Michigan's Extreme Weather
Left without power by a large storm that rolled through Michigan late Sunday night, I found myself in a dark and increasingly humid house. Having spent Sunday afternoon kayaking the Huron, it struck me how suddenly the weather had turned. When Monday morning rolled around, I was still power-less, yet neither the sky nor the temperature showed any indication of the previous night’s storm.
If you grew up in the state of Michigan, you’re no stranger to the joke “Don’t like the weather in Michigan? Wait ten minutes.” You’ve heard horror stories about lake effect snow in West Michigan and gone golfing on an 80-degree day in March. And if you live, work, or study in Ann Arbor, you’ve grown accustomed to pictures of students kayaking down flooded streets, tornado warnings that drive you to your basement for less than ten minutes, fighting the wind during the annual polar vortex, and excitedly awaiting a university snow day, something nearly unheard of until the past two years. Although all of these ups and downs are often chalked up to just being a part of living in the Great Lakes State, every drastic change in Michigan weather can be attributed to something.
Extreme Michigan Weather, written by Paul Gross, a Detroit meteorologist, examines the various extremes of Michigan weather and how these storms come to be. Gross also provides detailed weather data for cities throughout Michigan, offering you the opportunity to see just how extreme or unusual the weather in your area might be.
