WEST MICHIGAN (March 15, 2014) — Hang on…Spring officially arrives in just five more days! St. Patrick’s Day will be here Monday.
Before these two days get here, we’ll see a couple of very cold overnight low temperatures across the area. By Sunday morning most morning temps will be in the single digits. The record for Grand Rapids for March 16 is three degrees (above zero). We may come close but probably won’t break that number. We’re also expecting single digit low temperatures Sunday night in to Monday morning with clear skies and lighter winds.
St Patrick’s Day 2014 will be filled with sunshine and dry conditions as temps warm in to the low 30s. Our next chance of precipitation arrives Tuesday evening/night with a light mix of rain/snow possible. It will likely change to all snow showers on Wednesday, but no significant accumulations are expected.
Next Thursday (March 20) Spring officially arrives. It’s what we call the Spring equinox, a time when the sun is directly overhead of the equator and much of the northern and southern hemispheres see equal days and equal nights…about 12 hours of each. It’s also the time of year where the southern hemisphere (just finishing their summer) enters their period of Fall.
The past two weeks we’ve generally seen temperatures in our seven-day forecast moving up in the 30s and 40s, the transitional time of year. The real Arctic air seems to be gone and our days are gradually warming with the higher angle of the sun. The same holds true for the next seven days! While overnight low temperatures can still dip in to the single digits and our high temperatures can sometimes be cold, the overall trend is a gradual warm up with the worst of the winter now behind us. That said, accumulating snow is still possible all the way through April…so we’re not quite finished yet.
Note also the days continue to get longer with sunset not occurring these days until almost 8:00 PM. The attached photo was snapped at Pere Marquette beach by FOX 17 viewer Bill Beatty of Muskegon. It was taken just a few days ago of the sunset over Lake Michigan. Get the complete West Michigan forecast at www.fox17online.com/weather.
