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Marine Weather and Tides
Version 3.4 |
8/26/2020 The 7 day forecast is taking about 5 seconds to load but it will eventually load. NOAA is still working on it. 8/18/2020 NOAA continues to have trouble. Wind guest will occasionally be left off graphs. I am working with NOAA to resolve the issue. 12/16/2019 NOAA is having trouble with requests that include wind gusts. I am posting graphs without wind gusts until it gets fixed. 10/9/2019 Updated the Marine Zones. 9/4/2019 Fixed the weather maps due to NOAA moving them. 7/25/2019 New feature in the Airports section gives a link to 5 minute updates for data reports. |
Sunrise 8:05AM | Sunset 5:46PM | Friday January 22, 2021 12:54 AM EST (05:54 UTC) | Moonrise 12:58PM | Moonset 2:37AM | Illumination 64% | ![]() |
LMZ846 Holland To Grand Haven Mi- 1005 Pm Est Thu Jan 21 2021
.small craft advisory in effect through late Friday night...
Rest of tonight..Northwest winds to 30 knots. A chance of rain and snow showers through about 2 am, then snow showers likely overnight. Waves 7 to 10 feet.
Friday..Northwest winds to 30 knots. Cloudy with a chance of snow showers. Waves 6 to 8 feet.
Friday night..Northwest winds 10 to 20 knots. Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of snow showers. Waves 4 to 6 feet.
Saturday..Northwest winds 5 to 10 knots backing southwest late in the day. Partly Sunny. Waves 2 to 3 feet.
Saturday night..Southeast winds 10 to 20 knots. Snow showers likely. Waves 1 to 2 feet.
Sunday..South winds 10 to 20 knots. Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow showers. Waves 1 to 2 feet.
Monday..Northeast winds 15 to 25 knots. Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow showers. Waves 1 to 2 feet.
Tuesday..Northeast winds 15 to 20 knots. Partly Sunny. Waves 1 to 2 feet.
.small craft advisory in effect through late Friday night...
Rest of tonight..Northwest winds to 30 knots. A chance of rain and snow showers through about 2 am, then snow showers likely overnight. Waves 7 to 10 feet.
Friday..Northwest winds to 30 knots. Cloudy with a chance of snow showers. Waves 6 to 8 feet.
Friday night..Northwest winds 10 to 20 knots. Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of snow showers. Waves 4 to 6 feet.
Saturday..Northwest winds 5 to 10 knots backing southwest late in the day. Partly Sunny. Waves 2 to 3 feet.
Saturday night..Southeast winds 10 to 20 knots. Snow showers likely. Waves 1 to 2 feet.
Sunday..South winds 10 to 20 knots. Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow showers. Waves 1 to 2 feet.
Monday..Northeast winds 15 to 25 knots. Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow showers. Waves 1 to 2 feet.
Tuesday..Northeast winds 15 to 20 knots. Partly Sunny. Waves 1 to 2 feet.
LMZ846 Expires:202101221000;;288544
FZUS53 KGRR 220305
NSHGRR
Nearshore Marine Forecast
National Weather Service Grand Rapids MI
1005 PM EST Thu Jan 21 2021
For waters within five nautical miles of shore on Lake Michigan
LMZ846-221000-
7 Day Forecast for Marine Location Near Holland, MI
Hourly EDIT Help
location: 42.77, -86.1 debug
Area Discussion for - Grand Rapids, MI
  (on/off)  Help NOTE: mouseover dotted underlined text for definitionFXUS63 KGRR 220455 AFDGRR
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Rapids MI 1155 PM EST Thu Jan 21 2021
LATEST UPDATE . Aviation
SYNOPSIS. Issued at 320 PM EST Thu Jan 21 2021
- Lake effect snow showers and colder Friday
- Quiet most of Saturday but chilly
- Light snow Saturday night into Sunday
- Possible snow storm Monday and Thursday
UPDATE. Issued at 1023 PM EST Thu Jan 21 2021
Lake effect snow is ongoing across the area at 1015pm with the stronger activity occurring off to the north of I-96 across Central Lower Michigan. The deeper moisture and better vertical motion exist across Central and Northern Lower Michigan which is closer to the shortwave diving southeastward in the northwest flow aloft. The better moisture and lift will stay in those areas and be confined to the first half of the night or roughly through about 400am. So, we expect the "heavier" snow to remain up in Central Lower Michigan tonight. Also, we expect the intensity of the snow to drop off considerably as we approach daybreak. Snowfall totals will range from an inch or two up along U.S. 10 in a few spots to trace amounts for much of the rest of the forecast area.
A cold front stretches from near Alpena to Ludington to just north of Milwaukee at 1000pm with a solid push to the south ongoing. This front will bring a burst of snow showers to many areas, but they will be short lived at any one location and not result in much in the way of impact. The front will flip the flow from a westerly to more northerly direction. So, overnight once the frontal snow showers pass through the activity will focus more towards the lakeshore.
All in all, a fairly typical January night. Temperatures will tumble behind the front as readings currently are near zero F across northern Minnesota and in the single digits as close as northern Wisconsin. We will see temperatures fall into the teens and lower 20s by daybreak here.
DISCUSSION. (This evening through next Thursday) Issued at 320 PM EST Thu Jan 21 2021
- Lake effect snow showers and colder Friday
Yet another minor lake effect snow event is expected later tonight into Friday night. This event does look a little better now than it did a few days ago but it still will struggle to result in more than a 1/2 inch in most locations by Saturday evening. An isolated 2 inch amount is possible through. We do have cyclonic flow at low levels into Friday and inversion heights will be near 5000ft we do get a snow event from this. A pathetic one, at best, but snow is snow. I do want to point out the NAM has inversion heights only to 4000 ft but the HRRR and RAP model get to 6000 ft. All things considered I would go with the HRRR and RAP on that idea. One way of the other that is not all that deep but there is lift in the DGZ and speed convergence near the lake shore so we will get some light snow showers tonight into Friday night. Winds of 25 to 35 knots in the clouds will bring the snow bands well inland into Friday. That deceases snowfall too through, since it spreads the snowfall out over a larger area.
Thanks to large upper high moving westward over Greenland we get a brief window to get some truly cold air into Southwest Michigan during the next in the next 24hrs. The problem with this cold air is that cold air not staying over Michigan for very long. That upper high keeps moving west. That upper high would need to stay over Greenland for us to stay in the cold air. Since it does not stay there, that in turn off the cold air nearly nearly as quickly as it allows it to impact us. None the less, this will be the coldest air of the winter but like every other event this winter,so far, it does not last more then 18-24 hrs. With 850 temperatures falling to near -18c (coldest so far, this winter, for this area) that is more than cold enough given Lake Michigan's mean surface water temperature is near 40 degrees.
- Quiet most of Saturday but chilly
As the next upstream northern and southern stream shortwaves move into North America, that causes a shortwave ridge to move over this area Saturday. That ends the snow shower but it will remain cold.
- Light snow Saturday night into Sunday
As those next upstream shortwave move toward the central CONUS, we get a warm advection snow event. This is in the late Saturday night into midday Sunday time frame. There is a northern stream wave associated with this system so the great snowfall will be over northern Lower Michigan.
- Possible snow storm Monday and Thursday
The southern stream tries to get active again this coming week. Since the ECMWF (as typical) is slower moving upper waves out of the Southwestern CONUS, it allows a better and strong system to head this way than does the GFS which is likely to quick in moving this system east. The ECMWF has had this storm impacting us for at least 6 model runs in a row. Meanwhile the GFS is had it not impacting us for those same model runs. Nearly all of the ECMWF 50 ensemble members like the snow getting into Michigan while only 5 out of the 30 GFS members like that idea. If it happens it would be the largest snow storm of the season so far (which given what has happens so far is not saying much).
If you like that event, then we have a similar event on Thursday to watch. It is very similar to the Monday event. So that will be the next system to watch for.
AVIATION. (For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Friday night) Issued at 1155 PM EST Thu Jan 21 2021
Widespread MVFR ceilings should spread across the TAF sites in the next couple of hours, or through 08z. The MVFR ceilings should remain in place the rest of the night and through much of Thursday. Scattered snow showers can be expected the remainder of the night, but overall heavy snow shower activity is not expected at the TAF sites. Periodic dips in visibility are possible, to 3-5SM, but overall VFR visibilities are expected. The snow shower activity is expected to be even lighter on Friday, generally flurries.
Winds will remain gusty tonight into the 20-30 knot range out of the northwest, but a gradual settling of the wind will occur between now and Friday evening.
MARINE. Issued at 320 PM EST Thu Jan 21 2021
With the cold air coming in, little question we will have 20 to 30 knot winds over the near shore into Friday night. So no changes needed in the marine headlines.
GRR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES. MI . None. LM . Small Craft Advisory until 3 AM EST Saturday for LMZ844>849.
UPDATE . Duke SYNOPSIS . wdm DISCUSSION . wdm AVIATION . Duke MARINE . wdm
Weather Reporting Stations
EDIT (on/off)  Help NOTE: Click on distance to see the station location on a mapStations | Dist | Age | Wind | Air Temp | Water Temp | Waves | Pressure | DewPt |
HLNM4 - 9087031 - Holland, MI | 6 mi | 67 min | WNW 23 G 27 | 36°F | 34°F | 1006.2 hPa | 26°F | |
SVNM4 - South Haven, MI | 27 mi | 55 min | 25 G 28 | 36°F | ||||
MKGM4 - Muskegon, MI | 34 mi | 55 min | N 22 G 29 | 31°F | 1008.7 hPa (+2.4) | 22°F | ||
SJOM4 - St. Joseph, MI | 51 mi | 55 min | W 19 G 24 | 36°F | 1008.8 hPa (+0.7) |
Wind History for Holland, MI
(wind in knots) EDIT (on/off)  Help1 AM | 2 AM | 3 AM | 4 AM | 5 AM | 6 AM | 7 AM | 8 AM | 9 AM | 10 AM | 11 AM | 12 PM | 1 PM | 2 PM | 3 PM | 4 PM | 5 PM | 6 PM | 7 PM | 8 PM | 9 PM | 10 PM | 11 PM | 12 AM | |
Last 24hr | SW G32 | SW G28 | SW | W | W G21 | W G19 | W | W | W | W | W G24 | W G27 | SW G28 | SW | W | W | W | W G26 | NW G27 | NW | W G27 | W G32 | W | W G32 |
1 day ago | N G8 | NW | NW G24 | NW G26 | NW G24 | NW G17 | W G15 | W G12 | SW | SW | SW G22 | SW G23 | SW | S | S G29 | S G29 | S | S G26 | S G23 | S | S | SW | SW G40 | SW |
2 days ago | W G23 | NW | W G17 | W G17 | W | W | W | W | W | W G18 | W | W | W | W G17 | NW | NW G13 | N G21 | NW | NW G25 | NE G11 |
Airport Reports
EDIT (on/off)  Help Click EDIT to display multiple airports. Follow links for more data.Airport | Dist | Age | Wind kt | Visibility | Sky/Weather | Temp | DewPt | Humidity | Pressure |
Holland - West Michigan Regional Airport, MI | 1 mi | 62 min | WNW 12 G 23 | 10.00 mi | Overcast | 36°F | 20°F | 52% | 1007.1 hPa |
Link to 5 minute data for KBIV
Wind History from BIV (wind in knots)
1 AM | 2 AM | 3 AM | 4 AM | 5 AM | 6 AM | 7 AM | 8 AM | 9 AM | 10 AM | 11 AM | 12 PM | 1 PM | 2 PM | 3 PM | 4 PM | 5 PM | 6 PM | 7 PM | 8 PM | 9 PM | 10 PM | 11 PM | 12 AM | |
Last 24hr | W G26 | W G28 | W G29 | W G33 | W G30 | W G29 | W G24 | W G22 | NW G21 | NW G17 | W G19 | W G25 | W G27 | W G23 | ||||||||||
1 day ago | N | NW | NW G18 | NW G19 | NW | W | NW | NW | W | W | SW | SW G23 | SW | SW G19 | S | S | ||||||||
2 days ago | W | W G24 | W G19 | W G18 | W G19 | NW G18 | NW | W | W | W | W G20 | W G22 | W G21 | W G18 | W G17 | W | W | NW | NW | N | N | N | N |
Tide / Current Tables for
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NOTE: East coast views moved to GEOS-16. They are experimental and not well supported by NOAA so they may not be correct so be warned. This change required redoing a large amount of the GOES code. If the image you are expecting is not showing, please let me know. You may need to use the EDIT function to update your location.
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