6/08/08 DISC: MI

[Jason Harris]

Note there were two tornadoes in MI June 8 Sunday 2008 according to damage surveys, as well as a powerful downburst that downed "thousands" of trees. I know various people were near these storms as well as others. It would be interesting to hear more precisely the exact track of these storms. If I'm not mistaken, Mike Bishop and I intercepted around Durand, MI this same cell (imbedded supercell in the bow of that day's impressive linear event) that produced the EF-1 damage in the Lansing area, which is also probably the same one Mike Kovalchick and Ben Holcomb took pictures of. Who was on the one in Osceola county?

#1
EF-1 Damage in far northeast Eaton County

A tornado moved through Mid-Michigan Sunday afternoon generating very strong winds through parts of Eaton County and the Lansing area. Particularly hard hit was the Board of Water & Light Eckert Power Station. Two cooling towers were destroyed. Residents from near Cochran Rd just south of Grand Ledge all the way to the power plant were affected by the tornado. The damage along the path was consistent with EF-1 damage. Maximum winds were estimated at 86 mph. More details will follow as they become available.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=grr&storyid=15265&source=0


#2

Damage survey confirms a tornado in Osceola county

...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CONFIRMS EF-1 TORNADO DAMAGE IN OSCEOLA
COUNTY...

ON MONDAY...JUNE 9TH 2008...A TEAM FROM THE GRAND RAPIDS NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE CONDUCTED A STORM SURVEY IN OSCEOLA COUNTY
FOLLOWING SEVERE STORMS THAT OCCURRED ON THE 8TH. IT WAS DETERMINED
THAT A TORNADO WITH PEAK WINDS APPROACHING 110 MPH...CORRESPONDING
TO EF-1 DAMAGE ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE...OCCURRED ALONG AN
INTERMITTENT PATH ABOUT 5 MILES LONG AND UP TO A HALF MILE WIDE.
THIS PATH EXTENDED FROM A MILE NORTHEAST OF HERSEY TO THE PERE
MARQUETTE STATE FOREST. THE MOST INTENSE DAMAGE OCCURRED ALONG
CEDAR ROAD IN THE PERE MARQUETTE FOREST...WHERE A HALF MILE WIDE
SECTION OF FOREST WAS FLATTENED. OTHER SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE OCCURRED
ABOUT FOUR MILES EAST OF REED CITY...WHERE WINDS ESTIMATED AROUND 90
MPH DAMAGED A BARN AND TRAPPED THE OCCUPANTS OF A HOUSE UNTIL THE
DAY AFTER THE STORM.

THE TORNADO OCCURRED WITHIN A LARGER AREA OF DOWNBURST WIND DAMAGE
THAT EXTENDED EAST-NORTHEAST APPROXIMATELY 20 MILES...BEGINNING ONE
MILE NORTHWEST OF HERSEY TO THE CLARE COUNTY LINE WEST OF LAKE
GEORGE. THE AREA OF DAMAGE VARIED IN WIDTH FROM HALF A MILE TO A
MILE. THOUSANDS OF TREES WERE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED AND SEVERAL BARNS
AND OUTBUILDINGS WERE DAMAGED BY THE WINDS. ONE MINOR INJURY WAS
SUSTAINED WHEN A TREE FELL ON A CAR. A COUPLE OF HOMES WERE DAMAGED
FROM FALLING TREES. WINDS WERE ESTIMATED BETWEEN 60 TO 70 MPH IN
MOST OF THE DOWNBURST AREA. THIS EQUATES TO EF-0 DAMAGE ON THE
ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=grr&storyid=15263&source=0

 

[Jason Harris]

Ok, no one's responded to this, so here's a more substantive question regarding the tornado and downburst in particular:

I think I was misreading the report, but just to be sure: is it the tornado or the downburst that was responsible for the "thousands of trees" down; if it was the downburst, how long would 60-70 mph winds need to be blowing to have knocked down "thousands" of trees within that 20 mile area? A brief gust sure wouldn't have done that. That's less than a category one hurricane (74 mph min.) , and it doesn't seem to me that we do not hear about wind damage to that degree with a tropical storm. If it was the tornado, does this mean the "thousands" of trees were downed mainly in the tornado path of 110 mph winds? Thoughts?

 

[Mike Kovalchick]

Tornadoes like Power Plant Cooling Towers.

Note the reference to the cooling towers being destroyed at the Eckert Plant Power Plant that were hit by an EF-1 tornado on June 8, 2008. "Workers described the scene as a “large black wallâ€￾ heading toward the plant." (Was it a wedge tornado?)

http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/19756809.html

Note the reference to the cooling towers at the Erickson Power Plant that was hit by another tornado on September 9, 2001. Both plants are only a few miles from each other in Eaton Co.

https://www.msu.edu/~fujita/tornado/lansing/010909/

One other interesting tidbit from the storm. A co-worker of mine witnessed the great Beecher/Flint F-5 tornado that killed 116 people and damaged his home as a child:

http://www.flint.lib.mi.us/gallery/beechertornado/index.shtml

It was on June 8, 1953. 55 years later to the day..he was forced to go into his tornado shelter from Sunday's storm. Due to his near death experience from the 1953 F-5 tornado..he had his home built with a rare Michigan tornado shelter.

 

[Robert Dewey]

I live in an area of Rochester Hills that got hit pretty hard. We JUST got power back. I had video of the entire event, caught the neighbors tree getting ripped apart by straight line winds that I'd estimate to be around 70mph.

Further north (1/8 - 1/2 mile), many large pines were uprooted, and several very large trees were snapped. The city had to come in with front end loaders and clear debris, as streets were impassable. Right after the storm, you could hear transformers popping and sizzling.

Looking at what I am seeing, and the EF scale indicators for tree and structure damage, I would say winds were definitely and cleanly within the 80-100mph range.

Interesting, to say the least. One thing to note, very little lightning accompanied the storm... or at least I wasn't paying much attention to it, as I was dodging small branches and twigs, and watching the trees.

 

[Mike Kovalchick]

"Interesting, to say the least. One thing to note, very little lightning accompanied the storm... or at least I wasn't paying much attention to it, as I was dodging small branches and twigs, and watching the trees."

The embedded Sup that I saw had absolutely spectacular staccato lightning such as one would normally see in the vault region of a HP. An unusual distance behind the storm, in some light stratiform rain/anvil shield..there was quite a few rather violent positive strokes. There was little other lightning.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Eckert plant is technically in Ingham County. If you go to the Logan/Moores River Drive area, you can definitely see a pretty good damage swath. There's trees down in different directions as well. The cooling towers are a mangled mess.

I will be going out for some damage pictures later on this afternoon. A bit late, but there's still some pictures to be had.

 

[Jason Harris]

Crazy story I just heard about Ingham tornado

Tried to change title to "Northeast Eaton County," since that's what's official.

Here's an absolutely hard-to-believe tale I just heard from the shuttle driver of a car-repair place I just got back from in Grand Ledge. Supposedly, a customer who lived to the West of Grand Ledge was out with her kids in the pool.
She hadn't paid attention to weather reports and was basically spending the day outside with the kids.

So . . . as she described it, the clouds were darkening and she got worried about heavy rain and hail and called the kids out and were moving back inside the hosue.

Then, she claims to have heard a "train" sound, although not too loud, and realized no train tracks were around her area: then the crazy part--she looked back outside and saw water was being SUCKED UP out of her pool into the air. No funnel was visible. They rushed into the basement. There was a crash as a tree hit her roof, and her car was also damaged, which is why she was at the car shop and got a lift from this shuttle driver, who told me the story. If this is true, maybe she could get an interview on the news.

 

[rdale]

Talked to NWS about the powerplant issue - they confirmed it is Eckert in Lansing, so clearly into Ingham Co for the tornado, but last I checked website still only mentioned Eaton.