SevereStudios ChatPlease enter a name (no spaces allowed) and click 'Chat'
If you have an IRC client, join us at Seen and Heard on
Member GalleryRandom Image
DSC_1630.2Member LoginWho's OnlineThere are currently 3 users and 49 guests online.
Online usersNew MembersRSS Feed |
Severe Storms in Lower Michigan - 05/17/08The forecast for May 17th didn't call for severe storms, but that is exactly what we had. A line of storms rolled through the Mid-Michigan area around 6pm EDT Saturday causing some fallen trees and downed power lines in Clinton County, Michigan. SevereStudios Chaser Ben Holcomb was spotting and has pictures from the damage encountered in this straight-line wind event.  I left work around 4:30 and went to eat dinner in Delta Township right after work. After dinner, I realized there were Severe Thunderstorm Warnings out to our north and west. Looking at radar, it didn't look very impressive, however, I decided to head north into Clinton County where I encountered 45-50 mph winds and got some beautiful pictures of the event. WLNS TV-6 used my Live Streaming ChaseCam Video feed on the 6pm news just as the gust front was blowing in. You can view more pictures by going here  Once again, storm chasers from across the country have donated their best video clips to the "Storms of 2007" DVD project. All proceeds go to the American Red Cross and other agencies for storm-related disaster relief. You can purchase the DVD at http://www.thestormsof2007.org/. |
Today's Severe OutlookLatest Storm VideosSevere Weather BlogsRecent Comments
Donate To Relief FundsHelp All Disaster Victims Recover: PollStorm Chasers and LinksA New Energy Plan |
Printer-friendly version
Freak storms
One night we started hearing tons of booming thunder and having tons of pea sized hail fall. We flipped it over to the local radar on our cable and it did not even show a small cell. It hailed for a good fifteen minutes and the cell finally grew enough in size to appear on our local radar.
It was just a small, freak cell that decided to escalate right over us. I do not think we were even supposed to have rain much less a cell develop with an attitude, lol.
Another time they said an small tornado came down and totally destoyed one building just a few blocks from where I was working at the time. There was virtually no damage anywhere else but the one building was a pile of rubble. People in businesses across the four lane highway saw it happen. That is the weirdest storm damage I have seen happen. It was partly cloudy and no severe weather was in the forecast. We did not even get a drop of rain.
Great pictures Ben.
i was up in whiteclound
i was up in whiteclound saturday when this storm went throught all we got was wind very windy and the rain just came down
Dry Air
With the dew point so low at the surface, as the rain-filled air descended it evaporated. We had an "inverted-V" sounding with moister air aloft.
That evaporation cooled the air, cold air sinks faster, so we had those bursts of wind. No idea at all if you just used radar, it took a few damage reports before we started taking things seriously.
Once the band outran the storms, it weakened as it approached the city, but still some nice reports southeast of Lansing.
There wasn't even any
There wasn't even any lightning associated with these 'storms', just some high winds. Not really sure what actually caused it as the temperature was 64 and dewpoint of 33 in Lansing at 6 pm.
I wouldn't call it a derecho as much as just a high wind/straight line wind event that was moving at a pretty good pace.
Nice pictures
It's funny how some storms creep up on you like that and prove to be spotting/chasing worthy. Again, nice pics.
Stay safe.
Photos
Good shots. Sky doesn't look that threatening to have caused all that wind damage. Images can be deceiving. Wonder if it was a derecho event.