GRAND RAPIDS (WKZO-AM) — Summer officially arrives in West Michigan at 6:34 p.m. tonight, but we have already had more hot summer weather than we usually get and forecasters say a lot more heat is expected before it’s over.
Meteorologist Bob Dukesherer at the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids says we are already well ahead of the pace for days above 90-degrees this summer. We have seen five already and normally we only see eight all summer.
He says it almost always happens when we replace an El nino in the Southern Pacific with a “La Nina” weather pattern.
So put the air conditioner in the window, get out the fans and break out the lemonade and the sunscreen.
The first day of Summer brings a special event this year.
For the first time in 70 years, the Summer Solstice is coinciding with a full moon, what is called a “Strawberry” moon.
The lunar surface takes on an amber color because the atmosphere is so thick and moist that the reflected light from the sun is dimmed a bit. It’s also known as a “Honey Moon.”
