WEST MICHIGAN — There are probably plenty of people ready for the heat to go away and the cool temperatures and start of fall to arrive. You’ll need to wait a few more days.
A warm front (the leading edge of warmer/more humid air) will lift through the state on Monday. It will likely generate a deck of stratus clouds and perhaps create a few passing light rain showers until it lifts far enough north by mid day and clears the area. Temps will make 80 or better on Monday, then soar to 90 or so Tuesday with sunshine and mainly dry conditions. It will be a breezy day on Tuesday, and with enough sunshine we could actually push in to the 90s! It’s what we call warm air advection…or the transporting of warmer air from one location (south/west) to another location (Michigan).
Eventually, a cold front will be dragged across the state later Tuesday night and Wednesday and may generate a few showers and thunderstorms before the air turns cooler and drier later in the week. In fact, our forecast models are indicating that high temps on Friday will not make it out of the 60s. How’s that for cooler?
The attached snapshot is a picture of our computer forecast model valid for Tuesday morning. These are temperatures at 850 millibars, or about 5,000 feet above the surface. We look at air masses at this level since there’s no ground influence or contamination. Clearly, note the “red” over Michigan. The temps above the surface are 20 to 22 degrees Celsius. That translates to about 70 degrees above the surface. Then, add another 15 to 20 degrees and that tends to be our surface temperature.
You can always get the complete West Michigan forecast at www.fox17online.com/weather. Have a pleasant week.
