WEST MICHIGAN — Temperatures will begin to warm up Saturday thanks in part to sunshine and warm southerly winds. Afternoon high temperatures will warm into the low 40’s in the afternoon which is around seasonably average for this time of year. Temperatures this morning were already five to ten degrees warmer than they were this time yesterday morning. A mix of clouds and sun for the afternoon and winds will be slightly breezy through the afternoon with gusts reaching 20 miles per hour.
Saturday marks the end of meteorological fall and despite the warm start to fall, November was a colder month which helped even out the season making it only a half of a degree above average. After a dry start to fall with September over three inches below average for precipitation, a rainy October helped make up for some of the deficit. Despite two inches of snow in November the season should end up a half of an inch below average for precipitation. Fall is also a season of large swings in temperatures with the highest temperature of 94 degrees occurring at the beginning of fall (September 10th) and the coldest temperature of 15 degree occurring near the end (November 29th). It was also a month of firsts as we saw our first snow of the season (October 24th) and our first November tornadoes in West Michigan (November 17th).
November 30th is also the final day for the Atlantic Hurricane Season. This year was a quiet one for the Atlantic basin with only 2 hurricanes and 14 total depressions. It was also the first time in over 10 years that there were no hurricanes during the entire month of August and it was only the third time since 1925 that there were no category 2 hurricanes or stronger during the entire season.
As we head into December, we should start out at or above average before a cold front at the end of the week will drop temperatures significantly. High temperatures will reach near 50 by Wednesday before a front drops temperatures quickly changing all rain over to snow. By Friday temperatures will struggle to warm into the upper 20’s and low 30’s.
