Is This the Last Snowbank in Grand Rapids?

With temperatures hitting more than 70 degrees over the weekend, it's hard to believe, but there is still at least one snowbank that still exists in the Grand Rapids area.

Where is the Last Snowbank in Grand Rapids?

It happens every winter. The snow from the parking lot of the Spectrum Health Medical Group on East Paris Avenue is push over the edge of the wall on the north side of the parking lot.

Because it is protected by some of the elements and gets hardly any sun, this snowbank is always the last snow that remains late into spring in the Grand Rapids area. In some years it has been around until mid May. By this time of  year it has started to melt, and it certainly has looked better. It's now just a dirty gray and black icy mass. The picture above was taken on Sunday, April 24th, 2022. We will see just how long this thing sticks around this year! Do you know of any other snowbanks that still exist in the west Michigan area? Let me know! Send me a message (with picture if possible) to scott@wfgr.com.

Are Warmer Temperatures Here to Stay?

We all love the warmer temperatures. It's nice to see plants starting to bloom and the grass starting to turn green from its brown color. The National Weather Service, here in Grand Rapids, wants to make sure you don't get your expectations up too high as far as the temperatures are concerned. On their Facebook page they remind us that:

Based on daily records from 1895 to 2022, the daily frequency of high temperatures of 60 degrees reaches 90% om May 21st. For 70 degrees the frequency reaches 90% on June 20th. This means we should not expect to mostly have daily highs in the 60s until the 3rd week in May and for 70s it's the 3rd week in June. So, we have about another month before it stays reasonably warm every day.

It's not the news we want to be reminded of, but we will take the occasional warmer temperatures when we can get them.

This week it looks like high temperatures will be in the 40s and 50s. The average high temperature in Grand Rapids right now around 60 degrees, with normal lows around 40. So we will be running below average for the week. It looks like we should be back into the 60s for next weekend. Keep in mind, the 1st of May is next Sunday. It looks like cooler temperatures will stick around for at least the first week of May.