Students and locals may not have been dreaming of a white April, but that’s what they woke up to Tuesday morning.
Saginaw resident Scott Seeburger expressed the thoughts many Michigan residents had as they ventured out of their homes to face temperatures between the mid-20s and mid-40s.
“I wasn’t anticipating it being this cold,” Seeburger said. “I’ve lived here all my life, but I never get used to it.”
Seeburger and other Michiganians may have to try.
According to the National Weather Service’s Grand Rapids office, mid-Michigan residents should expect fluctuating temperatures until mid- to late-May.
“That’s spring time, you’re going to have little bouts of very warm weather followed by what seems to be very cold weather,” said Tom Hultquist, a meteorologist for the weather service.
Hultquist attributed the recent changes in temperature to shifts in the jet stream, a current of stronger winds in the upper atmosphere. As it moves north of the area, the weather becomes warmer; if it falls further south, cold temperatures can be expected.
“Once you get into May the jet stream moves up into Canada,” he said. “By the second week of May, we can count on some consistently warm temperatures.”
Some local residents weren’t too annoyed to encounter cold weather and snow flurries as they made their way around East Lansing’s downtown.
“It doesn’t bother me that much, but it’s springtime so I’m expecting 50s, 60s every day,” supply chain management junior Valentino Ivezaj said.
Ivezaj, wearing a T-shirt on Monday, said he wouldn’t let Mother Nature bother him.
“Since I drive, I don’t walk that far, just from my car to class,” he said.
But this week’s weather leaves others worrying about Michigan flora.
“My guess is that we may have done a little bit of damage to some of the plants,” assistant geography Professor Jeff Andresen said. “One in particular is cherries that are beginning their growth stage.”
As for the light snow, Andresen said it doesn’t hurt plants anymore than the cold weather.
“Snow is a very effective insulator, so once it covers the surface it keeps it pretty near freezing,” he said.
According to crop and soil sciences Professor Richard Harwood, warm temperatures early in the year may give plants the false idea that it’s time to sprout.
Now that it’s been above freezing, buds are beginning to appear.
“If we were to get down to the low 20s or the teens for a few hours it would really be damaging,” Harwood said.
