10 years ago, 2 rounds of severe storms struck Lower Michigan. Storms the night of June 7 caused destructive flooding and washed away several roads in Holland and Allegan County. 3 people died from flooding. The storms the afternoon of June 8 raced through Lower Michigan at about 55 mph, producing many wind gusts of 60 to 80 mph, as well as 2 tornadoes embedded in the strong winds and heavy rain (near Evart and Lansing). 2 people died from trees falling in the severe winds, and 1 died from a camper trailer overturning in a tornado. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power in Lower Michigan. Carbon monoxide from a generator running in a basement killed 2 people a couple days later.
- Clarissa Green and Dean Taylor died in the pre-dawn hours of June 8, when their car fell into a deep ravine carved by flood waters that destroyed the roadway of Lakeshore Drive, in Saugatuck Township, Allegan County.
- John Pekich died on June 8 while tending to the the swollen creek at the Worley Drain Dam in Robinson Township, Ottawa County.
- Chad Dushane died the afternoon of June 8 when severe thunderstorm winds caused a large tree limb to fall on his car in Spring Lake, Ottawa County.
- Ursula Swidewinski died the afternoon of June 8 when severe thunderstorm winds knocked down a tree as she went out to secure her pole barn near Crockery Lake, in Chester Twp, Ottawa County.
- A woman died the afternoon of June 8 when a camper trailer overturned onto her as a tornado and strong winds tore through her neighborhood, in Delta Twp, Eaton County.
- Jason Amy and Rachelle Schloegl died on June 10 from carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator that was running in a basement during a power outage, in Argentine Twp, Genessee County.
Lower Michigan will be situated between a fairly persistent area of high pressure across the Northern Great Lakes and a stationary boundary across portions of Illinois and Indiana. Chances for showers and thunderstorms will be present from this evening through the weekend. The best chances for some showers and storms will be across Southern Lower Michigan closer to the stationary front. Looking at the 7am model runs of the HRRR, RAP and NAM most of the activity will be south and west of Grand Rapids. High temperatures will push to near 80 today and cool back into the 70s for Saturday and Sunday due to cloud cover.
Could use some rain. I’m starting to need to use the sprinklers.
The forecast was misleading this week with rain for the end of the week. I know people waiting to cut hay and waiting for some dry days. This week actually turned out pretty good for that. So now they wait again for the next open/dry chance again!!!
What a beautiful day this perfect summer weather.. INDYDOG14!
Looks like most of the rain will stay south of us this weekend. That said it could start to get dry around here. Very nice day today
Slim
And those were the old days when we used to get storms.
Nice writeup on this event.
New forecaster at NWS GR? Check out the long range forecast discussion. Interesting writing style. I thought it was Bill Marino until I scrolled down and saw a name I did not recognize.