Scattered Showers Today (Fri.), Then Dry Sat. and Sun.

Rain and a chance of a Thunderstorm Monday PM

Here’s high temperatures from Thursday. Look at the top temperature and the bottom temperature. Traverse City reached a warm 81, while not all that far away, Mackinac Island had a high temperature of just 45. Traverse City had a warm, south wind off the land, while Mackinac Island had a damp, brisk east wind off Lake Huron.

It was the first 80 degree temperature of the year for Grand Rapids, and probably the warmest day we’ll see for maybe a couple of weeks. Nice pic. here courtesy of the city of Holland. Overall, the weather should be cool and pleasant for Tulip Time.

Here’s high temperatures for this PM. We’ll be a few degrees cooler than yesterday because of more clouds and a chance of a shower or t-shower. Winds will shift from the south early to the west off Lake Michigan, so temps. may drop a few degrees when that happens. South Haven gets a high of 62...and just 47 in the U.P. at Manistique where the south wind will be coming off Lake Michigan. That’s an interesting place. Sometimes a cold front will come thru Manistique and the temperature will go up a few degrees as the wind shifts from the south off Lake Michigan to the west off the land.

Speaking of the U.P. Marquette was down to 1” of snow on the ground at midnight. That inch will melt today, leaving just the remains of the snow piles near the airport. They’ve had snow on the ground every day since Nov. 25th. The town of Herman still had 11” on the ground Friday AM, but I bet much of that melted with temps. yesterday in the 60s.

Here’s the Severe Weather Outlook Map from the Storm Prediction Center for this Friday. SPC has added a Marginal Risk Area for southern Lower Michigan away from Lake Michigan and for much of Indiana and western Ohio.

SPC says: “ a moist airmass will be in place from the Lower Ohio Valley northward into lower Michigan. As surface temperatures warm during the day, surface dewpoints in the lower 60s F will contribute to weak destabilization. This, combined with increasing low-level convergence will support thunderstorm development ahead of the front. These storms will move eastward across the southern Great Lakes and Ohio Valley during the afternoon. Forecast soundings ahead of the storms have very steep low-level lapse rates approaching 8 C/km, which could support an isolated wind-damage threat.

The weekend will be dry and storm-free in Michigan, but we’ll have to keep an eye out for next Monday PM/night. This is the Severe Weather Outlook Area for Monday PM/night. The 15% (level 2 risk) comes up to Berrien Co. The rest of our area could be in a level 1 risk.