WEST MICHIGAN — We had a nice strong round of thunderstorms blast through West Michigan on Tuesday afternoon, but only one brief severe thunderstorm warning was issued for eastern Kalamazoo County. It would be cancelled early, but the storms did drop heavy rain producing some ponding of water and some minor flash flooding along the I94 corridor. We also has some reports of a few tree branches and limbs down from Kalamazoo, to Augusta, to Battle Creek with some winds clocked between 45 and 50 mph. Some scattered power outages were also reported.
While the main lightning/storm show occurred in the afternoon, an additional shower or thunderstorm can’t be ruled out until the cold front passes through Wednesday morning. If we do see more development, it will likely NOT be severe.
Dew point temperatures are currently in the low/mid 70s across the area…very unusual for West Michigan and very tropical. Dew point temperature is a measure of moisture in the air…the higher the temp…the stickier it feels outside. It will remain warm and very muggy through the overnight hours, so keep the A/C units running. We’ll start to feel somewhat drier air filter in (slowly) throughout Wednesday. The A/C can probably be turned off later Wednesday as temps by Thursday morning are expected to dip in to the upper 50s/near 60.
We have what seems to be a long stretch of dry weather coming up from Wednesday through at least Sunday (or longer) as high pressure builds in. Heat and humidity will eventually build back in for the weekend as highs approach 90 next week. The last 90 degree temperature we recorded in Grand Rapids was on August 26, 2012. We have yet to hit 90 this year!
The attached photo was submitted by one of our regular FOX 17 viewers and contributors, Charles Russell from Greenville. It was snapped Tuesday afternoon as the storms were moving through Montcalm County. Get the complete forecast at www.fox17online.com/weather.
