Bill’s Blog: It’s been cooler, wetter and cloudier than average so far this July

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — So far, this month of July has been cooler, wetter and cloudier than average.

The photo above is rain falling in Kalamazoo from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl.

The average temperature so far this month in Grand Rapids has been 71.1 degrees, which is 1.1 degrees cooler than average. We have not had any 90-degree days in Grand Rapids. In fact, the warmest day so far this month has been 86 degrees on the 13th. We’ve had four days with high temperatures in the mid-70s and 12 days with high temperatures in the low-mid 80s. The coolest temperature in Grand Rapids this month has been 47 degrees on the first.

This is a look at forecast high and low temperatures for Grand Rapids for the next 17 days. The model doesn’t give Grand Rapids a temperature warmer than 86 degrees into early August. This may be a little overdone on the cool pattern, but the takeaway is that there is no sign of an extended heat wave in the long range forecast at this time.

Rainfall in Grand Rapids so far this month has totaled 5.33 inches, which is 3.36 inches above average. That’s 275% of average for July 1-16. Kalamazoo (airport) has picked up 6.32 inches so far this month and that’s 361% of average rainfall for July 1-16. Lansing has had 4.09 inches so far this month. The Holland Airport has had only 1.79 inches. That’s just 0.35 inches above average, significantly less than the other area weather stations. Same story at Muskegon, where July 2024 rainfall has totaled 1.88 inches or 0.52 inches above average. Because of the cooler, more stable air over and near the lake, there is slightly less rainfall on average near the lake than in inland areas.

Grand Rapids has had measurable rainfall on eight of the last nine days and at least a trace of rain on 14 out of 16 days this month.

Rainfall from the remains of Hurricane Beryl has heaviest from South Bend, Indiana; across the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek areas over to Flint and the Thumb Area.

This has also been a relatively cloudy July so far, with just 44% of possible sunshine. I think the final total will be higher than that, but if we were to end the month with 44% sunshine, it would tie for cloudiest July ever in Grand Rapids. Since July 1, we have not had a single day with more than 70% sun and during that period, we’ve had eight days with less than 40% sunshine.

July is on average the sunniest month of the year with 68% of possible sunshine.

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