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Southwest Michigan AMS/NWA
25 September 2019
What Michigan Aviation Academy
5363 44th St
Grand Rapids, MI 49512
President Warren Wheeler called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. All of the board members were present with the exception Cort Scholten who was on assignment with the NWS. Total attendance was 13 people.
Secretary Craig James Woods presented the summer forecast contest winners. Any winner who was not at the meeting can pick up their gifts cards at the next meeting.
Warren Wheeler won in a tie breaker over CJ Woods for warmest temperature of 92 on July 20 at GRR.
Justin Emelander won in a tie breaker over CJ Woods, Linda Paige and Jim Carpenter for warmest temperature of 90 at MKG on July 6.
Justin Emelander also won in a tie breaker over Warren Wheeler for highest temperature of 93 at LAN on July 19 & 20.
Jim Carpenter won in a tiebreaker over Justin Emelander for number of days reaching 90 at GRR of 7.
Cassey Derry won for the rainfall total at GRR between Jun1 and Aug 31 of 11.69 inches.
Treasurer William Marino presented the treasurer’s report. As of 25 September the club had funds of $866.77 with 23 paid members.
Our speaker for the evening was Deanna Apps, a civilian meteorologist working for the US Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District. She gave a summary of the changing Great Lakes water levels over time and a quick look at the information available on the Army Corps of Engineers web site, which you can access here: https://www.lre.usace.army.mil/Missions/Great-LakesInformation/Great-Lakes-Water-Levels/Water-Level-Forecast/Weekly-Great-Lakes-Water-Levels/ The three biggest contributors to water level changes in the Great Lakes are Precipitation, Evaporation and Runoff. As you can see from the following chart (larger version is on the website), changes in the contributors tend to be cyclical resulting in very little change over the past 100 years. However, lake Michigan-Huron did reach a record low level in January 2013 and came very close to a record high this past summer.
The Corps does issue forecasts for the next 6 months and the expectation is for continued well above average water levels. If you have any interest in the Great Lakes water levels past and present, their web site is a great resource for information.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 PM. The next meeting will be on Wednesday, October 23 at the West Michigan Aviation Academy. I will be giving a presentation on “The Elusive Surface Air Temperature, Past, Present and Future”.
Respectfully submitted
Craig James Woods
Secretary
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