2012 was remembered for a lot of strange and extreme weather across the United States, but in Michigan it was two heat waves, one in March and the other in July, that shattered records and left their mark in the history books.

The first happened in mid-March, when a record breaking string of days of 80+ degree temperatures in parts of Michigan made for a very early taste of summer. But later, during actual summer, another heat wave set up in Michigan in the days surrounding the Independence Day holiday.

From July 3rd through July 8th, several rare 100+ degree high temperatures were recorded in Michigan, many breaking records for those individual days, and some flirting with all-time record highs. Heat indices were in the 105 to 115 range during the hot stretch.

Kalamazoo and Battle Creek recorded their highest temperatures in over 75 years, reaching a record high 104 degrees on July 6th, 2012, according to the National Weather Service. Grand Rapids hit 103 degrees that day, just five off the all-time high of 108 degrees set in 1936. And the night time offered no relief as overnight lows only dropped to the low 80s with heat indices remaining near 90 some of those nights.

In case you're curious, the all time record high anywhere in Michigan happened July 13th, 1936 in two places, Stanwood in Mecosta County and Mio in Oscoda County. The temp that day? 112!

They say records are meant to be broken, but most Michiganders are probably ok if that one is left alone, as well as the record low temps during the Polar Vortex in the winter of 2019. 

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