Your Port In The Storm

The first snowfall and as you might remember, lake effect event of the season, occurred on November 17, 2008.  The depth of the snow varied, as per usual, with 8″ in Saugatuck, 7″ in Holland, and a little over 4″ in Kalamazoo.  Grand Rapids tallied about 1″.  Note the National Weather Service snowfall map to the left.  Especially take note of Allegan and Van Buren counties where snow was particularly fierce.

The first full weekend of November is upon us.  Have a great weekend!  With 60 degrees or better in sight both weekend days, I thought I’d throw a few facts your way to put our weekend warmth in perspective.  Both Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo hit 60 degrees about a week ago.  In Grand Rapids it was a 67 on Halloween Eve and in Kalamazoo it was 60 even the day before. 

Now, let’s back up for a second … we’re just coming off a cold and frosty start.  Lows of 29 degrees were reached in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.  It’s been much longer since we’ve been this cold!  We have to go back about 3 weeks to 10/18 when only 27 degrees started the day in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. 

The normal or typical temperatures for this weekend are highs in the lower 50s and lows in the middle 30s.  Enjoy the break from the chill the next few days!

Image Courtesy of eontarionow.com

  It’s pretty remarkable to see this much rain already and also know that much more is still headed to West Michigan.  Cascade in Kent county reported 2.48″ of rain at 8:40AM.  Also in Kent County, Grand Rapids had 2.09″ and Benton Harbor 2.47″; both these total were through 9 AM.  Naturally, there are many flooded streets including road washouts near Hopkins in Allegan county and water covered roads near Alaska in Kent county.

Good morning!  If you think the month has been wet so far … you’re absolutely right.  By the time we get through tomorrow, some locales may total 4″ of rain for the month!  A normal or routine October usually gives us just under 3″.  What’s more interesting … we have more than a week left to go. 

Things to consider as we work through a very wet stretch from today through Saturday …

Model Rainfall Amounts for Friday

Kalamazoo: 1.09″

Grand Rapids: 0.95″.

So, where do these numbers come from?  We look at and analyze several models in making our forecasts for West Michigan.  These models are run several times a day and are ingested with current observations from all over the country.  They also spit out raw data from each run.  The data includes temperatures at various heights, cloud cover, rainfall, and a host of other information.  Point is … it will be a very wet day tomorrow!

Good morning!  I’m happy to launch the second weather blog from our Weather Department here at Severe Weather Center 3.  It is my hope that Your Port in the Storm will be an easy avenue to add texture to our weather coverage, whether it be the day’s weather or something unusual about a pattern or specific event.  It will also serve to answer interesting viewer questions that other viewers may share.  Ultimately, think of this as a place for clarity on all things weather in West Michigan. 

Let’s jump right into it … we’re in the midst of one of the coldest Octobers on record.  Through Sunday, the average high temperature in Kalamazoo is running 13 degrees below normal.  In Grand Rapids, the average high is running almost 10 degrees behind.  In both spots afternoon maxes are averaging out to about 53 degrees; a typical October would easily yield 60s for average highs (to this point).  While more than 1/3 of October 2009 remains, it is currently one of the 10 coldest ever!  We’ll have more on this impressive early chill on News Channel 3 Live at Noon.