An unusual warm spell over several days in early November has brokenrecords across the region by as much as 10 degrees.
“This is very unusual,” stresses Andy Sullivan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord. “You might have a day where you set a record, two at the most. We’ve had four or five [days].”
Typically daily highs this time of year are in the low-to-mid-40s, but temperatures over the past week have reached the 60s and high 70s.
“It’s been sort of strange walking out at 4:30 in the morning and your car says 58 degrees,” says meteorologist Faith Fredrickson with the National Weather Service.
The abnormal weather is a result of warm, moist air coming from the Gulf of Mexico, explains Fredrickson. A high pressure system sitting over the mid-Atlantic has pushed that air to northern Michigan.
At the same time, the western U.S. has experienced colder-than-average temperatures. “The atmosphere is always trying to get into balance,” says Sullivan. “So it’s cold there, it’s warm here.”
Rain and cooler weather are expected to move into the area Tuesday. But that might not be the end of the mild November weather. “It could warm back up in the 50s—maybe in the 60s,” predicts Sullivan.
