There’s a lot of activities going on this weekend. Here’s a few: Pulaski Days, Cedar Spring Red Flannel Festival, Zeeland Pumpkinfest, Fall Fest in Holland and the Harvest Festival at the Blandford Nature Center in G.R. The weather looks cool and damp. This weekend will be the coolest back-to-back days since May 1-2 with afternoon temperatures holding in the low-mid 50s.

Gale Warnings are in effect from Grand Haven to Benton Harbor with Small Craft Advisories north of Grand Haven and south of Benton Harbor. Waves at the S. Haven buoy were up to 9.2 feet at 4 am. At 2 am, the South Haven Lighthouse reported a steady wind of 45.7 mph with a peak gust of 51.0 mph

I know the above pic. is hard to see. This is a pic. from the South Haven Lighthouse looking north toward the pilon at the end of the north pier. You can see a huge wave crashing into the end of the pier.

Waterspouts are possible over the Great Lakes this weekend. Here’s video of a waterspout over Little Traverse Bay Friday evening.

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We have a chance of waterspouts on Lake Michigan (really, most all of the Great Lakes) this weekend as cold air comes over the relatively warmer waters of Lake Michigan. Check out the Great Lakes waterspout forecast map here.

Michigan

Radar

Midwest

Midwest Radar

Here’s forecast high temperatures for this Saturday afternoon. The coolest air is right here in the Great Lakes. Readings in N. Lower and Upper Michigan may not get past 50 degrees.

The cooler-than-average pattern (average high temperatures are in the mid 60s right now) should stick around this week.

The 8-14 Day Temperature Forecast for October 14-20 still has southern Lower Michigan in a cooler-than-average (blue on the map) outlook. The cool pattern could bring some scattered frost to parts of the South during the middle of the month.

This is the 8-14 Day Precipitation Outlook from the Weather Prediction Center for Oct. 14-20. After a wet period from this past Thursday into this weekend, a little drier pattern will dominate the Central U.S. for the rest of this coming week into the following week. We’ll still have a chance of an occasional shower, but rainfall totals will be lighter and we’ll have fewer hours of measurable rainfall. No snow in sight for Lower Michigan.

October 1-5 was 13.6 degrees warmer than average in Grand Rapids. The average high/low for today is 65/45. The daily record high was 87 in 2007 (I remember going swimming in Lake Michigan that day – it was a Sunday).

Two-day rainfall totals Thursday- Friday: Kalamazoo 3.30″ (WMU), Oshtemo 3.09″, Battle Creek 2.98″, Hickory Corners 2.83″, Hartford 2.68″, Watervliet 2.67″, Holland 2.54″, Portage 2.49″, Charlotte 2.35″, Allegan 2.34″, Hudsonville 2.18″, Grand Rapids 2.05″. Small hail was reported at Pullman.

Sunrise today in G.R. is at 7:46 am and sunset at 7:13 pm. We are losing daylight at the rate of nearly 3 minutes per day. We still have nearly a month on Daylight Saving Time – we move the clocks back an hour on Nov. 5.

Farm stands where you can pick up some excellent Michigan fruits and vegetables.

ALSO: Grand Rapids clean-up continues after severe storm on August 24. Early mountain snow and bright yellow aspen trees at Crested Butte, Colorado. Lightning in Oklahoma. Early snow along the Trail Ridge Road in Colorado. Billion dollar project to transform the Florida Everglades. A skunk-squirrel?