WEST MICHIGAN — It may say “May 14th” on the calendar today, but it will feel more like March 14th with chilly temperatures, gusty winds, and occasional showers. A cold front has cleared the area as of early this morning, and has pushed last night’s steady rain away from the area. However, unseasonably cool air will continue to flow into the area behind this front, and a few showers will still be possible at times as they continue to spiral around a slowly departing area of low pressure to our northeast. In fact, it looks so chilly behind that front today that we may set a “record low high” temperature for this date:
Our coldest high temperature for this date was 48°, which occurred in 1924.
This cold snap comes at a bad time for us in West Michigan, as a variety of events are going on this weekend. This afternoon’s Tulip Time Parade and the River Bank Run both come to mind right away. If you’re going to any of these events, be sure to dress for colder temperatures and maybe even bring an umbrella.
The overall trend this afternoon into tonight will be for clouds to decrease slowly. Although I think it will still be mostly cloudy this afternoon, clouds will break enough tonight to allow temperatures to fall into the 30s, and perhaps even a few upper 20s in rural locations away from Lake Michigan well to the north of I-96. In fact, a Freeze Warning is in effect for early Sunday morning for northern sections of the FOX 17 viewing area:
And to top it all off, some folks in other parts of the state will be dealing with snow today. In fact, they’ve already seen some of that activity in portions of the U.P. and the northern L.P. early this morning:
Some portions of the north central and northwestern U.P. could see around an inch of accumulation today!
Better news, however, is on the horizon. Although it will still be cool tomorrow, we’ll be looking at more sunshine and slightly warmer temperatures with highs in the lower 50s. By the end of next week, temperatures should be back up close to average for this time of year.
