National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

• Home
• Site Map
• News
• Organization
• Search for: NWS All NOAA 

000
CXUS53 KGRR 041903
CLMBIV

CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS, MI
251 PM EDT THU APR 4 2013

...................................

...THE HOLLAND/TULIP CITY MI CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2013...

CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 9999 TO 9999

WEATHER         OBSERVED          NORMAL  DEPART  LAST YEAR`S
                 VALUE   DATE(S)  VALUE   FROM    VALUE  DATE(S)
                                          NORMAL
................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
HIGHEST            58   03/30        MM      MM       85  03/21
                                                          03/20
LOWEST             11   03/04        MM      MM       21  03/05
                        03/03
AVG. MAXIMUM     39.5              44.9    -5.4     61.1
AVG. MINIMUM     26.2              28.7    -2.5     42.3
MEAN             32.8              36.8    -4.0     51.7
DAYS MAX >= 90      0               0.0     0.0        0
DAYS MAX <= 32      7               3.2     3.8        2
DAYS MIN <= 32     27              20.7     6.3        6
DAYS MIN <= 0       0               0.0     0.0        0

PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
TOTALS           1.00              2.27   -1.27     2.27
DAILY AVG.       0.03              0.07   -0.04     0.07
DAYS >= .01         9                MM      MM        8
DAYS >= .10         3                MM      MM        5
DAYS >= .50         0                MM      MM        2
DAYS >= 1.00        0                MM      MM        0
GREATEST
 24 HR. TOTAL    0.46   03/10 TO 03/10           02/29 TO 03/01


DEGREE_DAYS
HEATING TOTAL     990               874     116      439
 SINCE 7/1       5242              5374    -132     4366
COOLING TOTAL       0                 0       0       33
 SINCE 1/1          0                 0       0       33
..................................................

WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED              8.3
RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION   2/310
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION    32/250    DATE  03/19
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION    40/260    DATE  03/19

SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT)   MM
AVERAGE SKY COVER           0.60
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR            7
NUMBER OF DAYS PC             10
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY         14

AVERAGE RH (PERCENT)     66

WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM              0     MIXED PRECIP               0
HEAVY RAIN                0     RAIN                       1
LIGHT RAIN                4     FREEZING RAIN              0
LT FREEZING RAIN          1     HAIL                       0
HEAVY SNOW                1     SNOW                       3
LIGHT SNOW               10     SLEET                      0
FOG                      12     FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE      3
HAZE                      9

-  INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
R  INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.
MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.
T  INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.

&&

MARCH OF 2013 WAS COOLER AND DRIER THAN NORMAL IN SOUTHWEST LOWER
MICHIGAN. A MAJORITY OF THE MONTH HAD DAILY TEMPERATURES WELL BELOW
AVERAGE ACCOMPANIED BY A FEW LAKE EFFECT SNOW EVENTS.

THE ENTIRE AREA RANGED FROM 3 DEGREES BELOW AVERAGE IN CENTRAL LOWER
MICHIGAN TO 5 DEGREES BELOW AVERAGE IN THE FAR SOUTHWEST. MONTHLY
AVERAGES FOR GRAND RAPIDS... LANSING AND MUSKEGON ALL HOVERED AROUND
31 DEGREES WHICH IS ABOUT 4 DEGREES BELOW AVERAGE. THE FIRST WEEK OF
MARCH CONSISTED OF HIGH TEMPERATURES THAT ONLY BREACHED AVERAGE ONCE
IN GRAND RAPIDS AND MUSKEGON... ON THE 6TH. TEMPERATURES THEN
CLIMBED INTO THE LOWER 40S ON THE 8TH AND 9TH WHICH WAS NEAR NORMAL.
THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY HIGH TEMPERATURES SPANNING THE UPPER 40S AND
MID 50S ON THE 10TH AND 11TH. HIGHS AT ALL THREE CLIMATE SITES
RANGED 8 TO 15 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. A SHARP COLD FRONT MOVED
THROUGH LATER ON THE 11TH BRINGING TEMPERATURES BACK DOWN WELL BELOW
AVERAGE. COLD AIR REMAINED LOCKED IN AND WOULD NOT RETREAT FOR OVER
TWO WEEKS. HIGHS GENERALLY RANGED FROM THE MID 20S TO NEAR 40
DEGREES DURING THIS PERIOD. TEMPERATURES WOULD FINALLY RETURN TO THE
MID 40S AND LOWER 50S ON THE 28TH AND 29TH BREAKING THE MOLD OF
COOLER THAN AVERAGE TEMPERATURES. THE 30TH WAS THE ONLY DAY TO RIVAL
THE MID 50S FROM THE 10TH AND 11TH. THE 50S HELD ON FOR EASTERN
PORTIONS OF THE AREA ON THE 31ST BUT CLOUD COVER MADE 40S COMMON
CLOSER TO THE LAKE.

MANY LOCATIONS WERE WELL BELOW NORMAL ON PRECIPITATION FOR THE
MONTH OF MARCH. MUSKEGON WAS THE LONE CLIMATE SITE TO BREAK ONE INCH
IN TOTAL PRECIPITATION... WITH JUST UNDER ONE INCH IN GRAND RAPIDS
AND LANSING. DESPITE THIS... ALL THREE CLIMATE SITES WERE AN INCH OR
MORE BELOW AVERAGE. INLAND AREAS SUFFERED MOST WITH DEFICITS GREATER
THAN ONE INCH WHILE ONLY SATISFYING 25 TO 50 PERCENT OF THEIR NORMAL
VALUES. A MAJORITY OF THE PRECIPITATION WAS RECORDED BETWEEN THE
10TH AND THE 21ST. THE ONLY DATES TO EQUAL OR EXCEED 0.01 OF AN INCH
OF PRECIPITATION OUTSIDE THIS SPAN OCCURRED ON THE 25TH... 26TH AND
31ST. HOWEVER THESE AMOUNTS WERE ALSO SMALL RANGING FROM 0.01 TO
0.06 OF AN INCH WITH THE 31ST ACCOUNTING FOR MOST OF WHAT FELL ON
THESE THREE DATES.

MARCH SNOWFALL FOR SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN WAS ALSO BELOW NORMAL IN
MANY LOCATIONS. ONLY AREAS IN NORTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN AND EXTREME
SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN RANGED 1 TO 5 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. ALMOST
ALL OTHER LOCATIONS RANGED SLIGTHLY BELOW NORMAL TO 3 INCHES BELOW
NORMAL WITH CENTRAL PORTIONS OF THE STATE UP TO 5 INCHES BELOW
NORMAL. GRAND RAPIDS  RECORDED 7.7 INCHES OF SNOW WHICH WAS 0.6
INCHES BELOW NORMAL. LANSING HAD A TOTAL OF 5.2 INCHES OF SNOWFALL
THAT FELL 1.8 INCHES SHORT OF AVERAGE AND MUSKEGON FAIRED WORST OF
THE THREE SITES WITH A 3.3 INCH DEFICIT AFTER TOTALING 5.7 INCHES OF
SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH.

$$