Saturday, September 8, 2012

Quick Look For Saturday

Good Morning!

I must apologize for no forecast yesterday, but things were just entirely too hectic!  I hope to have a full discussion later today for you, but here's the forecast for today and tonight...great football weather!



Have a great Saturday!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Cooling Down Tonight...

Good Morning!

Cloudy skies kept our severe weather threat down to the point that it was unrealized yesterday.  A little bit of storminess did in fact occur, but all of that was well off to the north into the Saginaw/Flint/Bay City area.  Some rain and cooler temperatures are definitely on the way, so let's pop the hood and see what we have in there...

TEMPERATURES:  To day will be the last day that we see summer-like readings until next week.  Upper air computer modeling suggests a trough should start shoveling it's way in here from the west, the trough extends well into Canada and will be dragging a cold front along with it.  We'll see jacket needed nighttime lows that are in the upper 40's as the new week starts Sunday night!  After that, we'll see temperatures near 80 again, but with a little less humidity than we've seen here in past days.

RAIN:  We'll have some of that for sure, and it looks like football around the area Friday night could be wet in most spots.  After some sunshine today, we'll see clouds overspread the area from west to east tomorrow during the day, with scattered to numerous afternoon showers developing, and likely persisting through your game of choice.  Again not all spots will get wet at the same time, but it sure looks like everyone will pick up some rain starting after lunchtime and persisting into pre-dawn Saturday.  Here's what the National Weather Service thinks regarding rain for the next five days:

5 Day Precipitation Forecast
Now here you see a bit drier look than we had the last couple of days, that big rain target over Toledo is gone and everyone's rain totals for five days have been dialed back a bit.

SEVERE WEATHER:  Nothing much in the way of severe weather is expected for the next three days.  The approaching trough and front will bring us rain and cooler more stable air, along with clouds, so the rough stuff potential is fairly limited, though I will mention that the Storm Prediction Center has outlined a slight risk for Day 2 that is just south of us into Indiana and points southwest.  We'll be in the cooler northwest part of that system, so I don't expect anything except maybe a few pain vanilla thunderstorms as all that tracks through Lower Michigan.

There's not much to see in the area on radar, just a stray thunderstorm over by Ann Arbor on the Grand Rapids NEXRAD.

Grand Rapids NEXRAD Radar
Scattered clouds over northwest and southeast lower Michigan on the visible satellite image:

Visible Satellite Image
Here's the forecast for Jackson and surrounding communities including Spring Arbor and Pleasant Lake:

For today, mixed sunshine, seasonably warm and summer-like, high 82 winds NNW 5-10 MPH.

Tonight, periods of clouds and stars, cool, low 53, winds NNW 3-8 MPH.

Friday, mostly cloudy skies with some peeks of sunshine, cooler, chance of scattered to numerous afternoon showers, high 77.  Winds NW 5-10 MPH.

Friday night, showers start tapering off slowly after dinnertime, then clearing, lows near 51, winds N 8-15 MPH.

Saturday, partly to mostly cloudy skies, much cooler, high 68.

Sunday, clearing skies, becoming mostly sunny, a bit warmer, high 72.

Monday, mostly sunny, pleasant, high 76.

Tuesday, continued clear and summery, high 80.

Wednesday, more bright blue skies and warm, high 81.



There's a look at your forecast for the next six days, I do hope that you have a great day! Blessings.

Quick Look For Thursday...

Here's my forecast for today...complete six-day outlook and discussion on the way!


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Stormy Weather, Then Cooling Off...

Good Morning!

We are into Meteorological Fall now, and I am more than happy to leave the drought-ridden, scorching summer behind.  A change is in the air as you get to the weekend, and things could get a little bumpy today into tomorrow.  Let's pop the hood and see what's running in there...

TEMPERATURES:  If you think that it's too warm and muggy for you right now, then just hold out long enough to get into this evening and tonight and let the rains begin to fall, then see what you get the next few days.  Temperatures will drop 10-15 degrees over the next several days, rolling back into the 70's, and dewpoints will come down.  After we bottom out at 70 this weekend, readings have to work to get back to 75 or better for the next several days.  It will definitely feel like early fall, and I am sure you'll enjoy the refreshing conditions after this long hot summer!

RAIN:  It's an even wetter look to the five day rain forecast from the National Weather Service than we had yesterday.  We'll have a good chance at picking up some showers and thunderstorms this afternoon, and some of those could be severe (more on that below).  Take a look at the five day rain total map from the NWS:
5 Day Precipitation Forecast
We are coming in at just under two inches, and the forecast has a two and a half inch bullseye just over the border in Toledo.  Definitely a wet start to meteorological fall!

SEVERE WEATHER:  The risk area for severe weather has morphed again from prior forecasts and now covers the entire Lower Peninsula.  Showers and storms moving into Iowa and Northern Illinois should die off as the morning progresses, but the Storm Prediction Center says conditions should be ripe for afternoon storms to fire, and these could become an organized mob before possibly developing into a linear system with damaging wind and hail as the primary threats.  A surface cold front and a trough aloft digging deep into the Ohio valley from Canada look like they may link up and create a little bit of mayhem as the atmosphere heats during the course of the day.  Here's a look at the forecast maps from the SPC, valid at 8AM EDT:

SPC Day 1 Severe Weather Outlook
SPC Day 1 Severe Wind Outlook
SPC Day 1 Hail Outlook
You can see that severe probabilities are even higher as you move southwest of Michigan, so we'll have to keep an eye out and see what develops as we get into the afternoon warming.

There's a couple of lonely showers on the Grand Rapids NEXRAD at this hour, northwest of us, and some more organized activity down through Chicago and into northern Indiana...

Grand Rapids NEXRAD
The visible satellite image shows plenty of scattered clouds, and if you look closely you can see some storms embedded in them:

Visible Satellite Image
And here's the forecast for Jackson and vicinity:

Today, periods of clouds and sunshine to start, then increasing clouds during the afternoon, scattered showers and thunderstorms develop later, some of those could be severe, high 87, winds SW 3-9 MPH.

Tonight, scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms before midnight, some could be severe, lows only drop to 66, winds start turning from SW to NE 3-7 MPH.

Thursday, possibly a straggling shower early, then a mix of clouds and sunshine, not as warm, high 82, winds NW 5-10 MPH, turning more north as the day progresses.

Thursday night, increasing clouds, a scattered shower or roaming thunderstorm can't be ruled out, cooler, lows near 59, winds N 3-8 MPH.

Friday, mainly clear to start, clouds start thickening later, still the chance of an isolated evening shower, high 77.

Saturday, slowly clearing skies, much cooler, high 70.

Sunday, mostly sunny, fall-like and seasonably cool, high 70.

Monday, clear skies, a bit warmer, high 73.

Tuesday, continued sunny and mild, a bit warmer, high 75.

There's a look at your forecast for the next six days, I do hope that you have a great Hump Day Wednesday!  Blessings.

DENSE FOG ADVISORIES POSTED...

The National Weather Service is advising patchy dense fog will be occurring in the following areas during the morning drive:  Hillsdale, Branch, Lenawee, Livingston, and Washtenaw counties.  Visibility can change rapidly from basically clear to less than 1/4 mile over short distances, so take it slowly and allow some extra travel time this morning.  Fog is expected to have largely dissipated by 10AM.  Go to weather.gov for the official text of the advisories.