I very distinctly remember waking up and checking my phone almost immediately to see what the SPC Day 2 Outlook looked like... to say I was shocked by the 10% SIGTOR Risk was an understatement. I lept out of bed and went immediately to Owen's bedroom and woke him up from his sleep to inform him of this outlook. We were both in absolute shock. 

As I am sure you all know, Owen and I absolutely love severe weather, and while we never wish to see anyone get hurt, or worse, or see any major property damage we are generally pretty giddy with excitement when there is severe weather threat... the adrenaline and the bewilderment of nature are something we both adore. But something about this threat... was different... ominous. We were genuinely a bit scared and we expressed that fear to our follower base, and more explicitly to our family.

We were watching a line of showers and storms approaching West Michigan, and we activated Storm Chase Mode and began working with our local EMA/SKYWARN Partners to provide storm coverage and reports to the NWS and our follower base. 

Very quickly, however, it became clear that this line of showers and storms was not of severe criteria, and questions quickly arose... was this Tornado Watch for this round of storms? Or was there another round of afternoon storms that was the primary concern?

This early morning convection would go on to tap the atmosphere and significantly reduce the available components needed to support severe weather and strong tornadoes. However, severe weather in its entirety was not completely absent from the day: a few damaging wind gusts were reported in Lower Michigan, including two with damage reports in Ottawa County.

So we had a couple of damaging wind reports... what's the big deal? Sounds like any other summertime day right?

That's the simple answer. We want to highlight what very easily could have happened: several tornadoes likely would have occurred had that initial round of showers come through the area during the late morning hours. A couple of those tornadoes could have been strong and/or long-tracked. Furthermore, the threat for very large hail to 2 inches in diameter and strong damaging wind gusts posed an even more widespread threat across Michigan.

This event very easily could have been the next Hudsonville 1965 (E)F4 Tornado. We've said this repeatedly as we move into spring and summer here in West Michigan: "It's not a question of IF a violent tornado can occur again in West Michigan. It's a question of WHEN will a violent tornado occur in West Michigan again."

The NWS in Grand Rapids, MI has echoed these sentiments saying "we are long overdue for another tornado event like the Hudsonville Storm."

We don't say these things in an effort to scare you. We are moving in to a severe weather season that, due to the overall global weather pattern, has the potential to be a more active, prolonged, and perhaps more significant/intense severe weather season than is normal for the Great Lakes and specifically the state of Michigan.

Make sure you're prepared for severe weather before a threat exists. Take the time to prepare now so that when the next significant severe weather event threatens to impact West Michigan your part of a Weather-Ready Nation!