Power Outage in Warren, MI

Scattered powered outages from downed tree limbs and wires. A 56 mph wind gust was observed at the Lake St. Clair Metropark.

Multiple reports of trees and power lines down.

Multiple reports of trees and power lines down.

Multiple reports of trees and power lines down.

Power lines reported down.

Power poles reported down.

Power lines were reported down.

Large trees, branches, and powerlines reported down.

Power lines reported down.

A power pole was reported down.

Power lines reported down.

Power lines reported down.

Street light and power poles reported down.

A weak tree was snapped. Several power outages reported.

Trees and power lines reported down.

An 8 inch tree limb reported down, along with power lines.

Scattered trees and powerlines reported down.

Trees and power lines reported down.

A power pole was reported down.

Power lines were reported down.

Power lines were reported down.

Trees and powerlines blown down.

A large tree was reported blown down on powerlines.

A tornado touched down near the intersection of 22 Mile and Hayes Road at 729 pm, tracking south-southeast before lifting at 735 pm just east of Hayes Road on M-59. Maximum winds were estimated to be up to 90 mph. Damage included multiple homes with roof damage, along with downed trees and power lines.

Several trees were reported blown down on porches, roads, and powerlines centered near Gratiot and North Avenue Roads.

Numerous trees and power lines reported down.

Trees and power lines were reported down.

Trained Spotters reported small tree limbs down, along with power outage of about 5000 customers.

Large tree limbs and power poles reported down.

Trees and power poles reported down.

The local newspaper reported damage to trees, power poles, and power lines in and around the St Clair Shores areas. Winds were estimated at 70 MPH.

By 0200 EST on the 15th, spotters were reporting 3/10 of an inch of ice on vegetative and elevated surfaces across the county. Numerous tree branches were downed across the area due to the extra weight of the ice. Approximately 30,000 customers lost power. Total property damages were roughly estimated at $325K.

Wind gusts measured near 50 MPH were blamed for knocking out power to 1,000 customers in southern sections of Macomb County. At 1300 EST, official observing equipment at the Detroit City Airport, in nearby Wayne County, measured a peak wind gust at 51 MPH. Total property damages were roughly estimated at $1K for the county.

Lightning struck a telephone pole on I-94 north of Cotton road leaving many without power.

A trained spotter reported tree limbs and power lines down.

A large maple tree was blown down. The tree knocked out power and landed on a house.

Law enforcement reported several large tree limbs and power lines blown down in thunderstorm winds.

Strong low pressure tracking through northern Michigan lead to strong winds of 40-60 mph over Southeast Michigan during the morning hours of March 31th. The highest winds of 60+ mph were reported across Tri-cities region, Huron county, and Flint vicinity. Power outages across southern Lower Michigan remained just under 100,000 customers.

A well-organized line of strong to severe thunderstorms developed early afternoon on Tuesday, September 7th, along and ahead of an advancing cold front. The majority of the damage was observed north of I-69 in cities such as Midland and Saginaw, where extensive tree damage, power outages, and 1 hail were observed; however, less widespread reports were received south of the I-69 corridor. The line of storms farther south was followed by a swath of high winds, where sustained winds (not associated with thunderstorms) were observed to be 40-50 mph, with gusts up to 60 mph. Between the severe thunderstorms and high winds, approximately 150,000 customers lost power.

A wedge of instability built in across southern Michigan throughout the late morning and afternoon and was the source of numerous strong thunderstorms, many of which produced both severe wind gusts to 60 mph and hail up to 1.25 inches for locations along the I-69 corridor and south down to the Ohio border. Most of the severe hail was confined to Lenawee and Monroe Counties, but pea (1/4) to penny (3/4) sized hail was observed at multiple locations across southeast Michigan. Additionally, a line of thunderstorms extending north from Milan and Ann Arbor up to Flint pushed east throughout the afternoon and produced sporadic 60 mph wind gusts, resulting in scattered tree damage, isolated building damage, and power outages.

The first severe weather and tornado event for 2019 in Southeast Michigan occurred on Thursday, March 14. A large, powerful low pressure system moved up across the central Plains, with weather ranging from blizzards to tornadoes. There were two rounds of weather that occurred across Southeast Michigan, the first round of severe weather raced northeast across the area as storms traveled at 100 mph! The second round of severe weather, which is what brought the tornadoes to the area, was a line of thunderstorms that moved northeast just ahead of a cold front. As this line moved across the area, there were multiple areas of circulation embedded with the line which resulted in four tornado touchdowns across Shiawassee and Genesee counties. Three out of the four tornadoes were weak and rated an EF-0. The tornado that hit near Vernon, MI, was rated an EF-2. Some debris (insulation/lighter metal) from the M-71 area in Vernon was carried 7 miles by the tornado. The Shiawassee Emergency Manager reported 135 structures, 94 homes, 4 businesses, 16 barns and 22 RVs were damaged or destroyed in the wake of the storms.

Thunderstorms brought trees and power lines in Macomb county.

Southeast Michigan saw active weather in both the morning and afternoon on Wednesday, June 18th, with the afternoon convection turning severe. Previous convection during the morning hours had moved to the east and there was enough instability for the thunderstorm complex over southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois to hold together as it crossed Lake Michigan and into Lower Michigan. This line of storms raced across the state bringing winds, heavy rain, and frequent lightning with numerous reports of trees down, power outages, and local flooding.

A warm front that was set up across the state on Saturday served as the focus for multiple storms that traveled east across the middle of Lower Michigan. One storm was able to gather enough strength while moving into a more favorable environment to produce a swath of wind and hail damage across the middle of the NWS Detroit/Pontiac county warning area (CWA). This storm packed high winds and lots of hail as it raced east at about 50-55 mph. Straight line winds up to 70 mph from this storm caused numerous damage, including uprooted trees, downed power lines, and building damage. Along with winds, numerous reports of hail also accompanied the storm with hail up to one inch reported in a few areas. What was impressive with the hail, was the high amount of small hail that fell. In some locations, hail completely covered the ground and was a couple of inches thick.

A winter storm impacted a large swath of the country from the southern Plains through the Midwest and into the Northeast on the last weekend before Christmas. This storm occurred as a deep upper-level trough over the Desert Southwest lifted northeastward, while a surface low pressure system moved from Texas into the Ohio Valley. This low moved along a very sharp frontal boundary. This front at the surface actually briefly penetrated far southeastern Michigan Friday night. The temperature at Lambertville, on the Ohio border, rose into the mid-50s, while Monroe, just 15 miles away, stayed in the mid-30s. On Saturday, copious Gulf moisture was brought northward ahead of the approaching surface low. This warm, moist air was forced to ascend at the front over Ohio, spreading precipitation from south to north over southeast Michigan from the late morning into the afternoon. An anticyclone over Ontario provided a supply of low-level cold air, causing the surface temperature to be near or below freezing for much of southeast Michigan. The result was a swath of freezing rain roughly between M-59 to M-46 which continued into Saturday night and early Sunday. The I-69 corridor was especially hard-hit, with ice accumulations of half an inch to three quarters of an inch, causing over 200,000 homes and businesses to lose power. Numerous trees and wires were downed, and a state of emergency was declared in Shiawassee County due to unsafe traveling conditions. South of M-59, much of the precipitation occurred as rain, with some locations receiving over 1.50 rain. North of M-46, much of the precipitation occurred as snow, with up to 4 inches reported.

A strong low pressure system tracked through the Western Great Lakes, allowing a strong warm front to lift north into Southeast Michigan, resulting in a mixed bag of precipitation. Mostly snow fell north of I-69, snow and ice along I-69 and M-59 corridors, with mostly rain south of M-59. Power outages along with scattered downed trees and large limbs were reported along the I-69 corridor. Here are the highest snowfall totals reported, along with ice accumulations:||Midland (Midland), 8 inches.|Bentley (Bay), 8 inches.|Lapeer (Lapeer), 8 inches.|Bad Axe (Huron), 7 inches.|Richmond (Macomb), 6.5 inches, glazing of ice.|Marlette (Sanilac), 6.5 inches, glazing of ice.|Capac (St. Clair) 6.5 inches, glazing of ice.|Fairgrove (Tuscola), 6 inches.|Saginaw (Saginaw) 6 inches, tenth of an inch of ice.|Burton (Genesee), 5 inches, tenth to two tenths of ice.|Corunna (Shiawassee) 3 inches, tenth to two tenths of ice.|Algonac (St. Clair) 1.5 inches, quarter inch of ice.

A powerful storm (also dubbed the Super Bowl Storm) initiated along the Gulf Coast States and moved north across Lake Erie Saturday night. This resulted in up to 10 inches of snow in an area extending from the intersection of M59 and US23 northeastward through the thumb region of Michigan. Unseasonably warm air ahead of this system led to a period of moderate rain Saturday morning and into the early afternoon. By mid afternoon the rain had changed over to a very wet snow and for the most part continued to melt as it fell while temperatures remained above freezing. At sunset, temperatures fell to the freezing mark and snow began accumulating around 1800 EST on the 4th and reached 6 inches by midnight. Snowfall rates of around 2 inches an hour occurred across portions of the thumb overnight. The large wet snowflakes easily stuck to rain soaked trees. The weighted trees were further stressed by northwest winds gusting to 35 mph and caused many branches to break. Approximately 30,000 customers lost power with 15 electrical wires down in Lapeer County alone. Accumulating snow ended at 1100 EST on the 5th. Effects from this storm continued to be felt on Monday and Tuesday as most schools across the thumb region closed as a result of the blowing and drifting snow on Sunday. Here are some of the higher snowfall reports received from each county:Bad Axe (Huron) 8 inchesFairgrove (Tuscola) 10 inchesBrown City (Sanilac) 8 inchesBurton (Genesee) 7.8 inchesMetamora (Lapeer) 9.5 inchesCapac (St. Clair) 6.5 inchesTyrone (Livingston) 9.0 inchesClarkston (Oakland) 9.3 inchesWashington (Macomb) 6.5 inches

A powerful spring storm tracked across the Ohio Valley on Friday the 22nd, and into the Eastern Great Lakes on the 23rd. The storm then deepened as it slowly backed west toward Lake Huron on the 24th. This intense area of low pressure dumped heavy snow along and north of M-59, as well as producing frequent wind gusts to 30 mph. Final snowfall accumulations were generally in the 6 to 12 inch range, with slightly higher accumulations over the higher terrain along and just south of I-69. It should be noted considerable melting occurred due to the warm ground and air temperatures at or slightly above freezing through the event. The combination of heavy wet snow and strong winds lead to numerous reports of trees and tree limbs down, which resulted in power outages.Here are some of the higher snowfall reports received from each county:Bay City (Bay), 5.0 inchesGrand Blanc (Genesee), 13.0 inchesDryden (Lapeer), 14.4 inchesRichmond (Macomb), 11.3 inchesMidland (Midland), 5.0 inchesWhite Lake NWS (Oakland), 15.0 inchesSaginaw (Saginaw), 6.0 inchesBrown City (Sanilac), 11.0 inchesCapac (St Clair), 14.0 inchesFairgrove (Tuscola), 6.0 inches

A strong cold front moved through southeast Michigan during the early afternoon hours of the 19th, producing damaging wind gusts which brought down numerous trees and power lines throughout the region. The highest measured wind gust of 73 mph was reported by a trained weather spotter 2 miles southeast of Bad Axe. Trained weather spotters also estimated wind gusts over 60 mph in Roseville and Shelby Township. On the west side of Saginaw, a large tree fell onto a moving vehicle driven by a 19-year-old man. The man was driving north on South Mason street just south of Adams Street. The driver suffered a fractured skull as a result of the impact of the 50-foot tree with a 3-foot-thick trunk. The tree snapped at its base due to the strong winds. Consumers energy reported more than 3600 customers losing power In the Tri-Cities region, with 15,000 customers in Genesee County losing power. In Detroit Edison's service area, which includes Southeast Michigan and the Thumb areas, about 8000 of its 2.1 millions customers lost power due to the high winds.

An arctic frontal boundary moved south of the state by the morning of April 3, 2003. This front dropped temperatures to the freezing mark generally along and north of a Brighton to St Clair Shores line. Then, a series of low pressure systems moved across the front. This allowed very warm and moist air to lift north overtop of the sub-freezing temperatures near the ground. The first wave of precipitation moved across eastern Michigan late in the evening on April 3rd and continued through the morning of April 4th. Thunderstorms brought heavy freezing rain to the area during this time period. Spotter reports indicated up to 3 inches of freezing rain occurred in some places. Sleet was also reported across much of the Saginaw Valley. By the afternoon of April 4th, ice accumulations of one quarter to three quarters of an inch were reported across the area. The Saginaw Valley even had one to two inches of sleet accumulations in addition to the ice. After a break in the precipitation during the afternoon of the 4th, a second round of thunderstorms brought freezing rain and sleet to the area during the evening of April 4th, finally ending early in the morning of April 5th. By the morning of the 5th, ice accumulations ranged from one half to one inch. Sleet had also accumulated up to two inches in and around Flint and the Saginaw Valley. Since the road and ground surfaces were warmed due to very warm weather the later half of March, most of the ice accumulations occurred on elevated surfaces, like trees and power lines. The ice accumulations led to considerable tree damage and widespread power outages across the entire area. Locations hardest hit, with around an inch of ice reported on the trees, were across northern Oakland County, northern Macomb County, and throughout Lapeer, St Clair, Sanilac and Huron counties. In these areas, the tree damage was so severe that dozens of roads were blocked by trees and damage occurred to hundreds of homes, businesses and automobiles as tree limbs, or in many cases large trees themselves, were brought to the ground under the weight of the ice. It was estimated that 450,000 homes and businesses lost power during the storm. In fact nearly 50,000 people were without power for up to a week as persistent cold temperatures keep the heavy ice on the trees for 4 days after the storm. Crews came from four different states to help local utility companies restore power and remove hundreds of broken tree branches away from power lines. A 74-year old man in Troy (Oakland County) was killed when he was struck in the head by a falling tree branch (direct). Three other people died due to carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of poorly ventilated generators (indirect). Two woman were injured in Orion (Oakland County) when a large tree fell onto the car they were in (direct). Five house fires were said to have started by electrical lines being brought down onto the homes. Hundreds of traffic accidents were reported during the storm as well, most of which were in the Saginaw Valley where sleet had sickened the roadways. An estimated two dozen people were injured in traffic accidents (indirect). A 59-year old Bay county man died when his car slid into a ditch filled with water (indirect). A 47-year old Deerfield Township (Lapeer County) man was also killed when he fell from a 40-foot tall bucket truck trying to trim an ice covered tree limb before it fell onto his house (indirect). Statements were made by several long-time residents that this was the worst ice storm to hit the area since the 1970s.

A low pressure system developed in the Ohio River Valley during the early morning hours on the 26th. This low pressure system moved across central Ohio and into eastern Ontario on the 26th. Snow fell on the back side of this storm system, affecting most of southeastern Michigan. Snowfall began late in the evening on the 25th and continued through the morning of the 26th. Portions of southeast Michigan received around 6 inches of snowfall from this storm system. 6 to 7 inches of snow were reported across central Livingston, northern Oakland, northern Macomb, southern Lapeer, and northwestern Washtenaw counties. 6 inches of snow was reported around Flint, Sebewaing, and much of Shiawassee county. The rest of southeast Michigan received 3 to 5 inches of snowfall. Several traffic accidents resulted from this storm system. The storm also led to the cancellation of many area schools and the loss of power to an estimated 4000 homes and businesses.