WLNS TV 6 Lansing Jackson Michigan News and Weather - WLNS.COM | Chase Report 2002
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If you have a scanner you can listen in on the local Skywarn severe weather spotters at 145.390MHz. When the chase van is out, you can hear my reports from callsign N8GSK
WOW! It's been over a month since my last chase!!! This one wasn't very promising -- the conditions weren't quite there for "big boomers" but I saw signs that storms could have some damaging downburst winds. A strong cell came through Lansing with gusty winds but nothing terrible, then radar indicated possible intensification as it went east so I chased the storm to Williamston. Nothing there, but reports of significant downburst wind damage were received from Laingsburg so I shot up north. A recap and many pictures available here.
Long day (I'd been working since 2am the morning before) but worth it. First stop is near Fowler in Clinton County awaiting the arrival of some nasty weather... Caught an INCREDIBLE lighting show and some gusty winds but nothing severe.
Then headed south to near Aurelius to watch more lightning and it was beautiful but... not severe...
Now I'm getting desperate... It was my day off but some nice storms popped up in northern Indiana, where temperatures were near 90* while we were in the 60's. I picked my daughters up from school and headed south on I-69. I knew I wouldn't get those cells, but forecasts indicated more severe weather developing across the rest of Indiana.
Driving through Auburn I found some beautiful mammatus clouds, and could see some powerful cells to our south. Those were producing large hail and funnels. More development to the west piqued my interest, but those never developed so we stopped at McDonald's in Warren Indiana (about 40 miles south of FWA) and grabbed a bite. Post-dinner still was quiet, as the severe thunderstorm watch was slowly being cancelled away. So we found a beautiful lake and park south of Huntington, spent some time there and returned home. Not even a bolt of lightning.
Some nasty cells near Chicago were forming a squall line, and a severe thunderstorm watch was issued for extreme northern Indiana. I shot down I-69, across I-94 and south on US131 from Kalamazoo and set up shop near the MI/IN state line. Unfortunately the line completely broke up, and all I got was some lightning strikes when I returned back to Lansing with a storm near Grand Ledge.
I was watching a line of severe storms in central Illinois moving our way, and knew there'd be no chance they would remain severe into Michigan. Unfortunately I was quite certain they wouldn't be severe even in Indiana, but I was desperate and took off down I-69. I went across US20 for a bit, finally got to the point where I realized absolutely nothing was happening, and returned home. Finally saw some lighting when I got back to Marshall.
Not the best event for severe weather potential -- but it was the first of the year so I was going. It started with a prolific lightning-storm approaching Alma. So I shot up US27 and took some nice lightning shots, and found boatloads of 1/2" hail pelting the van.
I made my way back into Lansing, intercepting several cells with hail and 40mph winds along the way. Then I turned east on I-96 towards Williamston and picked up a lot more 1/2" hail (still not severe.) Back roads hindered me from following the storms much more east.
A U-turn west on I-96 through Ionia county set me up for the next line of storms -- but I was tired (30 hours working with just an hour's nap!) and headed back to work. They didn't amount to much anyway.
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