WLNS TV 6 Lansing Jackson Michigan News and Weather - WLNS.COM | Chase Report 2000
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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.
Tue 8/22 - 9pm to 11pm - 50 miles
Another long, dry stretch... We picked up a new Sony digital camcorder in the afternoon -- which I figured would mean no more storms at all this year ;> (The neat thing about this is that now I can take video back to the station for on-air use, and also snap pictures from the video to upload to the website.) But my fears were calmed when some strong storms popped up in the Muskegon area. A nice line was developing that extended to Grand Rapids, so I headed in to the station to pick up the storm van. Problem. Our promotions department decided to get ahead of schedule and took the van to the LPGA Tournament. So my trip was delayed as I had to hit Walnut Hills and weave the van out of the media center -- but I survived.
I went up US27 a bit but the storm was already there, and warnings were just issued for Ingham County so I shot back down 127 to I96. I took that east to get ahead of the cells and made it to Williamston where I set up shop and let the line hit me. By that time the winds on the front of the line subsided a bit, and my max wind speed was measured at 26mph. Nonetheless I did get some nice lightning pictures, and the links in the upper-right corner of this webpage.
Wed 8/2 - 6pm to 9pm - 100 miles
More marginal severe weather... As I was bringing the van back from the Ingham County Fair, I watched some pretty impressive buildups throughout the area. No watch was in effect, but I hit the road in chase mode once warnings started flying. My main path was up and down 127 between Mason and Jackson. I ran into some very strong winds and pea-sized hail near Rives Junction but that was about it. On my way back in I spotted a 20ft long / 1ft diameter tree limb down in Rives Junction, and heard a report that golf-ball hail took out a windshield there too. Glad I wasn't around for that!
Head to the upper-right corner of this page and click on a beautiful sunset picture -- and also some "scud" clouds that were reported as possible tornadoes. These clouds are just rough-looking fragments that hang around ahead of the storm. You can tell they are not tornadoes because 1) they usually come at the front of the thunderstorm, while tornadoes are on the backside and 2) they don't show consistent rotation.
Fri 7/28 - 1pm to 5pm - 200 miles
Wow -- has it been that long since a chase?!? This was prompted by some marginally severe storms popping up in the Kalamazoo area. I went towards Charlotte to meet them, but a line formed from Kazoo to Ionia moving very slowly northeast, so instead turned west at Potterville and set up shop in Needmore. There I waited, and waited, and waited for the storms to hit me (the National Weather Service warnings indicated they were moving northeast at 20mph -- a post-event look at radar data indicated the movement was 5mph!) Needless to say when the storms finally did arrive they were little more than lightning and some rain. I shot on down to Eaton Rapids to catch the next batch, but found just some heavy rain. I then went west to intercept another line of storms near Kalamazoo, but those weakened so I headed back up I-69 to return home.
Things changed just as I got back into Lansing, as a report of small hail near US127 & M43 led me east. I ran into torrential rain near I-96 & Okemos, so went to Williamston in order to let that storm hit me. Then new warnings came in for Jackson County, so I vectored south in an attempt to catch those cells. By the time I got to Leslie, it appeared nothing severe was happening, and combined with the fact that I was sick of driving around and chasing the storms away made me decide to take it home for good...
Wed 6/14 - 3pm to 9pm - 250 miles
Another shot at severe weather... Big storms developed across Indiana which were moving in to southern Michigan, so I shot down US127 and then west on I-94 from Jackson to intercept. They died, but severe storms were moving out of the Grand Rapids area so I went back up 127/US27 to St Johns and let them hit me there. Nothing but heavy rain and some gusty winds. All quiet for a few hours until another batch of severe storms headed for us from Coldwater, so I went down 127 a bit and then over to Eaton Rapids but again they died before arrival.
Mon 6/12 - 6pm to 9pm - 100 miles
Several tornado warnings were issued for far southwest Michigan, so I took the van down 69 in an attempt to catch them moving into the Coldwater area. About half-way there it appeared like everything was dying out so I returned home. When I made it to back to the Potterville area, the storms rapidly re-intensified and a Tornado Warning was issued for Branch county. I swung back south and caught the storm north of Coldwater, and it looked ominous but I saw no signs of severe weather.
Thu 6/1 - 10pm to 1am - 70 miles
A very potent situation was set up as warm & humid air was being replaced with a strong cold front. Numerous tornados and large hail reports were received from Wisconsin as the squall line approached Lake Michigan. As soon as the northern end came onshore near Muskegon, reports of wind damage and small hail started entering the office. I went to St Johns (M21 & US27) where I waited the storm's arrival. An intense lightning show was coming at me from the west. Winds with the leading edge were only ~35 mph with some pea-sized hail. As I returned south on US27 I received several doses of pea-sized hail, with larger (1/2") hail just north of I-69. A lof of small tree limbs and leaves were on the road - signs that I missed more hail and winds. As I came back through Lansing, I tried catching the storms before they hit Mason but to no avail.
Thu 5/18 - 12pm to 2pm - 80 miles
First chase with LIVE DOPPLER RADAR in the van! Makes things much easier and safer. Some developing storms were moving south of Grand Rapids so I went out M43 past Grand Ledge. Radar indicated some very strong activity near M43 and Cochran Rd, and within seconds of arriving at that intersection I started getting VERY large raindrops. That usually a sign that hail is nearby, and it didn't take long for the hail to find me. I was deluged in dime-sized hail, so I phone the Storm Center to get that information on the air then phoned the National Weather Service and they issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning based on my report. A lack of good roads prevented me from following that storm, so I went up to Eagle for another that moved into the county but this one ended up being just some heavy rainfall.
Fri 5/12 - 3am to 6am - 100 miles
A Severe Thunderstorm Watch prompted me to head up to St Johns. I waited for the line to hit me, but the storms weren't that bad with wind gusts to 35 mph. More activity was moving to the south of Lansing, so I went down 127 and intercepted it in Leslie. Some gusty winds and a LOT of heavy rain were all I found.
Tue 5/9 - 6pm to 10pm - 150 miles
Success! A Tornado Warning was issued for Kalamazoo County, so photographer Chris Carr and I took the van southwest to Charlotte. The activitity was moving more east than northeast so we moved into northwest Jackson County, and finally settled on a spot south of Tompkins Center. Golf ball hail was reported with these storms, so we didn't want to get too close. The storm just grazed us with heavy rain and a wind gust to 43mph. More severe weather was moving up out of Ohio, so we went southeast towards Manchester, but the line weakened by the time we arrived. On the return we stopped in Stockbridge to look at some damage, and found good evidence of some downburst winds -- with numerous trees and power lines down. As a matter of fact, we snagged a low-hanging phone line with our antenna which left a little cosmetic damage (mental note: lower antenna before surveying damage!) No sign of any tornado touchdown, with a rough guess of windspeeds in the 60-80mph range.
Tue 5/9 - 12pm to 2pm - 100 miles
Another good threat day, so I went south down to Hillsdale County where storms were expected to develop. They actually started farther south, in Northwest Ohio, so I returned.
Mon 5/8 - 11pm to 4am - 180 miles
A Severe Thunderstorm Watch was issued so I went to Ionia where I waited for a batch of storms. Severe weather was reported in the Grand Rapids area, but by the time they made it to Ionia the cells had weakened. I went down to Kalamazoo to catch the next line, and these were a bit stronger but still not severe. In Marshall I ran into some strong winds and a little bit of hail.
Mon 5/8 - 6pm to 8pm - 80 miles
We had a risk of severe thunderstorms that night, and a few cells popped up just northwest of Lansing. I went up to St Johns and then west to Ionia, but nothing further developed so I returned home.
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