The weather in Michigan is often anything but normal. I think it helps to start a new month with the perspective of our long-term average weather.

This weather information is especially meaningful after we just experienced a few days of record heat across much of Lower Michigan.

We know that we gradually lose the heating power from the sun as the month goes by. The sun sits lower on the horizon each day until around December 21st.

Here are the 30-year average high and low temperatures for early and late November.

We start November with a typical afternoon temperature in the low 50s in the south and 40s in the north.

By the end of November we struggle to get above 40 degrees in the south and are usually stuck in the 30’s up north. I find that the last week of November is when a constant wintery feeling usually sets in, even though our long-term temperature trend is warming.

Our early day hard frosts go from occasional in early November to most mornings with hard frosts by the end of November.

As temperatures shift to a wintry feel, precipitation begins to lean toward the white, wintry stuff by late November. Also, cold air cannot hold as much moisture. Total precipitation amounts begin to decrease from the highest precipitation amounts in the summer of the warm season. The map below shows northeastern Lower Michigan with the least amount of moisture. Lake effect areas begin to show heavier rainfall.

Some of this precipitation falls as snow in November. In fact, the average November snowfall map below shows that even southeast Michigan averaged over an inch of snow. There have been only two Novembers in Detroit since 1873 without measurable snowfall.

We can and have had major snow storms in November. Some of these snow storms were even in southern Michigan during the first half of November. Ann Arbor’s snowiest months had over a foot of snow in November 2018 and November 2019.

As we reach temperatures in the 60s and 70s next week, we need to remember that it’s much warmer than normal.

In reality, November’s highly variable weather means that our long-term averages are averages of many different weather extremes.