Blake Naftel
EF2
Wowzers! Today's forecast verified almost on top of my family's homestead in Texas Township, Michigan.
Observed a large, significant tornado develop just to the southwest of Texas Corners, Michigan near the 8th Street and S Avenue location between apx. 5:45-5:50 p.m. ET. Blasted east and then north on US 131 at Center Street in Portage, Michigan [Southern Kalamazoo County, MI] just in time to see a large tornado develop less than a mile to my southwest. Then jumped north on US 131, east on I-94 and then exited south on Westnedge Avenue in Portage, Michigan at 6 p.m. A large and destructive tornado soon came into view just to the southwest and tracked east/northeast along Center Street, just behind the Crossroads Mall area [for those familiar] and continued east. This video still was taken around 6:05 p.m. ET in Portage, Michigan
The large vortex continued east, likely south of the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport. From reports and images, looks like a FedEx plant took a direct hit with reports of people trapped inside along with some other businesses and residential areas. Visual EF-2/EF-3 damage apparent at FedEx per a photo from a friend. The supercell/mesocyclone cycled again along I-94 between Galesburg and Climax, crossed I-94 east of Climax and continued into Calhoun County, where at that time I stopped pursing the storm east, with debris raining down [roofing, siding, tree branches, leaves]. Hope nobody was seriously injured or worse with this event.
This is the first time in 44 years that a series of significant tornadoes in Kalamazoo County, Michigan transpired. The last being the May 13, 1980 F3 killer Kalamazoo tornado, of which was the keynote event that first got me interested in meteorology, tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. Synoptically the warm frontal boundary setup today was very similar to the 1980 event. Today's event was also synoptically suggested on the GFS and Euro medium range runs a week out with assorted geospatial variances. This was also the first time I've ever observed a tornado in Michigan, oddly it was also in my hometown!
Full video to follow soon on my YouTube channel.
Another significant tornado was reported near the Union City, Michigan in Branch County to the southeast of the Kalamazoo County tornado. Curious what transpired there.
Observed a large, significant tornado develop just to the southwest of Texas Corners, Michigan near the 8th Street and S Avenue location between apx. 5:45-5:50 p.m. ET. Blasted east and then north on US 131 at Center Street in Portage, Michigan [Southern Kalamazoo County, MI] just in time to see a large tornado develop less than a mile to my southwest. Then jumped north on US 131, east on I-94 and then exited south on Westnedge Avenue in Portage, Michigan at 6 p.m. A large and destructive tornado soon came into view just to the southwest and tracked east/northeast along Center Street, just behind the Crossroads Mall area [for those familiar] and continued east. This video still was taken around 6:05 p.m. ET in Portage, Michigan
The large vortex continued east, likely south of the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport. From reports and images, looks like a FedEx plant took a direct hit with reports of people trapped inside along with some other businesses and residential areas. Visual EF-2/EF-3 damage apparent at FedEx per a photo from a friend. The supercell/mesocyclone cycled again along I-94 between Galesburg and Climax, crossed I-94 east of Climax and continued into Calhoun County, where at that time I stopped pursing the storm east, with debris raining down [roofing, siding, tree branches, leaves]. Hope nobody was seriously injured or worse with this event.
This is the first time in 44 years that a series of significant tornadoes in Kalamazoo County, Michigan transpired. The last being the May 13, 1980 F3 killer Kalamazoo tornado, of which was the keynote event that first got me interested in meteorology, tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. Synoptically the warm frontal boundary setup today was very similar to the 1980 event. Today's event was also synoptically suggested on the GFS and Euro medium range runs a week out with assorted geospatial variances. This was also the first time I've ever observed a tornado in Michigan, oddly it was also in my hometown!
Full video to follow soon on my YouTube channel.
Another significant tornado was reported near the Union City, Michigan in Branch County to the southeast of the Kalamazoo County tornado. Curious what transpired there.
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