September 2023 was warmer, drier and cloudier than average in West Michigan (top picture is sunrise at Wabasis Lake (the biggest lake in Kent County) mid-September 2023 from John Frueh Jr.).
The average temperature for the month (30 high temps. plus 30 low temps. divided by 60) in Grand Rapids was 64.6° and that was 1.1° warmer than average. The warmest temperature was 91° on the 5th and the coolest was 44° on the 19th. The coolest high temperature was 64° on the 8th.
Rainfall in Grand Rapids (airport) was 1.25″ and that was 2.18″ below average or only 36.4% of average. There were only 2 days with more than 1/10th inch of rain in G.R. 83% of the month’s rain came on one day, the 11th. Since the 11th, Grand Rapids has had only 0.04″ of rain. Rainfall in Kalamazoo was significantly higher at 3.19″.
Sunshine totaled 46.56% and that was well below the average sunshine of 61%. We had only 5 days with over 80% sunshine and we had 8 days with less than 20% sunshine.
We had only one day with lightning or thunder (6th) and we had 2 days with heavy fog for an hour or more.
The average wind speed was just 6.4 mph. We had 7 days when the average wind speed was less than 4 mph and only 2 days when the average wind speed was more than 10 mph. The fastest gust was 35 mph on the 6th.
The first 4 days of October will be much warmer than average, with afternoon temperatures in the low 80s. Then cooler air arrives with 20°a chance of some needed rain. Next weekend should be 15-20° cooler than this weekend.
