WEST MICHIGAN — Since March 1st, most of West Michigan has recorded over 5" of rain! But the yearly precipitation numbers don't look so bad, meaning we've had some extreme weather patterns to start 2025.
JANUARY & FEBRUARY
January was below average in total precipitation and snowfall, while February was very dry, in fact the second driest since 2004, with .89" total precipitation.
This led to severe drought conditions in more than half of West Michigan's counties, including all of Kent County. Grand Rapids ended February with an already hefty deficit of -2.53" below average.
MARCH
Rain, and some snow showers, finally made a return in the first month of Meteorological Spring. The first 5 days of March received more water (0.93") than all of February combined (0.89").
After another water-less 10-day stretch, March ended with 2.94" more precip, making March 2025 the wettest month since July of last year. This brought some drought relief!
The majority of the relief was focused in central Michigan, where the driest conditions were. Grand Rapids dropped from severe to moderate conditions.
APRIL
We all have heard the old wives tale "April showers bring May flowers", if this is true, were in store for a big bloom in our gardens this year given the recorded rainfall just 2 days in.
Grand Rapids had it's wettest day since July 2024, while Kalamazoo received the most precipitation in day in over 7 years!!
This 2-day stretch has already popped on the drought monitor! Moist areas remain in abnormally dry. Here's a look at the 6 main city sensors tracking historical precipitation data, and how April 2's rainfall impacted the yearly number.
While the long term forecast doesn't stay super wet, we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing this is the closest we've been to "normal" for precipitation since last Fall!
