For the second evening in a row, strong to severe thunderstorms moved across northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Reports Saturday evening included 1″ diameter hail at Munising, Rapid City, Cedar, near Gaylord and Mancelona and 7/10ths inch diameter hail at Gwinn (near Marquette). Hail to 1.25″ in diameter hit Dresser, Merrill, Birnamwood and Hickory Corners WI with 3/4″ hail at Washington Island and Lena WI and 1/2″ hail at Anvil Lake.
Friday evening, severe thunderstorms developed in NE Minnesota and moved east through the western U.P. and far northern Wisconsin Friday evening. In the U.P. wind gusts hit 62 mph at Big Bay (steady 47 mph winds for 15 minutes!), 56 mph at Calumet, 53 mph at Houghton and 49 mph at Arnheim. Wind damage was reported at L’Anse MI, Assinins MI, Baraga MI and Mellon WI. 2″-diameter hail hit Morse WI with 1.5″ diameter hail at Mercer WI, 1.25″ hail was reported at Antrim MI and 1″ hail at Upson (that be a great place for a horse-racing venue – call it Upson Downs) and at Rapid City and Cedar MI. Hail nearly an inch in diameter hit Grand Rapids MN and hail was also reported at Cohasset MN, Calumet MI, Sanborn WI an in MN a Silver Bay, Kelly Lake, Iron Junction, La Prairie, Federal Day, and Chisholm and at Gaylord MI and near Traverse City MI. Houghton MI had 1.23″ of rain in just one hour.
Here’s Marquette radar (above) and Duluth radar (below):
Here’s video of a waterspout that moved onshore and became a brief tornado at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The map above shows storm reports so far in 2020 in Michigan. Each red dot is where there was a tornado. Each green dot is for a severe hail report (1″ in diameter or greater). Each blue dot is a severe wind report (damage or a gust to +58 mph). There have only been 2 (small) tornadoes in Michigan this year, both in the U.P. There have been 55 reports of severe hail and 285 reports of wind damage. There has been no severe weather in the the eastern U.P. this year. Same for several counties in Lower Michigan (Antrim, Alcona, Leelanau). The year’s not over, but it’s generally been a “quiet” year in West Michigan.
Two areas that did get severe weather in August were the Southwest corner of Lower Michigan on August 10 from the derecho that moved from Iowa across Illinois and into S. Michigan and N. Indiana and the high winds that hit Cedar Springs on Friday evening August 28.
There are Small Craft Advisories and a Beach Hazard Statement for lakeshore areas through Sunday afternoon. Winds will continue to be brisk…from the southwest in the AM and shifting to the WNW by evening. Waves will be 3-7 feet. Don’t swim near or jump off the piers and breakwaters.
This beautiful pic. is the Grand River near Eastmanville from John Steinhauer. It’s was a sunny, warm and generally calm week. Over the last 6 days (Sun. – Fri.), the average wind speed in Kalamazoo was just 3.5 mph. Grand Rapids has had no measurable rain in the last 12 days and only 0.08″ in the last 16 days. We’ve had 6 days in a row with afternoon temperatures in the 70s to low 80s. Over the last 10 days, we’ve had 80% sunshine!
The cool air will be delayed a bit, with temperatures remaining on the mild side through this Sunday PM. The really cool air does get here the middle of next week, when daytime temperatures could hold only in the 50s.
Once the cool air gets here, it’ll be ticking around. The models been both insistent and consistent that temperatures will remain cooler than average through the first week of October in the eastern half of the country.
