Most Tornado Reports in a Single Day in August
This is a wrapup of the seven tornado events on August 24th:
Grand Rapids NWS Office
On August 24, 2023, severe thunderstorms formed over western Lower Michigan during the evening hours in the midst of a volatile environment that also featured dew point readings (a measure of atmospheric moisture) around 80F, some of the highest we have seen over the last 60 years. These thunderstorms spawned two tornadoes in western Lower Michigan. The first tornado touched down in west central Kent County from Alpine Township to Plainfield Township, rated an EF-1 on a scale of 0 to 5 (with 5 being the most intense). The second tornado touched down in eastern Ingham County from Williamston to Webberville, before continuing on into Livingston County, and was rated an EF-2 in Ingham County before weakening to an EF-1 in Livingston County. In addition to the tornadoes, the thunderstorms produced numerous areas of 60 to 70 mph wind gusts and very high amounts of lightning. The combination of the tornadoes, strong wind gusts, and continuous lightning wiped out power to around 460,000 customers statewide at the height of the event.
More info can be found here
Detroit NWS Office
…Most tornadoes in a single day during the month of August…
…6 tornadoes impacted Southeast Michigan, with 7 tornadoes statewide…
Rapidly developing thunderstorms began to pop up over Central and Southwest Lower Michigan by the early evening hours of August 24th, with exceptional moisture and instability in place over southern Lower Michigan. The storms quickly grew upscale and became severe, leading to a west-east line of severe thunderstorms which dropped south through southeast Michigan during the evening hours.
Strong winds in the mid-levels allowed for damaging winds to be the primary hazard, with areas of southeast Michigan seeing 60-80 MPH wind gusts which led to extensive tree damage and power outages. At the peak, close to 500,000 customers lost power in southern lower Michigan. A surface low tracking through southern Lower Michigan was able to help spawn tornadoes, with an EF-2 developing over northeast Ingham. This tornado weakened and tracked into Livingston County near Fowlerville before dissipating. This 12-mile track tornado was by far the strongest and longest duration one of the day, and also resulted in 1 fatality as cars were flipped on I-69 in Ingham County. Short-lived-weak QLCS tornadoes spun up over Wayne and northeast Monroe counties as the intense thunderstorm complex exited the state around Midnight. Winds with these tornadoes reached 80-105 mph, but even a few wet micro-burst/straight-line winds produced wind gusts to 90 mph embedded in the line of storms.
Rainfall rates were intense (1-2” per hr), but due to the rapid movement of the complex/storms (45-60 MPH), rainfall amounts stayed under 3 inches just about everywhere. Highest rainfall amounts of 1.5-3 inches occurred along the M-59 corridor up to the I-69 corridor. Due to heavy rainfall from the previous day (1-3 inches with isolated 5-7 inch totals in Wayne/Monroe counties), even locations that received amounts under 1.5 inches experienced some flooding, mostly low-lying/flood-prone locations. The Lower River Rouge in Wayne County experienced major flooding and the Clinton River in Macomb experienced moderate flooding.
Finally, prolific lightning was observed with the thunderstorm complex as it moved through southeast Michigan, producing thousands of cloud-to-ground strikes, with a good percentage of them being the stronger positive charged ones.
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More info can be found here.
We begin a pleasant stretch of weather for SW Michigan with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70s and best of all lower dewpoints! Our next chance of rain comes in the Tuesday/Tuesday night frame.
Grand Rapids Forecast
8 27 grrForecast Discussion
.SHORT TERM...(Today through Monday) Very comfortable weather is expected through the short term. Latest satellite imagery shows clear skies across the region and that will continue today. Given northeast wind flow, highs today will be a few degrees warmer along the lake shore where mid 70s are expected; lower 70s inland. Lows will be in the 40s tonight and some 30s can`t be ruled out in low lying areas across the northern cwa. Another sunny day expected Monday with highs in the mid 70s. Dewpoints will remain in the 40s and 50s through the period. .LONG TERM...(Monday night through Saturday) Sharp upper trough in the northwest flow aloft digs in on Tuesday and brings our next good chance of showers and storms. However moisture and instability ahead of the sfc cold front doesn`t look too impressive at this time, and best convergence/model QPF appears to focus over northeast lwr MI and the Thumb Region. Will have highest pops (50-60) north of I-96 and east of Hwy 131 and less (20-40) elsewhere. Another push of cool/dry air comes in midweek behind the cold front with northerly flow and advancing high pressure. Dry weather is expected to prevail Thursday through Saturday as large surface high drifts across the GrtLks Rgn, with temps moderating back into the lower 80s by Friday when return flow develops. Ensembles currently suggest that a dry/warm pattern may prevail through most of Labor Day weekend.
Welcome to Fall overnight lows in the 50’s now we are dropping love it!! INDY
Yep average highs/lows are 70s/50s. Love this time of year.
And Lots of trees turning already should be a beautiful September INDY
Definitely a cool day for late August, but I’m certainly enjoying it!
Traveling along I-96 here by Portland if you pass exit 76 going westbound look to the right side of the highway. There is a chunk of woods where nearly all of the trees are flattened with only a couple remaining. Unbelievable. I am thinking we had some small touchdowns in pockets but regardless it’s the same outcome. No doubt the worst damage this area has seen in a long long time.
Lots of power is still out in my area, gas stations are still down in many areas. There are select ones that are open and they are jam packed with all pumps full. Lots of damage to still be cleaned up.
What a summer! No heat waves, near to below normal temps dominated, the drought turned into consistent rainfall with some heavy rain! Wow, just wow, WOW!
I underestimated the physical size of the tornado. Local media reported that the NWS said the tornado was 500 yd wide.
After this past week, I’m looking forward to cooler drier air. Had the windows open overnight and it was a bit chilly in here this morning. I slept great, though.
Wow 500 yards? That’s 5 football fields in width, hard to comprehend
Horrendous weather event!
The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 76/61 there was no rain fall. The sun was out 51% of the time. The state high yesterday was 83 at Muskegon and the state low was 53 at Marquette. The coolest high was also at Marquette with a high of just 58. In the UP only Sault Ste Marie with a high of 72 got above 70. For today the average H/L is 80/60 the record high of 95 was set in 1948 and 1953 the record low of 42 was set in 1915. The record rain fall amount of 2.08”… Read more »
You know summer is mostly over when there is a mention of lows maybe reaching the 30’s. The week ahead looks to be rather cool with highs in the low to mid 70’s for the most part. Lows should be in the upper 40’s to low 50’s to start then warming up to the 80’s for highs for the weekend with lows in the 60’s by then.
Slim
Yep. Kids are back in school. College football has started. NFL starts next week. Even a few leaves have started to change color. It’s almost like last week’s weather was summer’s last hurrah, but only Mother Nature knows.
My weather app still shows 70s and 80s the next 2 weeks, but at some point it is going to randomly drop… But in many recent years it has stayed summer-like through mid-October. We will see