Hail — Kalamazoo, Michigan

2010-04-05 · near Schoolcraft, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Event narrative

Severe thunderstorm winds in excess of 80 mph and hail up to golf ball size impacted far southwestern and south central Kalamazoo county as a bow echo moved into Schoolcraft east to Vicksburg.

The most significant damage occurred across west southwest portions of the town of Schoolcraft, where the siding of the western sides of many homes was shredded by the wind driven large hail. About a dozen irrigation pivots were destroyed and several trees were blown down.

A local RV dealership had several of it's vehicles rolled over and damaged. Power lines were blown down and a semi truck was tipped over 1 mile south of downtown Schoolcraft. A wind gust to 79 mph was measured one mile northeast of Vicksburg by a co-op observer with a home weather station a minute before midnight.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms moved into extreme southwestern portions of Southwestern Lower Michigan just prior to midnight on April 5th, resulting in numerous reports of up to golf ball sized hail and winds in excess of 80 mph. The most significant damage occurred across southern Kalamazoo county, especially just west southwest of Schoolcraft.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.1200, -85.6400)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 221167. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.