It was a cool start to this Friday. Here’s some low temps this Friday AM (see map above): 42 Fremont, Kent City and Sparta (high spots in orchard areas that can stay a few degrees warmer on a calm, clear night. The low temperature was 40 at Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Holland, Kalamazoo, South Haven and Lawton, 39 at Battle Creek, Clarksville and Hudsonville, 38 at Three Rivers, Benton Harbor, East Gr., and Fennville, 37 at Albion and Grand Junction, 36 at Marshall, Ionia, Hastings, Eaton Rapids, Beldling and Bradley, 35 at Coldwater, Hillsdale, Alma and Mt. Pleasant, 34 at Jackson, Charlotte, Ludington and Manistee, 33 at Big Rapids.
These places got below freezing: 30 Cadillac, Hart, Evart, Baldwin, 29 Houghton Lake and Gaylord, 28 Mio, 27 Leota (Clare County) and 26 at Roscommon.
We had a Frost Advisory is in effect for early Friday. If you look at the map above, it did not include the counties along US 10 (Mason, Lake, Osceola, Clare) because they’ve already had a freeze.
Frost was scattered. Skies will be mostly clear with just a few insignificant high clouds passing by. On a calm, clear night, frost is mostly likely in low spots and to a lesser extent in areas with dry, sandy soil.
We measure temperature at eye level or about 5 feet above ground level. The coldest air will be at ground level, so it’s possible to have a low temperature above freezing (mid 30s) and have frost form on the grass at ground level, where the temperature may be 31°.
Thursday was the first dry day in nearly a week. We enjoyed mostly sunny skies and it’ll we’ll be partly to mostly sunny right on through the weekend. Rainfall in G.R. is nearly 2″ below average for September. However, the rain has been spaced out nicely and we have not had a stretch of super-hot days (warmest this month has been 85° on the 3rd). Over the last week, the average high temperature has been 60°. Average high temperatures are now in the upper 60s.
So far, this month of September has been 0.3° warmer than average. Since June 1, the temperature has been remarkably close to average. August was +0.3° warmer than average in G.R., July was exactly average and June was +0.1° warmer than average.
LONG RANGE: Looks like we’ll stay through next Tuesday. Then a cold front comes thru, with a chance of rain Tuesday night and Wednesday. Look for a shot of cool air around the 6th to the 8th, when high temperatures will be low-mid 50s at best.
