It’s been a pleasant and relatively cool start to the month of August. The map above is the temperature difference from average for the past week (July 31 – August 6). The Central U.S. has been quite cool relative to average. The West and East have been a little warmer than average.
The first six days of August were all cooler than average. We only had 4 days that were cooler than average in all of July. Much of the difference has been with overnight low temperatures. The past 3 mornings, we’ve had low temperatures of 52, 53 and 55 (Wed. – Fri.), compared to an average low temperature of 62. If you take the high and low temperatures for August 1-6, those six days were 4.6 degrees cooler than average. Every high temperature in July was 80 degrees or warmer. The first 6 days of August all had high temperatures (in Grand Rapids) in the 70s.
Here’s rainfall difference from average over the past 7 days. Once again, we’ve had above average rainfall in S. Lower Michigan. Note the heavy rain (up to 6″ above average in the blue color) along the East Coast from Tropical Storm Isaias. However, this is the fourth dry day in a row over much of West Michigan.
August 1-6 had 50% sunshine. So, we had a cloudier pattern to start the month than the sunnier overall pattern we had in June and July.
Thursday was a very calm day with an average wind speed of just 2.8 mph in Grand Rapids. Above you see the weather observations at 1 am Fri. August 7. Everyone on the list had calm winds and you can see that the barometer readings are virtually identical over the state. Little (or no) pressure gradient means light or calm winds. Sharp pressure gradients go along with stronger winds.
This pic. of the Muskegon Channel this Friday AM (8/7) shows sailboats moving slowly in the light wind. The water temperature at the Muskegon buoy and at the Port Sheldon buoy was 61°. Warmer water had made it back to the S. Haven buoy, where the water temperature is 74°. The water temperature at 2 pm was 80° at (inland) Reeds Lake.
It’s cooler at Lake Michigan – at 2 pm, the temperatures was 80° at both Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. It’s 70° at the Muskegon Beach and 72° at the South Haven Beach.
