National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Light Snow Today

Light snow is expected this morning mainly along and south of a Holland to Lansing line. Additional snow showers develop late this afternoon and evening bringing quick bursts of snow. Amounts under an inch are expected. Thursday afternoon through Friday 1 to 4 inches will be possible and may impact the Thursday evening and Friday morning commutes. Read More >

Temperatures were more or less near normal, precipitation also near normal but slightly below normal at Muskegon. Snowfall was below normal near the lake shore but above normal near I-69. 

The 10 year running mean winter temperature showed a steady warming from around 1980 till around 2005.  Since then the mean winter temperature has not changed significantly. 

The mean winter precipitation was around 5 inches in the early part of the 20th century, as we got closer to the beginning of the 21st century, winters began to get wetter.  As of 2020, the mean winter precipitation has increased to around 7 inches, a 2 inch increase over the past century. 

 

 

For southwest Michigan, using the 1991 to 2020 normals, all of the southern 1/2 of Lower Michigan had near normal precipitation and temperatures. 

However, if you compare this last winter to the entire period of record, 1895 to 2022, then this winter was on the warm side of normal, precipitation remains near normal.

Looking at seasonal snowfall, we did see the typical  pattern of snowy by the lake shore and significantly less snowy inland of Lake Michigan. 

Looking at snowfall for the 2021 to 2022 Winter, using the 1991 to 2020 normals, here we see snowfall was actually around 25% below normal over a  good part our area.

 

 

The trend, since 1970 has been for more snow at Grand Rapids till around 2015, then there has been a slow downward trend in snowfall.  Muskegon has had a downward trend in snowfall since the 1970.  The break in the snowfall record at Muskegon was the result of ASOS taking the observations instead of human observers.  It took a few years to find a replacement observer. 

 

Snowfall has largely seen a downward trend since 1970 at Lansing and  Big Rapids.  The break in the Lansing snowfall record, like the break in the Muskegon record was the result of ASOS taking the observations instead of human observers.  It took a few years to find a replacement observer.