Chase - 1/7/2008

Update 11:55 PM (Eastern)
Finally back home. Here are some images from earlier:

Hail along M-46 west of Howard City, MI.

This is one picture I managed to get of the sky when I was at M-46 and M-37 in Muskegon County right as the rotation and hook echo moved just to my west and north.

Radar Image as I moved East towards Edmore for the Gratiot and Isabella tornado warned cell. As you can see, the storm was moving away from me at a pretty fast pace by that point in time.

After chasing the northern cell, I headed southward to catch the line that went through Ingham and Jackson county. Only encountered mid-range winds (40mph or so) and one heck of a lot of rain!

All in all a great first storm chase of the year. Who would have thought we'd be talking about this in January? Then again, who thought I would have chased about 2 weeks ago a few days before Christmas. Makes me wonder what 2008 has in store for the Great Lakes Region - One thing is for sure - You can count on Severe Studios to bring everything home to you through your PC!

Update 11:03 PM (Eastern)
Ben is on his way back home. Will update this blog with photos and more details later.

Update 9:17 PM (Eastern)
Giving up on northernmost storm. Heading south on US127 to intercept storm heading towards
Lansing. Found 1/2" hail covering road west of Howard City. Saw possible funnels, lot of road flooding. Had a good TVS just to my NE along M-46, more updates later tonight.

Update 8:40 PM (Eastern)
Cell in front of me has just become Tornado warned. Not seeing any rotation, but decent TVS signature on radar

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
838 PM EST MON JAN 7 2008

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND RAPIDS
HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NORTHERN GRATIOT COUNTY IN CENTRAL MICHIGAN
SOUTHERN ISABELLA COUNTY IN CENTRAL MICHIGAN
NORTHEASTERN MONTCALM COUNTY IN CENTRAL MICHIGAN

* UNTIL 915 PM EST

Update 7:48 PM (Eastern)
Rotation off to the west of me. Winds of 40-45 mph. Keep watching spotternetwork to plot my course!

Update 7:15 PM (Eastern)
GRR has Tornado Warned Muskegon County. I am headed right towards Muskegon County up US-131

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
700 PM EST MON JAN 7 2008

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND RAPIDS
HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
MUSKEGON COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL MICHIGAN

* UNTIL 745 PM EST

Update 5:55 PM (Eastern)
Ben is now stopped in Kalamazoo for dinner and to evaluate the storms. May be heading north to intercept tornadic supercell coming across the lake, however, the cold temperatures of the lake may kill the cell before it makes it across.

Will be hitting the road again shortly.

Update 4:55 PM (Eastern)
Ben is now on I-94 heading west. You can track his position at http://www.spotternetwork.org/google.php ... look for "WA8BEN".

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With a Tornado watch off to his Southwest, SevereStudios Chaser Ben Holcomb will be hitting the road momentarily to head off to SW Michigan for a possible intercept of storms near the MI/IN Border. Stay tuned to SevereStudios.com for updates!