Sunday Severe Storms
August 9th, 2009 at 1:00 pm by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, News, Weather
10:45 PM – Thanks to everyone for the comments (I haven’t looked thru them yet. I do not have power at my house in Alpine Township). My garbage bin was blown over and I have numerous twigs and small (mostly dead) branches down. Got a call from friend Betty. She counted 40-50 large trees down north of Sparta, inc. a tree across the railroad tracks near Sparta Ave. Also power lines down…two houses with trees on them. Lots of damage on 17 Mile Road. Storms (here’s MKE radar out) has produced 3″ diameter hail and winds to +70- mph that have blown shingles and siding off homes. Eldora, IA reported numerous buildings damaged and large trees uprooted. Thousands are without power in eastern Iowa. Near Janesville, Wisconsin they reported 2.5″ of rain in 20 minutes!!! Here’s GRR NWS radar, Great Lakes radar, SPC Meso-Discussions, Current U.S. Tornado & Severe T-Storm Watches, Storm Total Rainfall, latest surface observations, a surface weather map, lightning data, more lightning data, GRR NWS discussion, Visible Satellite loop (daytime), Infrared Satellite Loop (night), Here’s Milwaukee NWS radar and Chicago radar. Final note: Wind events can cause dangerous seiches and rip currents on Lake Michigan. After a storm with strong winds…do not go swimming along the Lake Michigan shore for a couple hours!
I saw numerous ambulances entering and leaving Fruitport. I hope no one was seriously hurt.
Apparently 911 in Fruitport is reporting that there may have been a tornado touchdown there. They are asking for everyone including the media to stay away because the damage is so bad.
A tornado warning went under for Jackson Michigan a little bit ago, I knew something wasn’t right because of how the storm/clouds were acting and I saw the rotation. We had 1 inch hail and there are dozens of trees down I think 1 power line and roughly 20 houses in my community have mild to severe damage.
Bill I want to say I really think a tornado hit Fruitport, I saw trees that landed the other way, twisted.
That is what 911 is stating as well. However NWS may say “straight line winds” because they never issued a tornado warning for it like the usually do. Only time will tell.
I am sure they will say the storm we experienced was strait lined winds as well you can tell it really got hit hard here.
Trees twist in straight-line winds, so that would pretty much confirm it wasn’t a tornado.
I was in the middle of Fruitport when this thing hit. The damage that I saw looked like it was all from straight-line winds. All of the trees are down in one direction, toward the east. I didn’t see any evidence of twisting at all. Nonetheless, this thing was impressive. It took me two attempts and a half-hour to drive the mile from my church to my home. In the immediate Fruitport area, this is at least as bad as what we saw in Spring Lake in ‘98.
Missed all the action, the place we stay at, our air conditioner
went out, had to find a place for awhile to keep myself and my
80 year dad, cool for awhile, back now, place to still warm,
have 4 fans going, but it was unbearable earlier.
Local Storm Reports for Michigan, click from time to time to update it.
http://www.weather.gov/view/prodsByState.php?state=MI&prodtype=public
Rubber ducky your the one
I am going to try to update what I saw. 5th 3rd bank has a large tree through it on top of it. Pamona Park all of the trees or most of them were uprooted. Bethel Baptist Church has trees on top and window damage. I was more busy trying to help out then to look at storm damage. I had to check on a friend he was ok the house next to him had extensive damage. Fruitport is gonna need a lot of help tomorrow.
Should be an interesting drive home. Hope everyone is o.k. too It sure will look different then when I came in at 11am. I guess our business was lucky as the damage was minor compared to what it could have been. wow.
We were in GR for the weekend…. We drove home in todays thunder storm… It was around 6:00 to 7:00 ish….. It was raining so hard we could hardly see… Lots of thunder, and lighting….. The further we drove north the better it got….. We did make it back to Mecosta in one piece… LOL All it was doing here was raining a little bit…. But I see we had lots of rain over the weekend here also… All my candles holders on the deck were filled to the top with water…. My daughter just called and said they have no internet or cable… She lives in Ludington…. I love it that is as warm as it is cause maybe now my tomato’s will ripen faster… LOL LOL
Looking like more stuff headed our way out of Iowa and N. Illinois for later tonight? Could use a break after the evening we’ve had so far.
We are OK here in Hastings. We been camping all weekend, got home about 6:30pm when the first storm hit. About 1 hour later another good storm moved in. We were lucky this time around. I seen the video from the lake shore, looks like they were hit hard. Good luck to the people in Fruitport. We don’t need any more rain for awhile.
INDY IS BACK had to make sure friends and family are safe…..my father in law called from fruitport said wow!!!! He has no power!!! it looked and sounded like a tornado! I said wow…. The area is recked!!!!!! my brother was driveing out of sparta at the time and called me and ask if there was a tornado warning out!!!!! I tracked that storm since 1230 this noon what a blast the past 3 days have been the best fun in a few years!!! I am ready for a good night sleep!!!!!!!!!! Good job news 8 and the tracking center for keeping people posted and safe!!!!!!!!! INDY OUT!!!
Yeah I know, it sounded like a tornado over here. Every part of my gut said to get out when we could and shortly after that gut feeling the sirens went off.
MAYBE a short night sleep now kyle just said more storms in 8 hours!!!!
Charles called me after that storm hit Cedar Springs, and was certain he seen a rain wrapped tornado. My brother and I drove from Allegan to White Cloud, and were in Grand Haven when the storm hit there. We seen some minor rotation just after the shelf cloud passed over. But I didn’t think nothing of it myself.
Today, my girlfriend, her son and I went out to P.J. Hoffmaster State Park. The beach was at capacity. Both parking lots were completely full. We walked about 1/2 mile north from the main beach area (a little over half way to the campground) to set up for the day. We were getting ready to leave just as the storm was moving in. We planned on leaving when it started to sprinkle, but, that was far from what happened. As the actual storm moved closer to shore, the winds went from small gusts every so often, to a straight line gusts which threw the sand at least 15 feet in the air. The sand hitting us felt like needles. At the same time, it began down pouring, which, in a matter of seconds, turned into marble sized hail. The wind and rain was so intense that her 4yr old could not walk on his own so we covered his head with a towel and put him up on her shoulders. The storm surge flooded the entire beach. It was over a foot deep or more in spots. It was a wall of white. Zero visibility. The rain and wind was so intense it was hard to breath and felt like you were just coming up from being under water. Once we got to the parking lot it stopped. We walked through the entire storm….along the lakeshore. There should have been better warning for a storm that severe. There was literally NO warning. At least the DNR could have drove down the beach. It was bad. Then it took an hour to get to Fruitport and the entire town was without power. The girl at the Wesco gas station said the bank was demolished by a tree. Airline road was littered with trees and power lines. It took over two hours to get back to GR. What a day!!
I am glad nobody got hurt, that would have been very scary. Great description Michael!
new storms south of gr!!!!!
Just had a flash of lightening and thunder. Checked the radar and stuff is popping again in southern Ottawa County and over the lake.
A solid line of storms has developed in the last half hour – running from Hastings thru Dorr and Holland out into the lake.
Very frequent lightning to the south of me, looks like these new storms will actually hit GR!
Some pretty amazing structure to this storm, quite bubbly. It keeps starting to rain, then stopping here in Walker. Very still outside and still humid. Nothing severe out of these as of yet?
Wow the radar is sure lit up now, just like outside!
Hey Bill – starting to see the strong storms in Lansing. I lived right at the 96/69 interchange in Lansing. (1:48 a.m.) I’m watching your broadcase live online.
Hey Bill
My friends and I were watching the storms move into downtown GR about 1am on there porch. I said I need to get home before it hits. On 131 north a nice lighting show then rain then stop. Thought Cedar Springs theres no power but heavy rain on and off. But watching you now for updates.
Bill, Glad to hear you were enjoying the black cherry juice!
Very Heavy Rain and Lightning In Comstock Park for the past 30 min!
Just a quick Thank You for the postings, I have a Granddaughter in Fruitport and Kids in Ionia. I get more information for here then I do from the TV. Thanks Again this Senior Citizen sure appreciates everyone taking the time to inform people like me.
Storms started hitting yesterday evening just after I got home from work. Watched it come in from the West at a fast pace. Home phone is dead and tree got struck by ligtening just across from our garage. It struck it from the top to the bottom and shattered off pieces of bark like a bomb went off. Glad we have power!
Bill my friend, here is a post of the middle school with their roof ripped off not to far from my house. http://blog.mlive.com/citpat/news_impact/2009/08/large_SP_STORMKIDDER.jpg
The storm in fruitport was bad. i was stuck in the middle. if you think about it, its very sad. Alot of people lost everything. you never think about that here. i have never seen anything like this ever.
Bill
Holy cow Bill (Stephen), have I got news for you! I never get to Grand Haven, let alone the beach there, yet there I was with a fellow storm chaser friend! We heard on his weather radio some BIG storms were heading our way from Milw, so we journied ‘foolishly’ out on the south pier (like everyone else). I was expecting if I saw a traditional squal line coming, it would be bad. I saw no such thing. My friend saw turbulence in the oncoming clouds to the west, so he booked. I stayed out on the pier! Kids don’t do this home!…Once I could see the oncoming sheet of white rain coming
in like a steam roller over the lake, I knew I was hosed! But since I love storm photography, I figured it’s about to be a once in a life time storm event, so I stayed put (too long for last minute pics!) I could hear the DNR blasting their bull horns for everyone to clear the deck! Then I knew all @#%& was about to break loose! And it did! I was still 1/4 the way out on the pier, when it hit! The initial gust front hit me like a brick, white caps on the waves were turning into winterish ’snow like mist’ not actual snow of course it was very warm out! I could hardly keep my balance, I estimated peak sustained winds at 80mph! So when your blog says 76mph or so, I wasn’t far off! I’ve never been trapped out in a severe ts, man is it exhilarating! But dangerous! Bill I know you wouldn’t recommend it, I just underestimated this thing. Now I know, don’t jack with mother nature! The driving winds packed with heavy rain squalls, left my beloved Nikon useless! But did I get the pics before it took a dump! I don’t recall a lot of lightning, nor any hail, but winds were severe, as was the monsoon rains. Once the storm blew over my friend & I ran into a adventureous young couple whom WAS at the end of the pier during the entire storm, they said it was insain out there, they couldn’t get back in time, so they rode it out! Glad they made it! I’ll send you some pics I took! Enjoy them Bill.
i cant wait to see this blog in the dead of winter and a blizzard, im going to have a ball on here.