Sunny skies, near record warmth on tap today in Ann Arbor
We haven’t had much winter weather to endure so far this year, but Tuesday the Ann Arbor area will get a very early taste of spring.
The forecast calls for a mostly sunny day with a high of 53 to 57. Those temperatures will approach the record for the date, but are unlikely to break it, said Dave Gurney, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in White Lake Township. The record for Jan. 31 in metro Detroit is 60 degrees, Gurney said.
It may not be warm enough to bare the arms, but a pretty nice day is expected in Ann Arbor Tuesday.
Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com
Temperatures will stay in the above-normal range for the next few days, though not in the 50s. After a possibility of rain Tuesday night, the forecast for the rest of the week calls for partly to mostly sunny days through Monday. A high temperature of 45 is expected Wednesday. Temperatures will cool to mid-30s by Monday.
Will the warmer than average trend hold for February? That’s anybody’s guess, Gurney said, though the government’s Climate Prediction Center says temperature and precipitation are likely to be above normal for the month.
For updated forecasts and conditions any time, check AnnArbor.com's weather page.
Comments
Mark
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 4:55 p.m.
There were also a few billion less people in the 1930s!
treetowncartel
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 4:19 p.m.
All bets are off until Thursday
MRunner73
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 2:40 p.m.
OK, here is a peek at some Detroit climo data: Last previous warm winter like this one was 2005-06. The last super mild winter was 2001-02 which was the 4th warmest on record. Before anyone thinks there is a trend, 1931-32 had the 2nd warmest ever winter, 1932-33 had the 16th warmest winter, 1930-31 had 22nd warmest winter and 1936-37 had the 23rd warmest ever winter. BYW: the summers of 1934 and 1936 featured some of the hottest ever temperatures locally and throughout much of Eastern US. Stay cool.
MRunner73
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 4:08 p.m.
Here's something to also think about in the 1930s: the CO2 levels were much lower then compared to now. There was far less urbanization back then; no strip malls, freeways and concrete jungles, more forested areas, farmland and watersheds.
WalkingJoe
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 3:12 p.m.
MRunner73, thank you for putting some perspective here. Wonder if the back in the 30's they thought this trend was unique to their era. The one person I could ask who was around then is my dad but he passed in Sept.
EyeHeartA2
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 2:10 p.m.
@bhall; You doomsdayers need to get on the same page. Whenever it is cold out, there are shrill reminders that weather is NOT, NOT, NOT temperature. Evidently that is only the case for cold. If it is warm, that just proves the point that global warming is real? So, we missed the mark on this prediction: <a href="http://www.annarbor.com/news/winter-forecast-for-ann-arbor-above-average-snowfall-and-bitter-cold/">http://www.annarbor.com/news/winter-forecast-for-ann-arbor-above-average-snowfall-and-bitter-cold/</a> Which of course contained this gem: "To those who want to make an innocuous story some sort of "anti warming" evidence, colder snowier winters are in fact proof FOR global warming and the reason is simple: as more hot air congregates at the poles due to increasing global temperatures, it displaces cold arctic air south toward us, resulting in more bitter winters. Global warming does not mean it is literally hotter everywhere all the time--and there is no legitimate debate as to it's veracity. C'mon people." So, evidently, according to 'ole Rusty Shalkeford, the above average temperatures must GOOD NEWS. Hooray, we are saved. Wait....lemme guess... it only works one way. Bad luck again! Good. Got it. Thanks.
WalkingJoe
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 12:18 p.m.
Ok I give up. The end is near. Let's go back to the Stone Age, then we won't be able to post our opinions online and know how wrong your opinion is.
Tru2Blu76
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 6:43 a.m.
Just sayin': The Ann Arbor News published and article with photos of a similar past January day: temp then hit 63ยบ F. if I recall. That wasn't long before AA News ceased publication. BTW: the past 11 years have featured the warmest worldwide years on record - at least twice. Other extremes of cold, precipitation, hurricane strength and flooding have also reached record levels in this period. The Earth's system is already unbalanced: pushing cold weather from the poles farther south and intensifying heat waves and droughts elsewhere. The oceans: are the repositories of added, incremental heat energy. But it takes a long time for that energy to heat the oceans and spread to the atmosphere. The extremes of the last 10 years are actually the result of (proven) additions of energy to this system. In other words: energy added to Earth's weather system in the 1980s is just now "expressing" in what we're experiencing. It's fairly straightforward to show that this unusual added energy has its source in human activities. Other factors (volcanic activity & solar energy) at present constitute only a small fraction of energy input. In the past, these factors DID produce climate extremes all by themselves. Now: human "input" exceeds those others and there's no down-trend .
MRunner73
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 2:34 p.m.
Agreed. The bottom line is that alternating warm and cold winters come in cycles. I saw Detroit data showing 3 of 5 winters in the early and mid 1930s rank amongst the warmest ever winters (Dec-Jan-Feb). More coming in a few minutes.
WalkingJoe
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 4:02 a.m.
@bhall. are you planning to live another 100 years? Everything I've read says it will take at least that long to see if it really is "climate change". What's to say next winter we have below normal temps and above average snowfall, are we then going to have weather like northern Ontario?
Tru2Blu76
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 6:57 a.m.
Consider: we in Michigan have been lucky in comparison to large regions in N. America and elsewhere. Record droughts have impacted S.E. & S.W. US regions and central Canada, parts of Africa and central Russia. At the same time: record floods have ravaged parts of the U.S., Australia and Asia. Hurricane numbers and intensity have risen. Coastal erosion is at an historical high. Don't be fooled by the political double talk: That "100 years" is already partly elapsed - and - it actually has nothing to do with "proof" but with conditions so intolerable that civilizations worldwide will be wiped out. How much worse to they want it to get before someone says, "That's it!"-? 3-7 year droughts can happen in Michigan, so can 3-7 years of flooding. That's TODAY.
a2flow
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 3:37 a.m.
@bhall... I don't remember where the article came from, but it essentially discussed how Illinois was now planting trees that were more native to Louisiana because of the expected climate change. This has been a crazy winter, if you can call it a Michigan winter. This is like early to mid March weather.
bhall
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 : 1:21 a.m.
Climate change is here. Good thing the USDA last week told us what we already know -- the climate has warmed to such a degree that gardeners and growers can plant differently and use less hardly plants, but was too cowardly to admit why. I'll probably live to see the day when Michigan is like southern Missouri today.