Aug 24 2007
Michigan Weather
I’m in Michigan for work, and was quickly reminded just how bad things can get here.
This afternoon, I drove through what I can easily say was the most terrifying weather I’ve ever experienced. The national weather service has already confirmed two tornadoes, with current estimates being four total. Straight line winds were measured at 70 MPH. It started right after I left work at 5:30pm, on the West-side of the city, and was headed to Grosse Pointe on the East side.
Right before I was getting on I-696 west, I saw the funnel cloud pictured spinning wildly–it almost looked liquid. It was heading right towards me, and I (stupidly) decided to try and outrun it on the freeway.
Bad move. I caught three or four red lights before I reached the on ramp, and that’s all the time the storm needed to bear down on me. At the last red light a massive white blast of lightning hit close enough to cause a simultaneous boom and blowing up a transformer in a brilliant green mushroom cloud–it temporarily blinded me.
Then the rain hit. I’ve never seen it rain this hard in my life. Weather reporters are now claiming there was 3″ of rain in 30 minutes. Winds were blowing it so hard at the car that water was making it inside while the windows were rolled up. I could not see out the windshield at all, even with the wipers at full blast.
I-696 sits below street level, at some parts by more than 15 feet. Water was starting to build on the freeway, and pressure in the storm sewers causing air to blast water up four feet high from them as I drove by. At first I was excited by the sudden weather, but now I was honestly scared for my life–not knowing whether it was safer to stop and risk getting flooded out, or continue and try to push through it. It was that bad.
Luckily I made it to Grosse Pointe okay. Apparently right after I exited the freeway, the water was getting to four feet deep in spots.
At this time Fenton, which is further out on the West side of Detroit is in full lockdown with a complete power outage and building damage. There is a curfew in effect there.
I snapped a couple pictures on the iPhone in between clutching the steering wheel.
Nice photos, can I submit them to the National Weather Service and WDIV?
Jason and I were in Davisburg when the storms hit. We were doing weather spotting for the NWS at the time. We saw the tornado that hit Holly. By the time we got to where it was it was gone. We then dropped the kids off with the grandparents and went to Fenton to help provide amateur radio emergency communications.
It was a disaster zone.
The tornado started 4 miles north east of Fenton in Livingston County and began as an EF0 (they changed the way they rate tornadoes thus the name change, it means “enhanced Fujita”) and rather quickly grew to EF1 then EF2. It dropped and gained intensity as it travelled eventually slamming into downtown Fenton as and EF2. It finally ended 4 miles east of Holly. It averaged a width of 200 yards but when it got to Fenton it was 1/4 of a mile wide!!!
You can read all about it (and the other tornadoes that occurred) here: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/cms.php?n=aug07tor
You’re really lucky the tornado you saw didn’t touch down!
I’m glad you made it safely to your destination.
You’re right, it’s really stupid to try to outrun bad weather, especially tornadoes.