Tuesday PM
March 14th, 2012 at 2:09 pm by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Weather
8:30 PM – A high of 80° in G.R….we more than doubled the overnight low of 38°, warmest day of the year. This is a record high temperatures for March 14th, and the warmest day EVER this early in the year, also the earliest 80-degree temperature ever in G.R. It hit 80° in Kalamazoo, Ionia and 81 in S. Haven and Benton Harbor. Both Wellston (29° to 79°) and Traverse City (31° to 81°) had temperature rises of 50 degrees today! We finally popped a few cumulus clouds in the late afternoon as the dewpoints come up. It was cooler near Lake Michigan. The Muskegon Beach weather station had a high of 57.5° at noon. It was just 46° at mid-afternoon up in Escanaba where the south wind is coming down the length of the lake. There is a chance of a thundershower late tonight (not early evening) and tomorrow. SPC has us in the thunderstorm outlook. At 8 PM there are a couple strong storms on the St. Louis radar. Wind fields are weaker, so the chance of severe is fairly small. They had a pretty strong 6.9 magnitude earthquake about 140 miles east of northern Japan.
Bill I though the NWS said it would start around early evening???
No severe weather this week just recored warm thats fine with me!! INDYY
Good Day,
What a lovely day! Shoot, I might even till my garden next week. But then again I till it twice before planting… I might just get some plants in the ground the first week of May. But we will see…
Steelie
Trying to decide how much work to do on the lawn. Probably should wait a bit.
yes id wait.
I will look for my lawn chair and will enjoy this beautiful day. Even my cats seem to be happy
My neighbors are getting out their sprinklers, dock, boats, and jet skis and it’s only March crazy huh?
79.1 here, just about to hit 80!! Not to complain, but good grief, now it’s almost to hot. Not quite ready for this just yet.
http://www.weather.com/maps/news/severenow/floater7_large.html
Weather channel takes it too far tomorrow they make it look like there is going to be a big severe weather outbreak tomorrow when there is only a 5% chance of reciving hail
they usually do.
Beautiful crazy weather!
72.9 here now:) only 69.2 in montague warmer here HAHA
Question is how long will this warm spell last? Kinda iffy as it isnt even april yet.
Just enjoy while it lasts as it is only mid March.
well i was at the ortho doctors most of the day but i did get to walk with my kids tonight and get ice cream. we usually don’t do that until may. and yes i know it won’t last but we can dream.
Thermometer has been reading between 74 and its current temp of 77 today. Couple clouds rolling through blocking the sun for a moment, nice break
30+ above normal!
Iam now up to 80° here. I just got back from a nice walk outside. It sure is nice and almost summer like. If you have a chance get out and enjoy!!!
SlimJim
81 here!! 80 at holland airport as well! Kids came home from school begging to get the pool open, must say I am tempted. I’m wondering now how fast the big lake will warm up this year. If we’re going to be 70′s and 80′s for the next 2 weeks, the lake is going to be 70 by May already.
Looks like we smashed the old record from 1990 and 1995. Its 79 degrees at 4 pm!
Out of work in 10 minutes. Can’t wait to enjoy the sunshine!
Air conditioners running in mid March in Grand Rapids is unusual!!!
It’s not warm enough for air conditioners LOL However, I noticed one of our neighbors had theirs on today when I was walking.
yeah it is, it’s still hot up in my 3rd floor apartment but i didn’t turn it on yet. i did however shut the heat off.
78.1 degrees is the high so far in Holland at Ottogan & 104th. Gorgeous day!
A couple of those cumulus to the SE of Greenville looked pretty stout for about 10mins, then they died off. CAPE is definitely there, no CIN (cap),lifted index is more than adequate, some weak shear, supercell composite at 4, but really no triggering mechanism. So all this instability is going to waste. But, we are able to enjoy an awesome weather day!!
Morning Glories and Moon Flowers are planted…..I know I’ll have to cover them 2-5 times yet….but how can you not plant in this weather?
I love moon flowers. My grandma had huge bushes of them outside her house when we were little.
Wondering what this weather will do to tulip time… Mine are poking through…
Mine too!
Max Temp. 81 F here @ 4:30pm.
When I walked out of work today the song “Joy to the World” popped into my head. Not because it felt like the holdiday but the line “Let heaven & nature sing” kept going thru my mind. What a glorious day!!!
Sorry…holiday I meant:)
Fixxxer, I’m sure you are enjoying this weather today! Sure is beautiful outside! I am loving having all of the windows open and getting some warm fresh air inside the house =)
yes im enjoying it for a change. honestly overall the winter wasn’t too bad. im just a bit concerned with how spring/summer will turn out.
It’s a shame I am inside all day at work! BOOO! But whats better is looking at the forecast and seeing its going to be like this ALL week!
I am up to 81° on one of my thermometers and 82° on another one. And with the temp at 79° at the airport and 80° in Kalamazoo also its now 80° up in Traverse City so its safe to say its one of the warmest days on record here in W Michigan.
SlimJim
For once, stay away! I want to see my first aurora’s already.. Some may be heading our way. Large triangular hole in the corona yesterday.
http://www.universetoday.com/94129/huge-coronal-hole-is-sending-solar-wind-our-way/
Different note, 79.2 was the highest I saw on my thermometer today.
That’s really cool about the hole, was interesting article to read.
Is it possible to have a huge outbreak next week if a cold from comes through?
It’s complicated. It would depend on how the upper level winds evolve. Right now what the GFS and FIM models want to do for the first half of next week is cut off an upper level low over West Texas (click here to see), which would mean thunderstorms would first happen in the Western Plains on Sunday, then Central Oklahoma region on Monday, and eventually Arkansas by Wednesday. The shape and structure of the upper level winds (which are also responsible for driving frontal systems at the surface) for the first half of next week do not look favorable for big outbreaks in the Great Lakes. By the second half of next week, who knows. We’re already pushing the limits of predictability by going into early next week, so I think I’ll stop there.
There used to be a link on the weather page to Past Weather statistics. You could look up what temp, precip, cloudy or sunny, conditions there were on any given date, back a few years.
Anybody know where to find that? Thx!
Here’s the NWS site for Grand Rapids:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/grr/climate/f6/
If you go to the WOOD-TV8 weather homepage, scroll down to “Almanac” and there is a link to the NWS page- it’s not as easy to find as it was before the webpage was redesigned.
You can do the same using Wunderground: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KGRR/2012/3/14/DailyHistory.html
Loving the weather but man its hot in my apt, my kids want the air on lol. My only concern with this very early heatwave is we could #1 still get snow through april or #2 have a cool summer becuase of this. Is thete any indication what spring & summer may be? I know it would be a best guess but id find it odd if this heat contiuned it for more than the week im seeing it. It feels like june out today.
Thats a good question fix, back in 1938 it was a warm summer BUT GR had over 8″ of snow in April that year. And in 1945 Bill stated there was a killing frost in late April that year and that summer was on the cool side. And it 2000 another warm March there was also a cool summer.
SlimJim
yeah im not complaining as you guys know i love heat but if it means a cold summer id take the cold & snow right now. heres to hoping the summer is like last year!
but then again we had alot of 90′s in may last year.
Bill, I recorded an unofficial 82.9 degrees on my thermometer near Beltline and 5 Mile Rd. The wife and I went for a late afternoon bike ride, and it may as well have been the middle of summer, even though the season is still technically winter! In fact, we noticed a few very small snowpiles left over in a few places; the fact that there was even a bit of snow with temperatures well into the 80′s is unreal. What a pleasant day!
When I lived in Alpena way back in the 1960′s we had several springs where it got into the 80′s with snow on the ground (of course it was April and not March) and the snow dose not stick around for long.
SlimJim
Yep beautiful ,warm day. Opened all the windows and doors. What a wonderful blessing! But wait! What is that noice? Oh great, my neighbor is home with his radio blasting real loud. Too choices, grin and bear it or close the doors and windows and turn on the ac. Why do city slickers have to be so rude?
You know, you could get off your rear and ask him to turn it down. My neighbors and I have that understanding.
sorry it’s noise
Had a great afternoon with the kids, went to the park across the street to the playground. Came home, fired up some tunes on the outdoor speakers, got the grill going and cooked some Koegels and drank some Sam Adams Alpine spring. What a great day!
My son turned on the hose, put his bathsuite on, walked the hose to the trampoline put the hose up on top of the tramp and jumped on the tramp with the hose bouncing and spraying him! LOL!! What a goof!
Truly enjoyed this beautiful day. Couldn’t believe it was mid March. Lets hope these warm temperatures continue.
shame it probably won’t last forever.
A week of this weather should pop some morels.
Does anyone know the Farmers Almanac forecast for the summer?
hopefully warm.
From Fall, to Spring, to Summer. (ok maybe that’s a stretch) but this weather has been simply amazing. I’m debating on staying awake for a chance of one lonely thunderstorm to possibly develop near enough for some good lightning opportunities. But not holding my breath. If nothing happens by 1 or 2AM I will just go to sleep and wait on Thursday afternoon, because that chance is a little better for storms in the afternoon. Some of which could contain severe hail.
cannot believe how nice it is out at 1030 at night. if i had my car id go for a drive with the windows down, im just totally shocked right now. please dear god no more snow!
You set up your trampoline already? My daughter wants ours set up too but I’m thinking we may still get a day or two of heavy wet snow?… Loving this weather but can’t quite trust it
Crystal Hillard just said on the 11:00 pm News, “A lot of people are thinking that this was the warmest winter ever. According to Bill’s Blog this doesn’t even rank in the Top 20.” Tell me that is totally a mistake???????????
At 1:43 in the Video… “This winter is not even in the Top 20 for warmest winters…”
http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/kent_county/GR-takes-advantage-of-unusual-weather
I believe this winter so far, is in the top 5 warmest, but don’t quote me. As long as this summer is in the top 20 coolest I’ll be happy. 70′s 80′s, and low humidity all summer long, I’m ready.
74* on the car themometer driving through downtown GR at 10:30 tonight. Never thought I’d see that in mid-March.
Great Night to go for a coit cruise with a jumbo in a brown bag and have all the windows down with some Kid Rock cranked!!! Temp is 71* out at the YARDofBRICKS at 11:45pm on this summer night in what MARCHHHHHHHH!!! INDYY
Don’t run over any late night pedestrians or bike riders on your booze cruise. I suspect you wouldn’t fair well in jail and it certainly isn’t fair to others on the roads.
amen to that!
TAKES MORE THAN A JUMBO DUMBO!! INDYY
I simply can’t believe that it is still 70 degrees after midnight in the middle of March! Normal low temp for this date: 26 degrees
Awake in South Haven at 1:00 am and noticing some bright lightning and a little thunder sliding by to the north. No rain.
A little thundershower did pop up right at the lakeshore by the Van Buren/Allegan Co line. Looks to be right over Allegan at this time. Looks like some hail possible in that cell, VIL’s in the high 30′s, echo tops around 38-40k feet. We can see the lightning here in GR. Nice little cell.
Enough lightning for me to deploy to the fields to try for some distance lightning photos. Winners Chase & Chasers Win!
We had a nice little storm come through allegan. It dropped a few small hailstones, and there was some frequent lightning. No wind, but a few minutes of heavier rain. Storm didn’t last very long.
The cell in Cooper Twp. is showing a hail core containing around 1″ hail.
http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radblast.asp?zoommode=pan&prevzoom=zoom&num=0&frame=0&delay=100&scale=0.271&noclutter=0&ID=GRR&type=NVL&showstorms=10&lat=0&lon=0&label=you&map.x=400&map.y=240&scale=0.271¢erx=432¢ery=174&showlabels=1&rainsnow=0&lightning=0&lerror=20&num_stns_min=2&num_stns_max=9999&avg_off=9999&smooth=1
I’m downtown Allegan, and we found a few sparse 3/4″ hail stones. I tried to snap a picture of one, but it melted real fast. The hail was mainly before the cell was overhead. Didn’t see much of anything aside from an excellent light show as the storm passed over head.
Hey guys I’m back home now, don’t know if I got great footage, but it was fun to watch the lightning dance in the clouds.
Thunder/Lightning here in Kalamazzoo. My friend in Allegan is headed home. He texted me “The storm is following me”
What a nice summer T-Storm rolling through
Quite enjoy falling asleep to the sound of thunder.
Go out to shut the garage door and some small hail starts falling.. took the rain about a minute longer to start, just a light downpour so far.
and its over..
GRR NWS issued a significant weather advisory for these cells. Nothing meeting severe criteria.
http://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=grr&wwa=special weather statement