Cold temperatures and rain across the state have some thinking winter is coming quicker than usual.
And for some students, a change in weather is exactly what they want.
“I don’t mind the change,” business freshman Laura Long said. “I get sick of hot weather after so long. After September, it needs to be a little chilly.”
But Mark Sekelsky, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Grand Rapids office, said temperatures will rise in the next few days.
“We have a low pressure system stalled over Lake Huron, and it’s creating a lot of clouds and showers,” he said. “It’s unusually strong for this time of year and is resulting in much cooler than normal temperatures.”
Sekelsky said the average temperatures for southwest Michigan have been in the mid-40s. Temperatures in Lansing reached only 44 degrees on Tuesday, which was a record low for a high temperature, he said.
He said the National Weather Service had one or two reports of snow and sleet in Michigan, including one in Houghton Lake.
Sekelsky said temperatures in southwest Michigan reached 50 degrees Wednesday, and temperatures will continue to rise, with a high of 65 to 70 degrees by Sunday.
But until then, temperatures now are the equivalent of a normal day in mid-November.
“Around the Great Lakes area, Michigan is the center point for the cool area in the nation,” Sekelsky said.
For some students living on campus, colder temperatures have made their lives less pleasant.
“They didn’t turn on the heat in Mason-Abbot for two days,” business sophomore Damon Atchison said. “I can’t ride my bike when it is raining because my brakes don’t work and my seat is wet.”
And some say they are not prepared for the onslaught of cold temperatures.
“I don’t have any of my winter clothes up here, that’s the only thing that bothers me,” packaging sophomore Catherine Grim said. “Fall is expected, but I didn’t think it would come so soon.”
But some students say temperatures in Michigan could be worse.
“It’s not that bad,” mechanical engineering freshman Steve Gerrish said. “I’d rather have it warmer, but it’s better than I’m used to, because in Sault Ste. Marie we usually get 100 to 200 inches of snow in the winter.”
