Since our weather for Michigan is to remain calm and warm I will direct your attention to the Carolinas and Virginias where there are multiple hurricane and storm surge warnings and watches for the monster called Florence. Florence (feature image) is currently at Cat 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 130 mph – it is about 600 miles from the coast of the Carolinas as of 5am this morning and is expected to make landfall by Friday where it is predicted to stall bringing a prolonged wind/rain event.
Florence will be one of the strongest hurricanes on the eastern seaboard in decades, and will bring a triple threat of dangerous storm surge, flooding and hurricane-force winds in parts of the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic states.
More than 1 million people are under mandatory evacuations in the Carolinas and Virginia, and about 30 million across the Southeast will be affected.According to the NWS: “This will likely be the storm of a lifetime for portions of the Carolina coast, and that`s saying a lot given the impacts we’ve seen from Hurricanes Diana, Hugo, Fran, Bonnie, Floyd and Matthew,” it said. “I can`t emphasize enough the potential for unbelievable damage from wind, storm surge and inland flooding with this storm.”
Below are the forecast rainfall totals and storm track.
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September 9
1968: A tornado injures one person as it damages several businesses in Cedar Springs in Kent County. Another tornado damages a farm west of Monroe, Michigan.
2001: A tornado moved through Delta Township and into the western outskirts of Lansing causing heavy damage over an eight mile long path. There were minor injuries and several barns and other buildings were damaged or destroyed.
September 10
1917: High temperatures were only in the middle 50s as cool and cloudy conditions prevailed.
1931: A record high of 94 degrees was set at Grand Rapids, contributing to the warmest September on record there.
1943: The USS Grand Rapids is launched from Superior, Wisconsin. The weather in Grand Rapids, Michigan is cool with a low of 39 degrees. The ship was outfitted to take weather observations, but was damaged by a hurricane as it sailed towards Bermuda. It was repaired and provided vital weather observations in the North Atlantic through the end of World War Two.
1946: A weak tornado hit near Albion in Calhoun County around 730 AM, with damage limited to several downed trees.
September 11
1986: Clusters of thunderstorms moving along a stalled front bring record rains to Lower Michigan for the second straight day. Widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 5 inches result in extreme flooding and contribute to making September 1986 the wettest month on record across the area.
2013: A severe thunderstorm with wind gusts of up to 80 mph brought down numerous trees and power lines in Albion, Michigan. Albion college was closed for several days due to all the wind damage and loss of power.
September 12
1986: From 6 to 12 inches of rain in three days resulted in record flooding from Muskegon to Saginaw. The flooding was worsened by the collapse of several dams. Ten people were killed and damage estimates approached half a billion dollars.
September 13
1939: A record breaking heat wave begins with the temperature hitting 95 degrees at Grand Rapids.
1952: Muskegon reaches 92 degrees for their third record high temperature in a row.
1962: A severe thunderstorm struck Lansing with wind gusts over 65 mph, producing light damage across the city.
2008: Five tornadoes strike southern Lower Michigan. Four of the tornadoes were spawned by one thunderstorm. A car dealership and a restaurant were damaged in Paw Paw and weak tornadoes damaged trees near Mattawan in Allegan County, Millers Corner in Kalamazoo County, and Brookfield in Eaton County. Several buildings had roof damage from a tornado that struck Plymouth in Wayne County.
September 14
1928: Tornadoes struck across Lower Michigan. A tornado hit in Mason County south of Scottville damaging at least three homes and injuring two people. The roof of one home was carried over a mile. Another tornado destroyed several barns, killing cattle about 2 miles south of Cedar Springs in Kent County. What may have been a tornado took part of the roof off a factory and warehouse in Grand Rapids.
2008: Ten days after the the remnants of Hurricane Gustav drenched southern Lower Michigan, the remnants of Hurricane Ike brought another round of heavy rain. From 3 to 6 inches of rain caused flooding, with some road washouts.
September 15
1939: A four day heat wave peaks across western Michigan with Grand Rapids hitting 97 degrees and Lansing 94 degrees.
I heard the hurricane is now a cat 2.
The mosquitoes are enjoying our weather too. They’re out in full force tonight.
They were horrible!
Hello all – I have lost track of this website over the past year or so but have finally found it again! Looking forward to commenting as much as possible here in the future.
Welcome back, Blake!
Brace yourself this winter is going to be one to remember coming up!! Squirrels are acting funny already!! INDYDOG14!!
You know it, bring it!
Biggest ever to hit the Carolinas major damage people need to leave now Flo is mean and green …..on the flip side the hurricane puts us in a block pattern cool nights warm days as far as the eye can see Beauty Fall weather at it’s best …. INDYDOG14!!
We are lucky we do not have to deal with the type of storms that people we live near the coast in the south do. (or even near the coast in the NE and NW) It would be hard to be in their shoes. Do you stay and ride it out or do you leave? If you leave where do you go???? Do you have a sturdy enough place (and is it high enough?) if you stay. If you go do you have the money to go??? And a place to stay??? I would not want to go through that all the time.
Slim
I agree, Slim – there’s also not knowing how long you may have to stay away because there’s no infrastructure. It could take weeks to get the power back on and cell towers back up. Ironically, we had hoped to explore/camp in NC later this fall (it’s on my Bucket List). Guess that will have to wait a year – I’m sure every campground/hotel that survives the storm will be packed with evacuees.
The news overnight was not welcome for many. This will devastating for a large area and many people. If it stalls for a couple of days, we could be looking at Harvey-like rainfall.
Florence doesn’t quite have the strength some were predicting it would (and current NHC models show a category 3 at landfall). But the track has taken a very interesting turn over the past 24 hours. It has shifted south and wants to cruise along the Carolina coast for a little while before turning inland. Overall, smaller magnitude but will likely affect a larger group of people and areas.
Yes, it looks like it may hang out just off the coast for a while. The golf stream is in that area so Florence could gain some strength we shall see. Still we should be glad we do not have to deal with something like that here. And some here complain about a few the few warm days we have.
Slim
Nothing compared to getting your house blown away or under water …I agree silm! INDYDOG14!!
Are you Nuts?this will be worst hurricane to ever hit the carolinas!
Amazing how nice it’s outside with the heat gone been a beautiful Fall week! Cool nights warm days.. INDYDOG14!!
Yes we have having great “don’t have to weather” that is don’t have to have the air on nor don’t have to have the heat on. Enjoy!
Slim
I like that saying.