WEST MICHIGAN — If you’re already tired of the heat and humidity over the last few days, hold on…the change arrives Tuesday. We may see a few scattered showers or thunderstorms Sunday evening/night, but a strong cold front will sweep through the state mid-day Monday (probably dry), but usher in a sharply cooler and less humid air mass.
High temperatures on Monday with some sunshine will make the 75 to 80 degree range, but it will be significantly cooler at the immediate lakeshore with a brisk wind directly off Lake Michigan. By Tuesday, highs are only expected to reach the mid/upper 50s at best! In fact, the air mass will be so cool and dry Tuesday night that widespread frost is possible Wednesday morning if skies remain clear and winds go light/calm. Make sure to stay up on later forecasts if you’ve already planted the annual garden.
The image attached to this story is from one of our computer forecast models valid for Tuesday morning. It shows temperatures about 5,000 feet above the surface or at about the 850 millibar level for you weather geeks. Notice the cooler tones (light blue/dark blue) to our north/west that will be arriving on a northwest wind Tuesday. The warmer colors are being pushed south. It’s what meteorologists call cold air advection. Simply put, it’s the transporting of cold air from one place to another! Advection is usually referred to on a horizontal plane versus convection which tends to be in the vertical.
The remainder of this week will generally be cool, comfortable, and dry after Monday. We should start to see temperatures reach the 70 degree mark again by the weekend with the chance of showers and more storms arriving Sunday afternoon/evening.
Get the complete West Michigan forecast at www.fox17online.com/weather.
