GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Whenever you hit a record cold temperature in late December, you know it’s cold.
Wednesday morning’s low of -12 degrees in Grand Rapids not only was the first subzero temperature of 2017; it also eclipsed the previous low temperature of -5 set in 1993 and is the coldest temperature on record since December 1983, when temperatures plunged to -18 degrees. West Michigan’s also dropped to -11 twice in 1989.
Grand Rapids actually dipped to -12 at 8:32 a.m. Wednesday, so it did not register in the readings below, as lows are typically reported earlier in the morning.
WHY IS IT SO COLD?
West Michigan has the perfect recipe for frigid cold temperatures: a decent snow pack (5 inches in Grand Rapids and 9 inches in Muskegon) and a very light or calm wind.
With a massive area of high pressure drifting across the southern Great Lakes, we will see a mostly calm wind Wednesday night that will shift from the southeast, pushing any lake-effect snow and clouds hovering above land to over Lake Michigan.