it would last night…stopped at +4° so the clouds came in earler…a cloudy +10° here now…getting ready for the warm up but will have to watch out for rain, and ice…
SlimJim
Yeah, bottomed out at -14F!!!
-13F now and clouds rolling in.
Jennifer, my advice is to call your Doctor. I have to. I have a huge fear of flying and he will prescribe a settle me down pill for the way there and one for the way back. I am really bad so I figure its a service to the people that sit around me. LOL.
Hi Bill….is there somewhere I can look back to see what the wind direction was on Feb 2, 2009?
Thanks
Lorie
Tyler:
Thanks. When you post those I can’t read the date and/or timeline (hours out).
I appreciate it.
Lorie, these will be disappearing one hour at a time all day….
http://www.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KGRR.html
Looks like winds were W to SW all day long.
Looking forward to warmer weather in the next few days. We need a break from the cold….was -6 last evening. Currently at 12.
Less than 20% sunshine man I would go into a depression. In the U.P. it is cloudy as well but not as cloudy as downstate Michigan. Up near Lake Superior it is cloudy for much of the winter but in the Southern U.P. away from the lake superior lake effect it is more sunny there but not much. It is cloudy enough up here too and we dont get a whole lot of sunshine from November through March. May to October are the sunniest months it seems up here. I spent some time in Detroit and that is probably the cloudiest city I have ever been to. Grand Rapids definetely gets more sunshine than the rest of the state.