Tuesday’s high temperature of 43° was the warmest we’ve seen in Grand Rapids since Christmas Eve. Temperatures along the lakeshore on the map above are from the airports. The high temperature at the S. Haven Lighthouse and at the Muskegon Channel was 35.6°.
This was the sunset at Muskegon Lake Tuesday evening. It looks like the distant dunes are on fire. The ice is still pretty thick on most inland lakes. Through Tuesday, the monthly February temperature in Grand Rapids is 8.4° below average.
Temperatures over the next 6 days will be near to a little warmer than average. No big storms are expected. Snow has been falling across the U.P., where an Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect through this morning for 2-5″ of snow:
We’ve had a lot of snow this month. Grand Rapids is up to 44.8″ for the season. Other season totals: 52.0″ at Holland, 44.5″ at Lansing (4″ above average), 41.6″ Muskegon (38″ below average).
Great Lakes ice extent has dropped significantly – mainly due to stronger winds breaking up the ice. All the lakes have lost ice cover. The Great Lakes as a whole is down from 45.8% on 2/19 to just 30.2% on 2/23. Lake Michigan ice extent peaked at 33.3% on 2/18.
Thanks to Steve Damstra for this beautiful sunset pic. from Tue. evening.
Here’s the Lake Michigan satellite pic. from Tue. PM. You can see the ice in Green Bay and at the south end of the lake.
Also: Awesome English sunrise. Dallas TX hit 80° Tue. PM – a week ago they were -2F. Night pic. from Mars. Gigantic “pink cloud” wisteria. Pic. of Venus, Jupiter and Earth in a line from Mars. Gotta see the ice break-away in Chicago one more time. Satellite view of the ice drift. We’ll see a full moon in a couple of days. There was a 92-degree temperature swing in Topeka, KS this past week: Low temperature last Tuesday: -21 F High temperature this Tuesday: 71 F. A firefall. Volcano! Memphis went 7 days with an inch or more of snow on the ground – 3rd longest stretch ever. Colorful sky and a fog bank over the Potomoc River. Pyrocumulonimbus cloud.