A total of 6 tornadoes formed in Western Lower Michigan on August 20, 2016. Over the Grand Rapids metro area, the storm produced a cyclical series of tornadoes and downdraft-related damaging wind gusts.
- EF-1 tornado between Bangor and north of Grand Junction, in Van Buren and southern Allegan Counties.
- EF-1 tornado southeast of Fennville to east of Hamilton, in Allegan County.
- EF-1 tornado south of Jamestown in far northern Allegan County and southeastern Ottawa County.
- EF-0 tornado in Grandville and Wyoming in Kent County. EF-0 to EF-1 winds occurred leading up to this tornado in Byron Township to southern portions of Grandville.
- EF-0 tornado in northeast Grand Rapids in Kent County. EF-0 winds also occurred leading up to this tornado in south-central Grand Rapids.
- EF-1 tornado between Orleans and Fenwick in Ionia and Montcalm Counties.
Here is that afternoons radar loop:
I think this is the last time we had a power failure here in Otsego due to a storm. We could see the power lines arcing up on M89 before the power went out – a strange and eerie sight for sure. Below is the “feature-following” radar loop shows rainfall intensity in the upper left, storm-relative velocity in the upper right, correlation coefficient in the lower left (values above about 0.98 have been blacked out), and low-level rotation tracks from MRMS in the lower right.
We are lucky to have a generator to keep our refrigerator and freezer running and a few lights. Power was out for around 24 hours. I still had cell service to track the storms on Radarscope and a solar panel to charge the phones and tablets. I had to run over to Burger King in Plainwell to get out a quick blog post using their WiFi. This shows how dependent we are on the power grid.
A low pressure will track across Lake Michigan tonight and move across Southern Lower Michigan on Tuesday. Clouds will thicken today in advance of the low with showers and thunderstorms moving in from the southwest late this afternoon. Periods of showers and non severe thunderstorms are expected both tonight and on Tuesday. Rainfall totals of around an inch of much needed rain are possible in most areas.
A period of dry weather is expected from Wednesday through much of Friday as high pressure slides slowly east through the Great Lakes. Another chance for showers and storms will come Friday afternoon into Saturday as a warm front pushes through the area. Temperatures will cool a bit behind the early week system with highs in the 70s forecast for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Next weekend however the warm air rushes back in with highs forecast to push well into the 80s if not the 90s, so our hot summer continues after a brief respite.
It is now past 1 AM and still waiting for rain. Of course Madison 200 miles due west has had flooding rain today.
Slim
Rain? What rain?
Who was the blogger who blogged about Flint weather all the time? He was crazzy! INDY!!
That was good old Travis.
There is tons of rain around the Great Lakes – but here. Again. As usual.
Thank you I wonder what happened to him … Maybe he changed his name to mookie lol..Bone dry out at thee YARDofBRICKS.. INDY!!
Oxford Travis could very well be east side Mookie
Slim
Very similar comments and warm weather trolling!
Travis claimed to be from Oxford but used Flint as “home”
Slim
Well it is now almost 8:30 PM and still no rain here. The current radar does not look good for rain tonight. If we miss this rain today/night not sure when the next chance of rain will be?
Slim
Storms…Rain…nothing more than a Monday night comedy show.
Seeing wood tv 8 has come down on the hot temps next week wonder what the percentage is on a 8 day forecast being wrong I would imagine more then being right …Missing Bills comment blog section who remembers fixer? Lol!! I used to thought Rocky was him for a minute!! INDYDOG14!!
Still no rain here at my house. I wonder if this system will end up like the one last week? There are now some storms? showers off to our south but that line is broken at this time.
Slim
Yes good old Fixxer. and east side Travis.
Slim
There’s a nice area of rain in Indiana heading north. However, I’m not holding out hope that we will see any of it. Too much disappointment this summer.
If you noticed, it has split right in half over our area. Not a drop!
I expected nothing less. 🙂
In other weather news it’s dark by 9pm now trees are turning colors and Fall is close kids back to school football is here and Slim has there ever been snow reported in August in Michigan? Best time of the year is about here forget the heat!! INDYDOG14!!
Rock On INDY!
Current GFS shows a huge heat wave Sunday to at least Thursday. Temps flirting with 90 degrees for at least 5 consecutive days!
At this time the current mean temperature at Grand Rapids for this month is 75.2° we should end the month in the top ten for August. We will not know the exact spot until the very end as there are many years close together and several are tied,
Slim
There will not be anything close to a heat wave next week!
Above normal temps with 90s. This is like second grade with Rocky some days. Lol.
What will make this heat wave even more impressive is that it’s happening in late August when temps are supposed to be cooling!
Mookie once again speaks the truth. Keep up the great work !
I remember that day as well I believe it was a Saturday I was working I saw a funnel cloud across the street from my work!! Probably one of the best days in the storm department with warnings around the area …. INDYDOG14!!
Turn off your AC people and save some energy!! This will be a week of temps in the 70’s and low 80’s! Bring on the rain baby!
You sure needed that AC last weekend and will again this weekend too!
I did not use the AC at all last weekend! I have only used it 4 or 5 times all year! So many people waste electricity with their AC. I find it incredible!
That’s pretty gross. Mold thrives above 75 degrees and 70% humidity – which we’ve had countless times this summer. You may be able to sweat through it, but your home is likely in worse shape because of it, especially the areas you can’t see. This could lead to all types of house and respiratory problems.
Wow you have totally lost it!
Known facts. Here’s some similar advice from an expert.
https://www.hgtv.com/design/decorating/clean-and-organize/leave-on-the-air-conditioning-to-avoid-mold
That’s spot on. My brother spent thousands on the house they bought a few years back because of mold. The house had no ac. It does now!
You really have lost it! I run a high quality high efficiency air filtering system all year long. This takes dramaticlly LESS electricity that an AC system and solves the problem that you referring to! Get with it!
Can’t do that when you have a boiler furnace. The only one who seems to be losing it would be you, possibly from the all the heat and humidity. I have yet to find anyone that has not had their air blasting away all Summer this year.
Exactly Barry!
WOW my neighbors hardly use their AC at all. They actually used it lees than me this year! Incredible!
Please tell me how an air filtering system can cool 85-95 degree air with a dew point in the 70’s. Further, air filter systems should not be run excessively due to high electrical and filter costs, as well as maintenance issues.
WOW!
I did not have air until 1986 when I bought a used window unit. We used that for just the bed room. when I bought this house I bought a new window unit (still just for the bedroom) in 1989. We did not have central air until 1994. For the younger people on here there were many people that did not have air back when I was younger most just had fans.
Slim
Preach it Slim! We live in a spoiled society. I think everyone should agree to not run their AC the rest of this year and donate the money they save in electricity to a homeless shelter!
Says the guy/gal who burns through gasoline like water looking for snow up north every weekend all winter.
You know it Barry and not a very good analogy!
He’s constantly rooting for cold and snow which does nothing but increase energy costs and he’s constantly driving around looking for snow – but now he’s concerned about the environment? Too rich.
WOOD now has 90 degrees for Sunday
WOOD will be wrong!
Is that another guarantee of no more 90 degree days? I swear every time you’ve said that it makes it happen.
19 days into August and we still haven’t had a below average day! That has to be close to some sort of record.
With the next heat blast coming, looks like we will top twenty 90 degree days. Now if September ends up,like last year, we could end up,making a run at thirty 90 degree days. Ugh!
Bulls eye for us! Here comes more heat!
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/predictions/610day/
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/lead14/off14_temp.gif
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/lead01/off01_temp.gif
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/WK34/gifs/WK34temp.gif
I was going to do a post on this later this week but Bill covers it pretty well in his post in regards to the lack of tropical storms. https://www.woodtv.com/weather/bill-s-blog/no-tropical-storms-in-the-atlantic-or-e-pacific/1382329571
“We’re just 3 weeks away from the peak of the Atlantic Hurricane Season and the Atlantic is as quiet as Ford Field during the NFL playoffs.”
Bill is a funny man.