I was born in Michigan - lived there off and on until I moved away (permanently) when I was about 33 years old. I remember there was always the talk about the changing weather - how unpredictable it was, so today when my nephew said it was snowing there, I decided to check out some of the historical temperature readings and weather events in the Kalamazoo area/south-western Michigan. Here are a few I found - it sure would be hard to determine if there was any kind of real climate-change going on if you never left the SW Michigan area and lived to be about 200 years old because I found some serious variations. I dont know how unique Michigan is compared to the other states, but I would suspect with the influence of the Great Lakes on 3 sides, and the cold of Canada to the north - how it sits on the latitude and longitude charts, etc., obviously influences the weather too. Anyway, check out just a few of the ups and downs of Michigans weather in the south-west section over the last 100+ (in some examples) years: The Weather History for the Month of October 10/1/1897 Temperatures reach record highs with both Lansing and Grand Rapids hitting 89 degrees. It is the highest temperature ever recorded in October at Grand Rapids. 10/1/1974 Cloudy and cold weather prevails with high temperatures in the 40s and snowflakes observed at Muskegon. 10/2/1880 A tornado cut a 15 mile long path of destruction from southern Barry and Eaton Counties into northern Calhoun County. Two children were killed and several other people injured near Bellevue, when the tornado picked up a house and carried it 200 feet before it disintegrated. The roar of the tornado could be heard six miles away. 10/3/1898 Lansing hits 90 degrees for its highest October temperature. 10/3/1954 Heavy rains cause some minor flooding across southwest Lower Michigan. Grand Rapids and Muskegon both have their wettest October days on record with rainfall totals around 3.5 inches. 10/3/1974 Temperatures plummet into the 20s as very cold weather continues. Record lows include 22 degrees at Lansing, 23 at Grand Rapids, and 25 at Muskegon. 10/4/1935 Snowflakes are observed across Lower Michigan and Grand Rapids has a record cold high temperature of 42 degrees. 10/4/1951 Summer-like weather prevailed with lows in the mid 60s and highs in the 80s. Record highs include 87 degrees at Grand Rapids, 86 at Lansing and 83 at Muskegon. 10/8/1871 The worst wildfires in the history of the Great Lakes region occur as strong south winds combine with tinder dry conditions. The fires leveled several areas of Michigan and Wisconsin, including the cities of Peshtigo, Holland, Manistee, and Port Huron. At least 1200 people died, about half of them in the Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire. That same night, the Great Chicago Fire erupted, destroying much of the city. 10/9/1989 Record cold temperatures put the freeze on southwest Lower Michigan for the second day in a row. Records include 23 degrees at Grand Rapids and Lansing and 24 degrees at Muskegon. The record cold is accompanied by scattered snow flurries. 10/10/1879 Southwest Lower Michigan is in the midst of a long spell of warm weather. Lansing rises into the 80s for seven out of the eight days from October 5th through the 12th. This includes the record high of 84 degrees on October 10th, which was preceded by a record 83 degrees on the 9th and followed by 85 degrees on the 11th. 10/10/1906 An early season snowstorm drops 4 to 8 inches of snow from Ludington to South Haven. Temperatures plunge into the teens the next morning, killing thousands of fruit trees, enough to alter the agricultural economy of southwest Lower Michigan.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 19:13:21 +0000
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