I have a shirt that says, “I love meteorology and cats”. We continue with a chance of a shower today. There could be an isolated thundershower. Here’s radar:
Midwest Radar
Scattered Showers and Storms for Florida Today
Southwest looks dry tod
Northwest Radar – Scattered Showers – Locally Heavy Rain
We need the rain. Grand Rapids has had just 0.02″ of rain in the last half month. For the month, we’ve had 1.23″ of rain and that’s just 42% of average.
For the month, G.R. is 0.6 deg. warmer than average. We’ve had 13 days that have been cooler than average, 12 days that have been warmer than average and one day exactly average.
From Andy Schut: September will close without recording a low temperature of 40° or lower. Only 23 out of the 128 years (18%) we have on record has this occurred.
I told you that Sept. would be on the warm and dry side of average and it looks like this pattern will continue into October. While it may be drier than average this winter and we should get significantly less snow in G.R. than last winter (with 110″ in G.R.), we should some cold shots and opportunities for ski resorts to make snow.
It’s been a rather calm month, with an average wind speed of just 6 mph. We’ve had one day with lightning/thunder and one morning with heavy fog. So far this month, we’ve had 50% of possible sunshine. Average is 61%, so it’s been a little cloudier than average.
We are losing 2 minutes and 52 seconds of daylight each day now. Sunrise is at 7:35 am and sunset at 7:32 pm. Solar noon is at 1:33 pm when the sun is 45 deg. above he southern horizon. Back on June 21 (Summer Solstice), the sun was 70 deg. above the southern horizon at solar noon. On the Winter Solstice (Dec. 22) the sun will be 24 deg. above the southern horizon at solar noon.
The Harvest (full) Moon will be this Friday. The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. It’s also the last of 4 “supermoons” this year – it’s a touch bigger and brighter than a “regular” full moon. Look for that to rise in the east during the first half of the Football Frenzy games during the evening.
The full moon will be joined in the sky by the two biggest planets in our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn. Venus rises in the east before sunrise.
