Thunderstorm Wind — Osceola, Michigan

2018-08-28 · near Le Roy, Osceola, Michigan

Event narrative

A narrow corridor of damaging winds was surveyed near Wells lake. The damage started just west of 170th ave and continued over Wells lake eastward. Several trees were uprooted or snapped west of the lake with winds estimated near 70 mph. More extensive damage was found on the east side of the lake where two boats were flipped and nearly every tree was snapped or uprooted.

Eyewitness accounts of the winds lasting on the order of minutes as well as the prevalence of damage oriented northwestward suggested straight line winds rather than a tornado.

Wider weather episode

A line of severe thunderstorms impacted lower Michigan during the evening hours of August 28th, 2018. Strong winds of 50 to 60 mph were common along the line with pockets of intense damaging winds of 75 to 90 mph. There were also two tornadoes embedded within the strongest winds near Baldwin and Idlewild. The most extensive damage was along US-10 from Ludington to Reed City, with separate areas of intense damage near Big Rapids and Le Roy.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.9984, -85.4177)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 785826. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.