WEST MICHIGAN — A powerful cold front and low pressure system swept through West Michigan earlier Sunday afternoon and evening, causing widespread damage and significant power outages. The image above shows all of the reports that came in through the National Weather Service. If you have a report to pass along, email it to us: news@fox17online.com
The one confirmed tornado report (so far) came out of the Croton area of Newaygo County around 6:05 p.m.
A line of strong gusty storms started moving up from Indiana around 4 p.m. These storms had widespread destructive 60-70 mph wind gusts and resulted in numerous downed trees and power lines throughout southwest lower Michigan. Roofs were blown off of buildings and barns, canopies of gas stations toppled over, trees uprooted, and power cut to many communities.
The line of storms intensified as it moved northeast, toward the 131 corridor. Sirens were activated in Allegan county as 70 mph straight line winds were blasting through. Tornado warnings were issued for Kent and Ionia counties as an area of rotation developed near Caledonia around 5:49 p.m. This likely tornado went on to produce damage in the Greenville area of Montcalm County, where an area of debris was seen on radar.
Then, just before 6 p.m. another tornado warning was issued for Kent, Barry and Ionia counties as lofted debris was seen on radar. This warning was in place until around 6:30 p.m., when storms moved out of our part of West Michigan.
According to poweroutage.us, there are still over 100,000 customers without power in West Michigan as of Sunday night. Most of these are Consumers energy customers.
The National Weather Service will be conducting damage surveys in the next several days to determine the type of wind damage (straight line or tornado), intensity and tornado path length.
For the latest details on the weather in West Michigan, head to the FOX 17 Weather page.
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