Everyone ok in STORM 2012?
According to the tornado history project, this was only the 4th F3 level tornado to hit Washtenaw county since 1950.
So, we get a tornado like this in Ann Arbor about once every 20 years. You don't consider that rare???
http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/Michigan/table
It's absolutely gorgeous over here in Kentwood. I just got done walking around East GR and Reeds lake, which is what I like to do when the weather is nice. That is crazy. Everything must have stayed south of us.
Walked outside and saw lightning, heading back to the apt and school. Just hear a few rumbles sitting in my office, but nothing major.
CCCCAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLIIIFFFFFFOOOOOOOOORRRRRRNIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAA
Don't get too smug. You folks will get hit by your usual cocktail of earthquakes/mudslides/forest fires soon enough.
Anyone know what's going on at the intersection of Ann Arbor/Saline (Main) and Madison? Live on Madison and everyone's going the wrong way on our one way street, with a cop car down at the intersection. I know there is/was a fire further down Main across from the stadium, but that's a good deal away from Madison..
That is one bad mofo storm. I consider myself a storm lover and that thing was an animal. The hooking part of the cell passed directly over us, after doing the damage in Dexter. Luckly, the tornado wasn't active at that time but the rain, hail, and winds were still extreme. There is pretty extensive flooding in and around parts of AA.
I just looked outside, and my entire neighborhood has been devastated.
Wait... Nope. That's what Lansing looked like before.
If you can extinguish the flames, there are plenty of free couches for the taking
I grew up in Dexter and have lots of friends and family still there. Apparently no one is hurt, just some damage to buildings in the area.
....from people I know in the Dexter area. In summary, from what I have heard up to now, the laundromat was taken out, and Dexter Mill is badly damaged. The subdivision behind LaFontaine Chevrolet took a direct hit too. A few scattered reports of damage up and down Mast Road and around downtown too.
To all, if you have friends in Dexter, make sure they're doing OK.
Sheesh. My parents lived there. I just heard their street and the one next to it were the ones hit.
March 15th, 2012 at 10:30 PM ^
Supposedly another touch down around Dan Hoey but no neighborhood damage. Some of my kid's friends live in the worst hit neighborhood. They're all ok but it's pretty scary - plus there's no electricity over there. I stopped in to buy a new mop (for my basement, dammit) and there was a line of people purchasing generators. At least there's still no reports of any injuries.
From just a cursory glance at the damage in the video, I would say that an EF-2 or EF-3 will probably end up being the rating, although that is like judging how well Brandon Herron did against Western before the defensive UFR came out. I wish I could convey how bizarre this event really is -- to have slow moving tornadic isolated supercells in Michigan, in march -- but I feel I would descend too far into nerdery for the board. Crazy stuff, and I hope there were no injuries or worse.
EDIT: Also, I think the most unusual part about this storm was the moster hail. I've lived in Michigan my whole life and have never seen anything bigger than a nickel. There were verified reports of egg sized hail out there. That is unheard of up here.
Question. Was the decision to move to the EF scale for severe weather an awful decision or the worst decision ever?
But the scale itself is much much much more accurate. Plus it was developed by TTU (bitchez).
March 15th, 2012 at 10:00 PM ^
I don't think it's possible to descend too far into nerdery here.
March 16th, 2012 at 10:09 AM ^
I agree how completely insane the storms were yesterday. Since I no longer live in SE Michigan, I was only able to follow the storms on radar from afar. But upper Midwest supercells in mid-March are usually associated with very dynamic weather systems that cause them to haul ass at 50 mph+. Fast-moving supercells are still very devastating, but at least they don't sit, spin and dump massive hail & rain for the long duration that people are reporting from yesterday's event. Freaky stuff.
These types of supercells are more typical of June in Michigan, and even in June they aren't the dominant storm mode, either. One point about the fast-movers though that I think is more important is the fact that they are more difficult to prepare for. They can make up a lot of ground and often catch people off guard. The relatively slow motion of this storm is probably a contributing factor to the reason that there were no injuries in this case. But, considering that you sound like you know a bit about weather, I'm probably preaching to the choir here.
Got a picture of a funnel cloud near M-50 less than 1/4 mile from our house at 6:00 pm. Didn't touch down. I am on my iPhone so I can't post it. This is two years in a row we have had a funnel cloud over the house. I am moving. Prays to those that didn't have theuck on their side.
Might try Canada, eh. I lived in Arkansas last year and now Nebraska. Michigan gets only a few and they are F2 or lower. Seems like everywhere is getting them now. Seemed like we got them weekly in the last two places I lived. Flip Kip!
March 15th, 2012 at 10:20 PM ^
I'll stay here. Lol. You are right. Ark and NE do have more but any of them scare me to death.
March 15th, 2012 at 11:32 PM ^
Just be safe Phil! Go blue!
Literally minutes from taking off for Vegas on a 530 flight and the storm delayed us. It's nearly 830 now and we are still at DTW.
Sad face.
Weather was ok in Rochester Hills area. Used the warnings as a way to stay at the bar and watch bball. Hope everyone was as fortunate
March 16th, 2012 at 10:40 AM ^
My girlfriend and I did the same thing and stayed at the State St Bdubs an extra hour. It was super calm in there and you wouldn't even know there was a storm outside besides the people coming in from the storm soaking wet.
Trapped overnight at the Evansville (IN) Airport Holiday Inn, as a result of all flights in/out of Metro being grounded for over 3 hours.
Could be worse...
March 15th, 2012 at 10:15 PM ^
I will not rape you. I am a huge Michigan fan at a bar in Evansville just five minutes from the airport. If you want to have a beer, shoot me a text at 812-746-8848. Being stuck in Evansville, I relish the opportunity to meet fellow MGoCommunity members. If you think this is weird, no worries...
March 15th, 2012 at 10:28 PM ^
Haha I wish I was up that way, I love enjoying a good brew with fellow members of Wolverine Nation
March 15th, 2012 at 10:35 PM ^
Top Ten ways I never expected an MGoPost to start...
March 16th, 2012 at 12:25 AM ^
Top THREE!!
He's a good dude. Gonna hook up for some tailgate opps as they come our way in future seasons.
March 16th, 2012 at 12:34 AM ^
But that was a classic way to start a post.
I may just start using it in random posts.
It should be his tag line.
So...it's not cool to make this my avatar?
Great hangin, Larry! We'll definitely be crashing your tailgate this fall. Thanks for the cold beer.
Nuff said.
With hail like that, you should probably have your roof checked out. We had similar sized hail a few years ago. Standing from the ground, our roof looked fine, and there was no immediate concerns with leaks or anything, but as the roofer explained it to me, each of those big hail stones hitting the roof severely degrades the shingle to the point where if you have a new 25-year roof, it might only have a five years left before it would need to be replaced. Everyone in our neighborhood got new roofs that summer.
I've heard similar stories from my girlfriend from Tennessee, where they get bigger hail like this more often... We're in an apartment and will be moving on in July, so it's the landlord's problem. I am glad that I put my car under the covered parking for the first time yesterday, though.
No I'm not ok, because I missed the return of Community
edit: because Channel 4 News wouldn't shut up about what was going on. Most redundant coverage ever
I was dvr'ing it because of the Tourney, and I was mopping my basement from where the water was higher than my basement windows (neighbors backyard is a swamp...not enough plant growth to soak it up), and remembered 4's coverage and though I'd check....and it did run into it...and rather than show it later, they cut off half of it. Not surprising....they were constantly moving it to late night to show some local programming. No taste.
Does that answer your question?
March 15th, 2012 at 11:28 PM ^
You live in Temperance? That looks like the view we had of the Ida tornado.
Killer lightning storm. Lightning all high up in the clouds, 30,000 feet. Really beautiful. I stood out and watched it until the hail started. 1" hail.
or perhaps a tad west of north, given that the rain is to the left of the wall cloud (which is the large low hanging cloud in the middle of the picture). The tornado typically forms from the wall cloud, although it's tough to see if there is a tornado on the ground in this picture. Yeah, I just dropped some mad weather knowledge on y'all. I love it when weather shows up on the board.
EDIT:
I may have just lied. If you're in Temperance, you were definitely south of it. I was thrown off since I can't see much to the right of the wall cloud in this picture, and sometimes there is a bit of rain on either side (which is the case here). However, my point about the position of the bulk of the rain relative to the wall cloud (north and east of it) usually stands when you've got a full view of the whole storm. Protip... the view from the southeast is typically the best for storm chasing. I promise I'm done now. Maybe.
We never actually saw that thing touch the ground but we did see it clearly rotating. My wife actually snapped that picture as we were trying to get some last minute essentials while we took our kids downstairs, but here's the kicker. I actually live in ypsilanti township south of I-94. They never mentioned on tv that there was a funnel cloud in that vicinity but I swear that was rotating and I was hoping someone with a meteorological background would see that and provide some insight to its nature. So thank you.
I guess I'm not done yet. If you were in Ypsi, then that was probably the Dexter storm, and not the Ida one. I didn't watch the radar loop but I think those were two different storms. All the wall cloud stuff still stands though.
That wall cloud is amazing. I was going to also comment on the unbelievable cloud striations above the cloud base, but quickly realized it was probably window shade reflections!
Fingers tightly crossed that everyone is OK today in SE Michigan.
Basement flooded, just south of pioneer.multiple others, too
March 15th, 2012 at 10:08 PM ^
We got tonardoed, I think we will win the football national championship this year.
March 15th, 2012 at 10:18 PM ^
delivered pizzas in it. hail hit my eye. it's gonna be black tomorrow. not a good day.
March 15th, 2012 at 10:24 PM ^
who the hell ordered pizza in hail and tonardo? They should triple tip you.