A map that shows which areas have increased chances of unusual fall U.S. temperatures
Most of the Lower 48 states have an increased chance of higher-than-average temperatures for August – October 2024.

By RUTH THORNTON
Capital News Service 

LANSING – Early fall temperatures in Michigan will likely be higher than average, according to the National Weather Service, but are predicted to return to normal for the winter if long-term predictions hold up.

Cort Scholten, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids, said precipitation amounts are expected to be near normal for the next three months. 

“Right now, this outlook is saying that the odds are favoring overall we’ll see more warmer-than-usual days than we will colder than usual days,” he said.

Scholten said temperatures are expected to return to near-average in November through December, but with higher-than-average precipitation expected, which could be in the form of either rain or snow.

“We’ll still have plenty of temperature swings during the winter,” he said. “Warm days, cold days, week-long cold snaps, week-long times when we’ll melt the snow.”

Scholten cautions that uncertainties increase the farther out the models go, and that predictions for the winter could change in coming months.

Last winter was influenced by a strong El Nino, which often brings warmer winters to the U.S., Scholten said, but currently neither El Nino nor La Nina are influencing the country’s weather significantly. Climate models are leaning towards a La Nina potentially forming this winter, but those predictions are still uncertain.

Scholten said warmer temperatures have occurred more often in the last couple of decades than in the past. That trend is particularly evident during the winters and for nighttime low temperatures, which have not been getting as cold as before. High temperatures have also been increasing, but not by quite as much.

“It does take more of an unusual atmospheric setup to deliver us the same amount of cold temperatures as it did in the past,” he said. “We still get cold snaps – sometimes they can get very, very cold in our region.”

He said those cold snaps are balanced out in other parts of the world by significantly warmer temperatures for a general overall warming trend.

Scholten said he expects weather this fall to follow the pattern of day-to-day changes common for Michigan, including its share of severe thunderstorms and maybe a heatwave or two.

“All these things are on the table for Michigan in the fall, as they are most years,” he said. “Weather in Michigan is always exciting no matter what happens.”

Ruth Thorton is an environmental reporting intern in a collaboration with WKAR Radio MSU’s Knight Center for Environmental Reporting and Capital News Service.

A map shows the regions of the U.S. that may see an increased chance of higher than normal precipitation.
Michigan and the Great Lakes may see near-normal precipitation amounts August – October 2024

Sign me up for Planet Detroit’s free weekly email newsletter

Give us your email, and we’ll give you our award-winning free weekly email newsletter on Fridays

Spartan Newsroom provides news and information about campus and the surrounding Michigan State University community. Content is produced by students enrolled in classes at or participating in extracurricular clubs affiliated with Michigan State’s School of Journalism. Capital News Service reporters cover state government for member newspapers and digital media outlets across the state of Michigan.