Thunderstorm Wind — Ottawa, Michigan

2009-08-09 · near Grand Haven, Ottawa, Michigan

Event narrative

Scattered trees were snapped and uprooted across the extreme northern part of Ottawa county. MLive reported heavy damage to an apple orchard just northwest of Conklin.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms developed across west central lower Michigan ahead of a cold front during the late afternoon hours of August 9th. A particularly severe thunderstorm complex moved onshore between Muskegon and Grand Haven at P.J. Hoffmaster State Park 6:25 pm. The storm complex moved east-northeast producing a 35 mile long and up to 9 mile wide path of EF-0 wind damage. The damage area included the far northern Ottawa county, far southern Muskegon county, and northwest Kent County. Fruitport took the brunt of the storm with wind gusts of 70 to 80 mph lasting for about 10 minutes. Hundreds of trees were blown down many taking down utility lines and poles in the process. Tens of homes were heavily damaged by tree fall. Some apple orchards in the Conklin area also suffered heavy crop and tree damage from the winds. The storm also produced wind gusts of 65 to 75 mph that brought down trees and utility lines in Sparta, Kent City, and Cedar Springs.

A second area of thunderstorms developed south and east of Grand Rapids and produced wind damage in eastern Ingham county along Interstate-96 near Webberville and in central Jackson county. A severe storm just northwest of Jackson a few miles from the Interstate 94 and U.S. - 127 interchange produced 70 mph wind gusts that peeled part of the roof off of Kidder Middle School as well as damaging as many as 100 trees. The storm produced damaging wind gusts over a 5 mile long and up to 1.75 mile wide path.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.0772, -86.2516)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 184330. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.