WEST MICHIGAN — A cloudy Saturday is on tap for all of us with some areas getting a soaking rain around and south of I-94.
Locally in Grand Rapids, most hours are to be dry with overcast conditions and chilly temperatures headed for the lower 50s.
Though there can be a few sprinkles or even a few light showers approaching the Grand Rapids area mid-late afternoon into this evening, clearly the most formidable rain will occur southward from Kalamazoo to Battle Creek and southward from there. Because of the rain, temperatures will not get out of the 40s for these southernmost communities. Winds will be on the light side today out of the northeast at 5-15 mph, but any sort of a breeze will just add to yet another chilly day here in late April.
Expect rain to diminish mid-late evening and then end completely in the overnight. Skies will be cloudy this evening but will become partly cloudy as rain departs and the overnight moves along.
This sets us up for a nice Sunday with much brighter skies and readings returning to the upper 50s to near 60 degrees in response to the strong late-April sun angle. High clouds will be around through early afternoon tomorrow filtering sunshine but the mercury will jump higher than many days previous. We look for highs in the upper 50s to around 60 degrees away from the lake. Northwest winds will keep immediate lakeshore communities considerably cooler south of Holland.
Monday opens with some filtered sunshine but a new weaker type of system approaches for later in the day and evening. Clouds will be on the increase late morning and afternoon and the threat of showers will be going up certainly by late afternoon and early evening. Highs on Monday head back for the upper 50s to near 60 degrees.
Behind this quick-moving disturbance, we shake out dry for most of Tuesday as readings get warmer and hit the middle 60s under partly sunny conditions. A new stronger system will be taking aim on the region later Tuesday evening into Wednesday with new rain prospects at that time. This weather system looks much stronger than Monday's and may in fact bring a widespread heavier type of rain during the middle of the week. Stay tuned on how this evolves.
As this system works through the Great Lakes region we will see our numbers drop off again on Wednesday and Thursday before warmer air gears up for a return next Friday into Saturday.
