LIVE COVERAGE | Tracking severe storms in West Michigan

our coverage we are breaking into your local coverage due to two severe thunderstorm warnings that have been issued by the National Weather Service these severe thunderstorm warnings continue on until 8:00 this morning as two relatively potent cells make their way towards the Holland sagatuck Douglas region and then another cell that makes its way just a little bit to the south of that South Haven Hartford paaw those are the other areas that need to watch out for this next cluster of storms that's going to make itself known to land now these storms themselves could potentially have some hail embedded with them it's typically inch in diameter hail that takes us to a severe threat but let's go ahead I'll look inside the storm itself this is a a thing that we use to be able to see within the storm and see how much ice potential is going up within the cloud and as you can see starting to get a little bit higher on the scale so those of you Holland sagatuck stretching down through that Douglas region there is the low-end potential that you do see some hail potentially quarter sized or higher embedded within that and then Bon Harbor right now that storm over the heart of you if you do have any severe weather reports we do ask that you wait until after the storm has passed before you go ahead and give us those reports and I want to just uh go back to Velocity so what you're going to see here folks is just a uh kind of a signature of our wind product across uh uh West Michigan here so this is velocity looking at the sample of winds in our atmosphere and something I'm just been noticing here here in that core of the storm Sam little bit uh of a what we call uh couplet developing and all that means for you is that we have inbound and outbound winds from The Radar Site in uh Grand Rapids in Cascade Township at the Ford international airport now this is several th000 ft uh away from the radar site so this is measuring pretty high up not ground level pretty high up in our atmosphere but still kind of noticing just a little bit of broad rotation trying to develop here in the heart of that storm at the very very least I I think right in here just to the north and east of Benton Harbor I kind of noticing some of those brighter greens popping up here on our velocity product and that's just indicating there could be some stronger winds mixing down to the surface but just keeping a close eye on uh that inbound and outbound signature that's pretty close together uh over the last few radar scans that's something definitely uh keeping an eye on as the storm progresses into Baran County and eventually if it continues its path Eastward it's going to be right along I94 heading into uh van beeran County so we're just talking south of the Hartford and Lawrence uh communities right along 94 if this continues at its strength and its Uh current momentum to the east so something we're keeping an eye on we're going to go back to radar here yeah it's going to be that Holland Douglas to sagatuck region Zealand as well Port Shelton a little bit on the north side of this system but it could not hurt to seek shelter from that store storm um yeah that's the area that I'm seeing the most potent portion of this Northern system that is warned right now for alagan County now I understand those of you in Holland you're not in alagan County meaning that you're not necessarily underneath the severe thunderstorm warning but I am going to ask you at this time to treat it as though you are and seek Shelter From the system the system itself is moving at about 40 mph to the east with potentially 60 mph wind gust that would of course meet it to severe criteria and in addition to the strong winds and potential rotation embedded in the storm there's also heavy torrential rainfall coming down that alone is causing a risk on the roadways that alone is the reason that we issued our 13 weather impact alert today Blake was because of the moderate to heavy rainfall that we've been experiencing since 2:00 this morning now you couple in the potential for 60 plus mph winds as well as rotation moving through this system creating a really dangerous situation itself yeah especially the timing here we don't think about severe thunderstorms here in West Michigan during uh at 7 in the morning but we had that happen just uh several weeks ago in mosan County as those stronger thunderstorms came in so no matter what time it is despite it being 700 in the morning we still can see severe weather which is possibility or possibly the case going on right now in parts of van and in aligan County do want to highlight though that if you're watching from m Gan you're watching from Pentwater uh back towards Big Rapids you are just seeing your run-of-the-mill rain right now no severe weather uh as of now expected north of vanir and aligan County uh as of now and I think that's going to hold true over the course of this morning our Focus really turns to these two thunderstorms that are near and just to the south of Holland so if you're watching north of the greater Grand Rapids area you're just contending with rainfall this morning but still a little bit on the you know dangerous side just as you head out the door the morning commute planning a little bit of concern that reduce visibility but it is these two thunderstorms right here uh one heading in the alagan county one that's uh right around ber and vanir and the county line you want to put lightning on and there's a decent decent amount of lightning with this storm torrential rainfall as typical in any stronger thunderstorm but it's really coming down to some of the stronger wind gusts that are being detected on our wind product velocity and also the potential for some small hail and with some of the broad rotation being uh detected over the heart of Lake Michigan and now trying to make its way over uh on Shore uh we do have to keep an eye on the potential that a spin-up tornado uh does develop over the next uh 30 to 45 minutes still keeping an eye on some of that U broad rotation uh near Northern Baran County just north of Benton Harbor yeah this still is relatively broad rotation but worth noting worth watching and monitoring It's Tricky when a storm is moving off of Lake Michigan on to land we know how much the Dynamics of that storm itself can change as it switches from water to land and there's certainly some broad rotation also embedded within the cell that's moving its way towards aligan County but I will say it is still relatively broad rotation at that now if you're just joining us and joining into our coverage we do have two severe thunderstorm warnings at play right now both for aligan as well as van Bean County the National Weather Service issued this storm about 20 minutes ago or this morning I should say about 20 minutes ago and it remains in effect until 8:00 a.m. those of you in door Papa whan South Haven Sagat Douglas those are the areas that are mainly going to be impacted by this system and I do believe that the further east that this system travels the more it's going to weaken and that's because we have had a lot of rainfall throughout the day today that type of environment does not necessarily condone fueling a storm so with the amount of rainfall that we've had hopefully it will continue to hinder this system as it makes its way off to the east I'll go ahead and throw a track on this storm so that you know when it's going to impact your area now the Leading Edge of the storm is already impacting those of you alagan um I should I actually should say in alagan County Holland sagatuck Douglas but the part of the storm that's still currently sitting over Lake Michigan off to the West that's the portion of the storm that that I want us to watch closely where that potential rotation could be and that will make it to right around 7:23 this morning those of you in Papa 7:45 this system will make it towards your area and kalamazo I do expect by the time it reaches that region for it to have weakened but right now we are going to continue on to monitor if they end up putting kalamazo County underneath that severe thunderstorm warning now it's not just the rotation itself that we're watching closely it's also Al the fact that we could see just severe wind gusts so another thing that we always like to mention in a storm like this is to go ahead and close your garage door if your garage door is open that can cause more damage to your home than what I'm certain that you want to happen during a system like this what exactly do you do if you are stuck in your vehicle in a system like this well here's some safety tips overall you want to make sure that you stop the car you want to make sure that you leave the car running so that your air bags will deploy and go ahead and keep that seat belt on but of course most ideally we would not like you to be in your car this morning we would like you to be seeking shelter in one of the safest places that you can and that's going to be inside your basement this is because there aren't Windows a lot of times when rotation or even just strong damaging winds Works through an area it can topple over trees it can cause Windows to shatter Inward and we want to make sure that we are as far away as possible from any windows with it impacting places like sagak Douglas the Lakeshore boundary lots of campsites around there we need to get out of our campers and find a safe shelter location in that instance there is never a case scenario that something like a mobile home or a campsite is safe when we're talking 60 plus M hour winds as well as the potential for rotation now with a severe thunderstorm warning at place that means the time is now to take action the time is now to seek shelter and that's because of the ingredients that are embedded within the storm itself that 58 plus mph winds everybody is experiencing widespread rainfall but I want those of you who are north of the 96 Corridor that includes Grand Haven Grand Rapids mosan Big Rapids lettington to let your guards down a little bit you are not underneath these severe thunderstorm warnings at this time and while yes you are contending with moderate to heavy rainfall you aren't necessarily seeing that Thunder the lightning the strong damage winds that those to the south of us currently are these storms are moving to the east at about 40 mph but even with that with the broad scope of these storms that do have a super cell- like nature to them it's going to take some time before the heart of the storm itself makes it on to land Blake I know that you were checking in with the National Weather Service there a second ago do they have any updates on this system as it continues to move East no update as of now still holding on to the uh warning that they put out oh roughly 20 minutes ago again uh these are two thunderstorms uh that that are making their way on Shore one of which as Sam has mentioned aligan County the other which kind of that uh northern half of Baran County into uh vanan County this is the storm the southern cell Sam that I really uh keeping an eye on just because of some of that broad rotation that we continue to notice here uh generally speaking this is right in here you can kind of see where the greens and reds are that's just indicating that there are some inbound and outbound winds uh from the radar site at the Ford international airport in Grand Rapids being uh noticeable and this is sampling winds probably several thousand feet in our atmosphere just the nature of the radar beam um because it is a far distance from Grand Rapids but still indicating that there is some elevated rotation some broad rotation high up in this thunderstorm and that is enough for us to stay on the air here on 139e side cutting into Good Morning America because of the messaging of this severe thunderstorm warning with the possibility a spin-up tornado could develop we will be staying on the air uh and interrupting Good Morning America until this threat comes to an end we also have that thunderstorm uh same type of messaging here that's uh heading into aligan County just near into the south of Holland so definitely right in the heart of sagatuck uh Douglas fenville for example gang Township uh that is where we're really uh keeping an eye on as well for additional stronger thunderstorms to push in the way of some stronger wind gusts maybe even some marginal hail uh one other note to make of uh and this is not a definition of severe weather but we are uh in an area here in aligan it's uh van beeran County saw over an inch of rain yesterday morning alone and now you have picked up another inch of rain before these thunderstorms are even coming on Shore so could even contend with some localized flooding especially in those low-lying poor drainage areas now that is not a definition per se of severe weather but that is still impactful and something to take note of you can see just over the last three hours those two thunderstorms that are progressing over uh Lake Michigan heading on Shore right now look at some of the rain that they are developing we're talking well in in um over an inch of rain yeah uh maybe possibly even two inches of rain within the last three hours and again this is on top of all the rainfall yesterday morning and what we have even seen throughout the uh nighttime hour so we'll have to keep an eye on some of that flooding concern in parts of vanen and aligan County uh as the morning goes on yeah and we're seeing some of that ponding um on the beach in our South Haven camera I'll take us back to that so you can see here some of the water sitting on the beach surface we know it takes a lot of water for it to puddle up like that on a beach and so just making sure that you are staying off the roadway staying in your safe shelter location until the storm has passed not only is it the threat of damaging winds as well as is that tornado possible threat that the national weather service has listed this severe thunderstorm warning with but there's also frequent thunder and lightning embedded within the storm if we look at just the lightning alone you'll notice how dense the lightning is south of South Haven zooming in here to see exactly where that's impacting um you can see just south of vanen as well seeing those frequent thunder and lightning strikes 62 light strikes total within that storm 44 positive strikes that typically means that the storm is stronger when you see more positive than negative lightning strikes and if we look at the northern system a bit uh more disorganized than the southern system at first that Northern system really had my attention it seems to be weakening slightly but that does not mean that the warning is over those of you fenville Glenn sagatuck aligan Shelbyville Wayland door you need to stay in your shelter location until this storm has passed and if you're asking asking yourself what exactly is my shelter location that's going to be in your basement if you do not have a basement interior room with no windows if you're just joining us maybe you are trying to tune in to GMA the reason that we are breaking into your coverage early on this morning is because of two severe thunderstorm warnings that are currently at play both of those severe thunderstorm warnings right now are hatched with a tornado threat when that occurs we take the liberty of covering um anything that you're trying to watch and that's mainly because if there is a tornado possible we need to make sure that you're getting the most accurate and upto-date information as we watch the progression of the storm moving to the east at 40 mph we're talking 60 plus M hour wind gusts embedded within it as well as frequent thunder and lightning Glend to Holland that's the northern cell that's going to be impacted the strongest and then down through the Benton Harbor region up through South Haven that's the secondary cell that we're watching closely Blake do we have a storm report that's come in yeah just uh keeping an eye here real quickly just want to make note of what this uh storm report here is this was I think from maybe yesterday yeah this was from yesterday but uh the uh we had a storm report 51 m per hour wind gust at one of the buoy points to the west of sagatuck uh it's about 30 mil offshore so over the heart of Lake Michigan but indicating uh some of those stronger wind gusts in the thunderstorms 51 mph that's technically sub severe but 50 m per hour wind gust that can cause some damage no doubt about it and as these storms hold their intensity we can still see those 50 to 60 plus mile hour wind gusts uh mixed down to the surface which was the case with the storm report uh on the buoy point to the uh west of sagatuck uh noticing over the course of the last oh hour or so these thunderstorms really got their act together uh as they crossed Lake Michigan now making their way on Shore you can see that these are two separate thunderstorms one heading in aligan County one heading into Barry and vanan County uh there has been a little bit of broad rotation with these storms nothing that's indicating that there is any tornado threat as of now but with the nature of these thunderstorms because they are individual uh they are kind of go hel holding on their own momentum there is the possibility we could see some of that broad rotation mixed down to the surface and see that spin up potential that is what we're keeping an eye on as these storms make their way on shore I want to make it clear if you are watching North near and north of 96 you're in Grand Rapids you're in mosan watching no concern this morning for severe thunderstorms you're just dealing with some locally Heavy Rain that we've been talking about for several days now that is continuing this morning uh if there's any impact for you north of 96 it's your basic hydroplaning concern maybe some localized flooding in those poor drainage areas but it is those two thunderstorms one of which in heading into aligan County one of which in that's already now made its way on Shore in Northern Baran County heading into vanan County right along I94 so heading towards Hartford Lawrence for example towards pawpa uh those are our two thunderstorms that we're really keeping an eye on over the course of we'll say the next hour and quickly here um if you scan that QR code that I've just put up on your screen you're able to share with us any photos or videos of these storms now we ask that you wait until the storm damage has passed before you head outside to take any pictures of damage now if you're not too Savvy with with the QR code don't worry 616 5591 1310 that is the phone number that you can actually text those photos reports rainfall totals straight to our number and that's going to help to allow you to make sure that you're getting those reports not only to us but to the National Weather Service as well now a current look at our satellite and radar if you are just joining us this is a very active situation we have two severe thunderstorm warnings one thunderstorm warning from Glenn stretching up through Holland making its way onto land right now embedded within this storm 60 mph wind gusts and we've also seen areas of broad rotation and weak signatures of hail our Southern storm which does look to be a bit more potent A Little Bit Stronger making its way south of Van Beren down through the Benton Harbor region this storm is now completely on land and holding form because of that we ask everybody in vanan County as well as alagan County to continue to seek Shelter From The Storm if you're asking yourself why we're staying in wall to--all coverage that's because of the way that the national weather service has listed this storm with the potential for a tornado possible embedded typically with just a severe thunderstorm warning we ask you to wait it out you don't necessarily need to be in your shelter location but with this system itself we ask that you stay indoors and remain in that shelter location if you're curious where the storm is headed and how quickly it's it's going to get there I'll go ahead and draw a track on the heart of the storm itself it's going to continue to work off to the east at 40 mph making its way towards paaw by about 7:40 aligan 7:45 so that means those of you Wayland door Middleville also seeing that storm between 7:50 to 8:00 this morning and then continuing to work off towards Hastings by the time we hit closer to the 83 time frame I do anticipate these storms to weaken once they pass alagan and vanen County and the main reason for that is that well it's the early morning hours temperature-wise were not very conducive for these storms to continue to strengthen and we have seen moderate to heavy rainfall since 2:00 this morning typically an environment like that would not be one that we would see super cells really strengthen and be fueled but right now the Dynamics over the lak shore are water temperatures sitting in the low 70s as well as this rainfall and a little bit of a jet that's rolling Into the Storm allowed them to get that little bit of extra ump to them to strengthen to severe strength the rest of our showers are relatively run-of-the-mill now what you're seeing on your screen are rainfall reports from over the last 12 hours we've seen anywhere from a half an inch to over an inch and a half of rainfall and these reports are only going to get higher as these storms make landfall but if you are located in let's say mosan lington Big Rapids Grand Rapids and over towards Ionia you do not have anything to be concerned about in terms of severe weather it's just our two Southern counties of alagan and Van Bean County that are currently underneath this severe thunderstorm warning Blake are there any updates that we've received over the last couple minutes here nothing of newer information but yeah by far uh it remains uh in place the severe thunderstorm War at least for another 30 minutes unless the National Weather Service of Grand Rapids decides to uh cancel this warning early as of now they're holding it on until 8:00 uh do think that as of now our main concern with these thunderstorms will be some uh locally uh damaging StraightLine winds as of now because when we take a look at some of the uh uh velocity products through radar so this is measuring uh wind or sampling the wind across West Michigan not noticing any tight rotation over the last 30 minutes looks pretty broad when we see these Reds and greens somewhat close together uh it does make you want to have a closer eye on them because that does indicate there could be some rotation in this thunderstorm now having said that we're not seeing anything that we call uh tight or somewhat of a couplet and that would indicate a very stronger or a stronger signature for uh rotation but as of now with these greens and reds somewhat Loosely together it makes me think more in the way of straight line wind still dangerous still severe weather and the same thing goes to the north the thunderstorm that's making its way just to the South now the core of this storm into the sagatuck area uh notice that nothing that is showcasing any tight rotation but when we see these bright greens pop up on our velocity signature here it does indicate that there are some stronger wind gusts associated with this thunderstorm now are they mixing down to the surface a little hard to say as of now because uh where the Radar Site is located at the Ford international airport all the way to the west of the lake make sure that's about uh a few thousand feet in our atmosphere where these winds are being sampled but still indicating that this thunderstorm has a little bit of oom to it and could mix down to the surface if it holds it to its strength over the course of the next we'll say 30 to 45 minutes uh some of these uh storms it's uh Echo Toops or the height of the storm uh pretty impressive Sam uh seeing that uh vanir and storm some of those uh storm tops 45,000 ft into our atmosphere anytime you get storms over 40 ,000 ft yeah they're a bit on the strong side and that's what we're seeing with that one uh thunderstorm heading into vanan County the one that's making its way in the aligan county roughly around 35,000 ft so just indicating there there some strength it's holding its momentum as it makes its way on Shore for now it does appear that our main concern with these thunderstorms will be some stronger wind gusts but we really do need to keep an eye on the uh spin up tornado potential with these thunderstorms that is in the description of these uh severe thunder storm warnings uh for alagan and vanan County uh as we make our way into the back end of this 7:00 hour and anytime that we do see those thunderstorm Heights exceeding that 40,000 uh Mark that's when we start to say okay there's a strong updraft going into this storm when you have a lot of flow going into a storm that uh perpetrates the amount that's going out of the storm as well which means heavier rainfall coming out as well as stronger winds it also times can be an indicator that there's potentially hail inside the storm if we look here we're getting a little bit of a stronger hail signature just north of Hartford and just north of Lawrence and again the higher the storm height the higher it gets into the atmosphere the colder the atmosphere gets as it gets higher up and that is what sometimes can transition prip types right over to Hill not quite that simple but that's the best way that I can put it for you so we'll continue to monitor these storms not only for strong damaging winds but also the potential for hail hail potential looks to be a little bit lower those of you Holland stretching down through Glenn um Blake we had a couple alerts go off there were those indicating anything or nothing uh new it's still holding on to the same uh severe thunderstorm warning that again is in place until 8:00 this morning uh alagan vanan County for those uh thunderstorms that are now making their way on Shore there it is there's a closer look at our current look of radar and looks a little messy right now because we have so much rain uh with these thunderstorms but the characteristic is showcasing that we do have some broad rotation uh supported a loft in our atmosphere with these thunderstorms indicating what we call supercell uh thunderstorms and that gives us a better or at least more confidence that they do present some straight line wind uh threat and also a little bit of a hail threat and also keeping an eye what Sam is showing here right now inside the storm uh from a uh velocity standpoint where we're sampling the winds in our atmosphere that there could be some broad rotation and we really need to keep a a closer look uh if some of this can mix down to the surface of course with the uh text of severe thunderstorm warning from the National Weather Service that a tornado is possible uh that does uh really uh Elevate our eyes on this storm yeah watching each radar scan closely because especially when we have moderate to heavy rainfall coming down it can actually kind of hide right these cells inside the storm and that's where it grabs our attention even more typically we don't see storms the way Oklahoma does or Kansas does we often see rain wrapped storms and that's the case again this morning with heavy torrential rainfall coming down across the region and while yes there is moderate to heavy rain coming down for those of you oceanana County near the heart region as well as stretching through portions of mosquit County extending into the sparta region these areas while you could potentially experience flooding within the next few hours or so not necessarily seeing the severe threat the frequent thunder and lightning the heavy downpours of rain as well as the system itself that's causing the National Weather Service to put us underneath this severe thunderstorm warning if you're just joining us this morning we have that tornado possible threat in place for both alagan as well as van Bean County these storms are continuing to track off to the east at about 40 mph and I understand if you've been watching for a while we might sound a bit repetitive but people come and go they've got a busy lifestyle in the morning they may just be now checking in on the weather for the first time this morning as they get to head out the door we ask if you are located in these two counties that you seek shelter until this warning expires or has passed your area as of right now even those of you right along the Lakeshore boundary are just now seeing the start of the most impacts of this storm or are just still seeing the storm that for the storm down towards the Bon Harbor region start to clear out of your area so you still need to give yourself another 20 to 30 minutes before it jts off to the East and you're in the clear aligan you will see this storm within the next 10 to 15 minutes those of you in kalamazo You're Not underneath a warning right now but the storm will continue to push eastbound over the next let's say 45 minutes or so if the National Weather Service does extend their severe thunderstorm warning into kalamazo County we would make sure to recut in um to check on things here returning back to the velocity map because the reason that we're staying in W toall coverage is the potential for tornadic activity embedded within this storm itself We are continuing to see rotation for those of you that are located just north of sister Lake um this looks like it's water vet I wish I knew how to say that name a little bit better it's kind of tiny on our screen but paaw Lake um Hartford you are also seeing the rotation of this storm tracking across the 94 Corridor at this time it's very weak very broad rotation but also indicating strong damaging winds embedded within the system itself tracking that that storm a little bit further north it does look like the heart of the storm has shifted South just slightly that's not to say that you're completely out of the woods in sagatuck it's just the area of broad rotation that we're watching is now to the south of the sagatuck region it actually looks like m89 and the 196 Corridor to the South there stretching down through South Haven does have the highest risk for rotation while everybody else potentially experiencing those strong damaging wind gusts along with that system as well broader picture of our satellite and radar showing off that moderate to heavy rainfall continuing to come down Blake do you want to talk a little bit about the potential flooding risk that could come along with today's system yeah so uh of course yesterday morning we had a few thunderstorms uh that developed mostly uh near and south of the Holland area uh parts of aligan vanir and County picked up over 3/4 to an inch of rain we did dry out for the most part yesterday afternoon but we already have a saturated ground and we've really picked up the rainfall uh since around midnight t this morning and now we're extending into the morning hours and really adding on to the rainfall and these storms are producing some torrential rainfall so easily probably another inch or so of rain uh reaching the ground uh within the last 30 minutes in parts of alagan and Van beeran County so if you're in an area that typically floods maybe some poor drainage areas uh some of those low-lying areas uh definitely could see that there could be uh some localized flooding and kind of noticing that in a little bit of our Holland cameras in the Civic Center there we're going to try to take a better look there uh looks like there could be some minor uh flooding going on at the Civic Center there uh in the Holland area but generally speaking this is what's uh our main threat that we talked about over the last 48 hours was the potential for some localized flooding uh because of this rain event that's ongoing uh upwards of one to two plus inches of rainfall uh over the course of a pretty quick span here and the last 12 hours yeah there's a better look at uh the Civic Center you can see at least some ponding uh there in the parking lot absolutely and this is why we do have our 13 weather impact Alert in play for today now through noon we are going to continue on with the chances for this heavy soaking rainfall and a few embedded thunderstorms within the system itself I will say our thunderstorm threat will likely come to a close with these two supercells that are moving in off the Lake Michigan boundary but we do continue on with the flooding concern until about noon today and then the system the system itself clears the area but until then we got to continue to watch the system closely lots of thunder and lightning embedded within the storms making it just now to the north of decanter and then eventually entering into the kalamazo Schoolcraft area um those of you in alagan County as well as alagan itself Wayland door the storm is headed to your neck of the woods the good news Blake is that we have yet to see any really strong couplets unless you're now checking the newest run of our veloc I really think that the storm that's being highlighted here um and actually they are going to I think we are going to see a tornado warning get issued right now and this is what I was just going to mention was the vanir and storm that storm really looks to be uh where we uh is taking over as the strongest thunderstorm and of course the National Weather Service is sensing that as well as they have now just issued a tornado warning for vanan County uh the storm in uh Elan County still strong still severe warned but it does look like a lot of the momentum is being scurried out from this storm that's across feran County so a severe thunderstorm capable producing a tornado uh just to the east of Hartford uh which is just a little bit uh north of i96 right on the spine here I'm actually going to try to turn on a different product here Sam there we there we go and this is what we're keeping an eye on this is a tornado warning for vanan County really the southern half of vanan County if you are near in 94 hartf for or Hartford towards Lawrence paaw for example uh you are in this uh thunderstorms path it is time to take shelter time to head to your safest spot of where you are at at this moment whether that be uh your home if you are at work already it is time to head to the safest spot of that home or building because this is a now severe thunderstorm that is now tornado warrant and this is in play until 8:30 this morning here's a better look you can see all the lightning being detected too with this thunderstorm this has really been taking off the last 10 minutes or so Sam and some of the major crossroads here within this tornado warning is of course the I94 Corridor so we need to take that very seriously also M40 near the I94 Corridor and M51 within the heart of the storm the system is continuing to move off to the east it's the rotation within the storm that is concerning at this hour we're going to continue to monitor it closely for a while there we were thinking to ourselves okay they look to be weakening and now it's taken about 20 to 30 minutes of it interacting with land for us to really start to see this storm strengthen yeah this is what we're going to now keep really take a look at inside the storm this is again we've been showing this product here and there throughout the last 40 minutes this is a look at velocity a sampling of wind in our atmosphere from the weight RAR site at the Ford international airport and this is our concern right in here uh try to get our arrows here this is our concern uh that we're seeing those greens and reds the inbound and outbound winds so green indicating inbound winds towards the radar site at the Ford international airport and the Reds that's outbound Winds Way from the radar site and anytime you see a little bit of a tighter uh couplet these colors somewhat Niche together well that's indicating that there is at the very least some spin some rotation in this thunderstorm and there at least is enough of a signature now that this could be making its way to ground level possibly of a spin up tornado now I do want to make this clear there is no confirmed tornado with this severe thunderstorm this is a radar indicated tornado just as dangerous it is still uh one of those situations it's time to use those uh severe thunderstorm safety tips we talk about all year long even in the winter time that we talk about it's time to use those tips head to your safe space head to that safe shelter in your home uh as we do have a now tornado warning for Van beiren County until 8:30 this morning we are still holding on to the severe thunderstorm warning across uh the northern half of vanen County and also the entirety of Alig or aligan County until 8 this morning but really the focus is this now uh Southern thunderstorm this supercell thunderstorm across the southern half of vanan County and I want to zoom in here to show you where the storm is headed it's in Van Bean County that definitely has our attention now to caner Lawrence paa you are the main areas that are being impacted by this storm and then it will make its way towards the Portage region we know Portage has been heavily impacted by severe weather already this year and I know that your eyes are now on this storm as it makes its way towards you so I'm going to throw a track on this if you are already in that tornado warning the time is now to be in your shelter location if you are to the east of this storm we want to make make sure that you're making preparations in the case that there is a storm on the ground itself it is moving off to the east at around 40 is this still moving at the same rate here 35 milph the system is going to make its way towards madaan by 755 making it to Schoolcraft by around 811 and we are noticing some debris embedded within the Storm at this time just to the north of sister Lake to the east of 51 it looks like in the south of Hartford so what you're looking at here folks is this is now a product from radar as well that's trying to indicate meteorological uh items that are falling from these thunderstorms such as rain hail but also trying to uh differ that from non- meteorological uh products that could be in our atmosphere such as shingles such as tree branches and that's being indicated by some of these non U uniform colors of what you're seeing like maybe bright neon TOA yellow green for example that's indicating that there could be some debris being lofted from this thunderstorm in the same area where we're noticing rotation and there is now it looks like Sam a pretty strong indicator of rotation here just to the east of Keeler heading towards decer uh within the next uh 15 minutes uh if you are in the decor area towards lton paaw for example if you are right along I94 just to the South it is uh time to head to your basement head to the safest spot of where you are located at right now as this thunderstorm is really taking off it really does appear that way yeah is the area that I'm most concerned about right now you can see the rotation uh located here I'm going to try to zoom in as far as I can yeah right in the heart of keer Township keer Township that is where there could potentially be a tornado that is where we are seeing the strongest signature of rotation this portion of meteorology might confuse you a little bit the reds are the inbound winds going or excuse me the reds are the outbound winds going away from the tornado itself the greens are the inbound winds going towards the radar itself anytime you see that couplet of outbound and inbound that is your indication or your signature of rotation happening which is why we need those of you in decator to be seeking Shelter From The Storm we also need you to be staying off of the roadways we do not want a situation where you're prioritizing getting to work over seeking Shelter From The Storm especially with the signatures that we are now seeing as it intensifies as it makes its way towards the east we've seen a little bit of debris now being shown within the storm itself in addition to the rotation embedded within the storm itself yeah this is uh the heart of this storm the core uh where we're seeing the greatest amount of uh rotation possibly some of this debris signature uh right along M51 so this is heading right towards the decar area Lake of the Woods for example uh the high school uh this is right in that general area uh if you're uh know anyone that's staying at the Lake of the Woods in Greenwoods Campground uh really make sure that they are heading to the shelter location in that area the Timber Trails RV park for example that's right off the lake uh there the Lake of the Woods just to the west of the cater uh this is right in the path uh of this now warned severe thunderstorm that is now tornado warned all the way until 8:30 this morning if it holds on to its path yeah Hamilton Township uh thecar Township the heart of thecar proper uh this is where this storm is uh heading to at least the core of the storm with the the rotation being detected and also maybe possibly some of that debris as well and it always makes me weary to hear Blake you listing off campsites I always love to reiterate mobile homes campsites there is no safe shelter location if you are in a tent or you know somebody who is camping in that area get in your car that is going to be a safer spot than staying within that tent especially on a campsite where you are surrounded by trees as well continuing to um see reports right now deis signatures yeah here's a report that we just received we have a 40 mph wind gust in vanen um 2 miles to the east Southeast of Harford that's not necessarily severe strength and that's not what has our attention right now it's that potential for a tornado on the ground embedded Lawrence paa Lon mwan those are the areas that need to be seeking Shelter From This Storm and so we're again this is a very closeup look of this tornado warned thunderstorm in the southern half of vanir and County and it's right in here folks that definitely uh concerned about just because because you can see that little bit of a notch indicating maybe even a bit of a hook trying to develop in this thunderstorm we have some winds coming out of the South flowing into the thunderstorm and then we have outbound winds on the back side of the system and that's where we're seeing some of that rotation and see let's see right in that Arrow right there uh yeah you can see those greens and reds the inbound and outbound winds uh closely together what we uh try to refer to as a couplet all you need to know is that anytime you have these inbound and outbound wind wind closely to uh together on radar that is indicating that there is some rotation in this thunderstorm again I want to make this clear is that where the positioning of this thunderstorm is at in southern van beeren County we're talking that the radar is picking up these winds probably a couple thousand feet uh uh from ground level having said that there is enough enough of a signature heading right into the decar area that this could be mixing down to ground level some of this rotation making its way to ground level and on top of that see those arrows that we're indicating just to the west of decator uh proper the city itself notice that when we take a look at now this next product which is our debris potential we are noticing some non-uniform colors in that same area of where the uh greatest rotation is residing giving us more confidence that this thunderstorm at the very least is providing some strong straight line winds uh strong straight line winds can do just as much damage as a weak spin up Torn Tado so we saw that in mosan we saw that in mosan so again we are really seeing uh some of this debris signature uh pick up over the last couple radar scans and on top of it uh Sam I'm just going to this is a look at storm rotation look at the strong signature uh just within the last radar scan when we were starting to see uh those shades of purple here on our storm rotation that is really giving us an indicator that some of this night might be just a loft in our in the thunderstorm couple ,000 ft in the atmosphere but actually mixing down to ground levels so again if you are watching a near I94 right around M51 the uh the cater area the city itself that is really indicating that uh there is some strong rotation heading in your direction and possibly a tornado spin-up tornado on the ground that is not confirmed but we're really starting to see some characteristics uh via radar that's giving us better confidence this might be uh actual spin-up tornado and notice uh this is a look at hail potential uh those darker shades of red near and north of I94 so the northern half of this uh tornado worn thunderstorm might be dropping in some uh decent Siz hail maybe upwards of an inch in diameter possibly even more now I don't want to forget about our friends in alagan County because you are still experiencing a severe warned thunder storm with a tornado possible I will say that the signatures within that storm do not look to be nearly as strong as the one that's working its way across the 94 Corridor right now I do ask you that until 8:00 a.m. you continue to stay in your shelter location but because of the severity of the storm in Van Beren County and making its way towards kalamazo County we are going to uh take our attention to that system itself if you are just joining us maybe looking to tune into GMA this morning there is a tornado warning issued for Van Bean County we ask that everybody inside this tornado warning from mwan stretching down through Sister Lakes over through decar up through Lawrence as well as Hartford continue to seek Shelter From The Storm I will say that those of you Sister Lakes um you are now really out of the main heart of this storm as well as its main impacts but those of you in lton paa Lawrence indicator we ask that you continue to seek Shelter From The Storm itself and I want to once again go back to that rotation because this is the best tool we have at hand right now to see where the rotation is currently lying at how strong the couplet is we talk about the inbound and the outbound winds the inbound winds going towards the radar the outbound winds going away from the radar creating that circular motion in the atmosphere and indicating the potential for a tornado to be on the ground we have no confirmation of a tornado on the ground at this time but it is something that we will continue to monitor closely and it looks like for those in pass County as well as St Joseph's County they have also now extended the severe thunderstorm warning into that location which are the alerts that you are hearing go off behind us that severe thunderstorm warning also signatured with the potential for a tornado to be embedded within the storm but it's still the one in Van veren County um that really that looks to be the strongest yeah that definitely is our uh focal point here and we're still seeing that strong signature Sam uh that there may be some debris lofted uh with this thunder storm because we're seeing these nonuniform colors popping up uh this might be indicating maybe uh tree damage this could be indicating maybe shingles for example uh I do want to just make one glass uh one quick note we're going to send it over to Emily and Tanner just for a quick minute while we regroup here um but generally if you know people or you are actually watching us just now it's south of lotton this storm is over decayed right now but I just want to go a little bit ahead of the storm if you are know anyone friends family that are near or south of the lotton area along M40 uh between lotton and let's say uh the marcelis area uh it is time to head to the safest spot of your home or the building that you are in right now if you are in a place that does not have a designated safe spot it is now time to head to a spot that has a safe shelter location so again if the best spot is obviously a basement but if you do not have a basement in your home you want to put as many walls between you and the outside of that Str structure so again if you are watching from the loton area no friends or family it is time now to head to that safe space we're going to send it over to Tanner and Emily uh they're going to have a few things for us while we regroup all right thank you guys yeah busy morning today we already have so much going on I mean can't forget that polls opened just an hour ago for the primary elections right as things outside started to pick up and we don't want you to forget we still have our stuff the bus campaign happening right now there's the bus outside of our parking lot and we'll help you avoid the rain too if you want to drop off those donations yeah of course we should mention folks in Grand Rapids up to Big Rapids toward the lake shore near mosan you guys are all clear of the storm that's happening right now right now our meteorologists are focusing on a tornado worn storm for Van Bean County we're talking places uh like let's see we've got van Bean County Hartford um moving towards Schoolcraft places like that um so if you are in any places along the path of that storm that I94 Corridor you're going to want to get into your tornado safe sh shelter uh and we know that right now is the busy morning commute time right so we want to make sure we give you some car safety tips of course if you're at home don't get in your car right now but if you know somebody who might be traveling to work here are some tips that you might be able to pass along to them yeah absolutely now if that tornado is far away and traffic is light you'll want to drive to the left or right out of that path if you just happen to come across some severe weather in that sense now of course we don't want you in your cars if you don't have to be and if you're at home you're wanting to seek shelter in a sturdy building or underground that's of course if you're not at home and are just needing to find that shelter elsewhere now of course if you are at home Sam Blake they've been reminding you all morning long that you want to find that safe place inside your home of course first would be your basement but if you don't have that basement you've heard them talk about finding that Central room inside your home hopefully with no windows stay there to stay safe were just mentioning where you should go in a tornado and for folks in decar um looks like Lon and possibly Matan you will want to be in those shelters now this is the time to act if you are not there already um so let's talk about power outages if we can I know that uh we don't typically uh see power outages right now we're not seeing many which is some good news and you might be wondering hey Tanner why are you talking about power outages this kind of helps us tell where the storm has been um and how severe it has been as well uh as you can see we don't have many on the on the uh board there couple our produc about 200 or so um up toward uh let's see that one was reported early this morning I actually have it on my iPad as well um but this was let's see first reported about 15 minutes ago um just south of Holland along um Highway 40 uh south of Hamilton so we like for you to be our eyes as well if you're seeing things that are happening because of the storm and you're able to do so safely we always ask that you take pictures or videos of any storm damage that you're seeing you can text them to us uh 61655 N1 1310 that's just one way to get them to us you can email them as well we do like to see what's happening outside but again only if you can do so safely again we're talking about uh a good portion of vanban County right now at this point we have not seen um this warning be extended over into kalamazo County but we do know um that folks in vanban County especially if you are in that area near paa Schoolcraft places like that let's get it over to Sam Jack she's at the wall right now and of course that was just approaching decar that tight coup it was Sam so what's the latest on the Storm the storm is still tornado warned at this time we have a 13 weather impact alert day in effect we have torrential rainfall coming down across the region and now embedded within one of these storms is the potential for tornadic activity and we're seeing some really clear indicators of that right now now those of you Lawrence Hartford Sister Lakes you are now in the clear you can come up from your shelter location the storm is continuing to track to the east here's the heart of that rotation moving over the decada region this system is continuing to track eastbound those of you in lton even Matan now not necessarily seeing the rotation up towards that area but we ask that you still seek Shelter From The Storm itself broader picture of things here this this is a big system that's working throughout our area but those of you lington mosan Grand Rapids Big Rapids you're clear from the heart of this it's alagan and vanen County that are seeing the two severe thunderstorm warnings and in particular portions of Van Bean County right now that are seeing that tornado warn storm what we look at closely in the case of a tornado is going to be the rotation within the system and what you're seeing here is rotation headed towards the storm and rotation headed away from the radar itself it's this couplet of rotation that's giving us that clear indicator that there could potentially be a tornado on the ground these signatures also can indicate very strong winds at the surface and this is exactly why we want to make sure that you are seeking Shelter From The Storm itself you can see here these are moving across major highways and expressways as well that looks like it's m43 just to the south of the I94 corridor the system again is going to continue to work off to the East and you were also noticing a little bit of debris signatures on the ground what this is picking up on is things other than rainfall coming out of the system and anytime we start to see additional bright colors come out of this system is when we're starting to note that maybe something's kicking up off the ground and being picked up by radar itself Blake I did hear and see that there's potentially either an extension of this tornado warning or also potentially a new tornado warning it's still the same tornado warning as of now this is still for southern uh vanan County until 8:30 this morning I would not be surprised however if they do extend this uh tornado warning into parts of Cass County as well again we are still looking at the debris signature here uh folks Sam and I are both in agreement here that this does look like there has been some debris lofted with this uh tornado warrant uh thunderstorm uh in the decer area now to the south and east just based on some of the other products we've been showcas facing such as veloc velocity so a sample of winds in our atmosphere uh anytime we have these greens and reds uh so closely together uh in the way there's our latest scan this looks like it is still holding its strength Sam and possibly even tightening a little bit more as the storm is now appearing to be traversing more to the east Southeast so this is right on the uh vanir and Cass County Line am am I right there yes absolutely it's right on the line between the two counties which is why I will not be surprised if the National Weather Service does extend this into Cass County as well um for those of you up towards Portage camou it would be very understandable if your guards are up right now it does appear Sam that um the national weather service will be issuing a narrow tornado watch that will include kalamazo Calhoun and Jackson counties on the Northern Edge uh with that should be coming down any minute now and it's most likely due to this thunderstorm this individual supercell thunderstorm that has enough characteristics to it that it will hold its momentum at least over the next uh hour or so at least the shortterm time frame here it does appear that a narrow tornado watch will be coming in and if you need a refresher on what that exactly means a tornado watch means that the time is now to prepare so if you're in one of those counties listed Blake can you list those off one more time for me it does appear that this will include cazo Calhoun and even Jackson County so right along the i 94 spine I would not be surprised that this probably will extend uh to the counties along the state line uh just a quick note for everyone the bottom row of counties on the state line is actually associated with the National Weather Service of Northern Indiana uh so a little bit outside of the Grand Rapids forecast area but I would assume that the bottom two rows of uh lower Michigan will be in this tornado watch that will be issued probably within any minute now from the Storm Prediction Center yes and so if you're underneath that tornado watch that's when we ask you to prepare for the storm right to make sure that you have your shelter location ready if you are underneath the tornado warning that means it is time now to take action it is time now to seek Shelter From This Storm that includes those of you in madaan and L in if you are located in Schoolcraft or Vicksburg located in kalamazo County I ask you now you're not necessarily underneath this tornado warning that is the direction that this storm is headed and I want you to make sure you're proceeding with caution coming up with a plan in case they do extend this into your area right now this is a radar indicated tornado which means there is no confirmation of this storm on the ground we will continue on with this tornado warning until 8:30 in the morning but would not be surprised if we see that tornado warning warning extended into kalamazo County in the coming hours we also do still potentially have a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for other portions of West Michigan nope it looks like they have dropped the severe thunderstorm warning the severe thunderstorm warning is now is now expired that expired just a few minutes ago at 8 so that is now that's a silver lining here if you're watching from alagan County yes still some thunderstorm activity some torrential rainfall some Thunder lightning but it does appear that thunderstorm we were tracking just a little bit ago um again we had those two separate thunderstorms the one that was progressing in the alagan county has weakened to the point where it is now sub severe at the very least it is all about this uh supercell thunderstorm in parts of bambin into Cass even into uh St Joseph County uh that is going to be our attention over the next hour and we will be staying on the air uh interrupting Good Morning America because of the severity of this thunderstorm you can really see just to the west of marcelus this was again the same thunderstorm that went through decar uh this is a strong signature that there is being debr lofted with this tornado worn thunderstorm again we do not have any confirmation that there's an ongoing tornado on the ground but some of the products that we look at from radar uh is really giving us uh the confidence to say that they're at the very least our significant StraightLine winds coming through uh this general area the southern half of Cass County right or actually should say van Bean County right on the vanen Cass County Line and this would be heading into St Joseph County within the next 20 to 30 minutes I just want to go back to Velocity here and yeah this is a pretty strong signature got to let this catch up the radar scan but the last 30 minutes or so we'll take a loop back here you can really see make this a little slower so folks can catch up here you can really see that this storm has tightened up in the way of rotation in that correlates with where we're seeing some of this potential debris lofted uh in the atmosphere and also a little bit of a notch or hook in the southern half of this thunderstorm there it is you can really see how tight those greens and reds uh are together indicating that there is some tighter rotation yes this is being sampled a couple thousand feet above ground level just based on how far away it is from the radar site at the Ford international airport and there it is there's our tornado watch get to it there it is Yep this is going to include Calhoun or cazo Calhoun and even extend into uh Jackson County and this is all the way until look at that time frame there 3:00 this afternoon that does surprise me that it extends that late into the day considering the system will likely be wrapping up between noon to 1:00 but with the nature of our environment right now I'm sure that they are proceeding with caution extending that a little bit further out now I do want to ease the minds of those of you located really anywhere north of the 94 Corridor right now north of the 94 Corridor yes we do have a couple thunderstorm cells that are working their way through alagan County headed towards the Hastings region but that's a really weak thunderstorm cell Shelbyville experiencing heavy burst of rain as well as frequent thunder and lightning those of you towards the 96 Corridor Grand Rapids once again kind of in that donnut hole of not experiencing much rainfall while we're surrounded by downpours of rain coming down at this time a white cloud Hisperia you might be saying to yourself it is really raining are we experiencing severe weather do we have something to be concerned about not necessarily in the form of concerns that we are worried about with this tornado worn storm that's currently working through southern rural portions of Van beran County now the storm's track and trajectory is to the east Southeast taking a little bit of a Southeast spin I want to pause this here and I'm going to throw a track on the Storm because the most important thing is that if the storm is overhead for you that you are seeking Shelter From The Storm itself and then second to that is those of you in the path of the storm making sure that you are finding your shelter location knowing what it is that you're going to do in the case of this rotation headed overhead now the clear couplet is currently sitting just to the north of marcelis those of you in indicator almost in the clear from the storm which is great news give it another 10 to 15 minutes in your shelter location and then you can head on out I'm going to put a track on this system it's making its way pretty much eastbound east Southeast slightly so I'll tilt it just a little bit there let's see if it wants to this is a really rural area so sometimes when that happens it struggles to pick up on C um in terms of where it's headed but US 131 that is the track inbound of the storm there we go Schoolcraft Not underneath the tornado warning but in somewhat of the path of the storm 8:31 is when that arrives as of right now this tornado warning ends at 8:30 we could potentially see that extended into kalamazo County at that time M40 and US 131 between those two regions that's the path that this road rotation is taking another thing go ahead Blake yeah and just to kind of put some better uh descri uh description roadwise uh just to the north of marcelis marcelis Road there between flowerfield Road uh that appears to be uh that General location of where the storm is going to be happening yes a little bit to the south of sou Schoolcraft and Vicksburg as Sam mentioned if you are watching from Schoolcraft or Vicksburg no friends or family that are in that area they too need to be in their uh shelter area no matter what residence or building they may be located as of now I know we're getting past 8:00 so some people already at work this Tuesday morning but it does be appear to be between marcelis road and flowerfield road some of the other intersection would include Sheldon Creek road heading towards uh parts of let's see here weatherbe Road for example if you're at the intersection of weatherbe road and flowerfield road that's where we're seeing this uh track head right in in the direction of this now tornado warned thunderstorm and it looks like they've tailored back the um scope of the tornado no longer including Lawrence heart for indicator pretty much safe from this storm itself let's take a look here at the potential rotation is that what you want to see Blake yeah kind of noticing a little bit of a doughnut hole um what we call I'm kind of using this phrase Loosely here uh but in the sake of reflectivity yeah there we go so folks what I'm trying to indicate here I know that the National Weather Service is still holding on to uh that this is a radar indicated uh tornado warning but there is a lot of characteristics with this thunderstorm that makes me believe that there could be an ongoing tornado on the ground right now we're going to go back to radar I just want to showcase that we do have I'm going to put on our best look here of radar what I'm looking at folks right here is that notice we have all of the yellows and orang oranges and reds on the map indicating torrential rainfall of course that's what's on going but it's right in here notice this little kind of what appears to be a hole that is indicating that this might be where there's an ongoing tornado because when we put this in perspective right in here get this out of here it matches up perfectly with where the heart of that rotation is at with the greens and reds uh very tight together what we call a couplet when we also factor in uh this is correlation coefficient also known as our debris signature this is just indicating non- meteorological versus meteorological uh products and what we are noticing is some non-uniform colors on this map possibly in the way of tree damage branches being lofted up in the atmosphere could be shingles for example on any uh structure or building uh maybe some sheet metal uh for example all of this is indicating in the same general location of where we're seeing the tightest rotation and you really can tell by our stormm rotation yeah right to the north of marcelis now heading to the east of decar this was really right over the heart of decar proper and the township itself as well uh all of these characteristics combined really makes me think at the very least Sam that this could be an ongoing tornado I don't want to uh worry folks but this is the situation that we are in right now with a tornado waren thunderstorm for parts of now Eastern vanan County uh into parts of Cass and St Joseph County this goes all the way until 8:30 this morning so we still have another 20 minutes yep and it just making sure here folks that you understand we're never doing any of this to concern people we're doing it to prepare you to make sure that you at home know where to go what to do and who's being potentially threatened by these storms exactly we cover a huge area here in West Michigan big difference between cazo and lington the distance here and everyone is just as important to us so again this tornado Warren thunderstorm is really starting to press out of vanen in Cass County uh really heading into cou County the southeast or southwest corner of camou County that includes the Schoolcraft area until 8:45 this morning and then the northern uh tier of St Joseph County I know this is a little bit of a fringe area of our viewing area but again if you have friends or family in this general area let them know that there is a tornado warned thunderstorm uh that potentially has an ongoing tornado on the ground as of now just based on what we're seeing and Blake we were in kalamazo County months ago for the Portage tornado the heart of this storm and the tornado worn portion of this storm right now is to the south of Portage which I'm sure gives you all a sigh of relief after um the damage that you all experienced just a few months ago but right now school craft taking a close look here US 131 under that tornado warning this is a radar indicated tornado and when we say that we mean that it's not necessarily been spotted on the ground but that you need to take it just as seriously every new velocity scan that comes in continues to raise our alarms a little bit higher in terms of what could be happening at the surface with this storm when we start to see those almost no longer green Shades right almost giving this teal pale blue color that can often signature very strong winds at the surface and then when you look at the flow and the rotation of the storm itself we'll put a little bit of a loop on this to see the storm's movement we'll need to slow that down substantially um in order to really see where this storm is headed the main couplet of this storm is just to the north of marcelis right now and again the storm is headed to the east we've kind of new scan there there's the newest scan starting to update so really almost now passing the marcelis area just to the south of flowerfield um again this is right along 216 right yep I would say so Yep this is heading right towards 131 obviously that's a little bit of a concern we're at 8:15 in the morning uh we're right kind of in the peak of our Tuesday Morning work commute uh this is generally in a rural area but important still as this as a uh tornado warn thunderstorm that really has shown some characteristics uh that this might be more than just a radar indicated uh tornado we do not have any confirmation that there's an ongoing tornado but just based on what Sam and I have been seeing all morning long at least over the last we'll say 20 to 25 minutes the rotation that's being indicated some of the debris signature and all that combined together is giving us some confidence that this is definitely a storm not to mess around with this is now heading into the flower field area uh for example Pine View Golf club uh heading towards uh Bittersweet Pet Resorts uh near the Dollar General that's on the other side of 131 uh this is heading towards uh somewhat a a few businesses in this area a lot of uh auto shops for example uh the auto body usa3 Rivers uh we have the uh Sito gas station along 131 and 216 uh these are all just general markers of where the core of the storm is heading to within the next several minutes anytime Blake that we see rotation in A Storm of course we ask a few things of our viewers and that includes to seek Shelter From The Storm and if you're questioning whether or not you have a safe shelter location we want you to know that it's in a basement that's going to be your number one safest spot to seek Shelter From The Storm second to that would be an interior room with no windows that's where you're going to reside and then third to that is going to be if you're stuck out on the roadways if you are in a camper in a campsite and can't get into a sturdy Foundation Building that you are in your car with your seat belt on and your car turned on so that way if there were to be any damage to the car the airbags do deploy at that time now this is part of a broader system right now of rainfall and thunder showers that are working throughout a p majority of West Michigan but the only only area that is seeing the amount of activity that we are on radar is down towards Southern vanan County as well as into kalamazo County now for the most part those of you in portions of vanen County are nearly done with this storm which is great news you're going to be able to come out of your basement out of your shelter location within the next 20 minutes at best if you are in southeast east corner of banan County but right now for those of you located in Kalamazoo County including areas of Schoolcraft that southwest corner of kalamazo County we ask that if you are not in your shelter location already that you seek shelter from this system we not only have a tornado warning in play but we also have a tornado watch that has been issued for portions of our area including camou County including Jackson County as well as Cass County that tornado watch remains in effect until 300 p.m. this afternoon at that time all of this rainfall will depart our region we will be left under much clearer and much quieter conditions we're going to switch over here to the debris within the storm one thing that we struggle with with a storm that is this far away from the radar remember our radar is located in Grand Rapids is that as a radar pans it kind of looks like an ice cream cone right at the heart of the radar it's really really close and then as it pans away that radar beam gets higher and higher into the atmosphere in the same shape that an ice cream cone kind of works the further away that you get the weaker those signatures can also become so the fact that we're seeing some of these debris signatures the fact that we're seeing rotation at the surface can be a really disheartening or scary sign in a way because that means that there's a high likelihood that it's happening at the surface but the biggest thing that you can do right now is seek Shelter From The Storm call your family call your friends that maybe don't typically um see this coverage and make sure that they're aware that this storm is moving to the east at a Cadence of about 30 to 40 mph this storm has torrential rainfall embedded within it frequent thunder and lightning as well as this couplet of rotation that has had Blake and I's attention for the last I don't know 30 minutes or so you can see that a tornado warning has now been extended down a little bit further south into Cass in St Joseph County um not necessarily quite our viewing area but we do want to make sure that you are aware of the additional um tornado warning including places such as Three Rivers I do want to just keep our Focus right now on South Western portions of kalamazo County Blake anything new that you've seen within the storm nothing new it does appear that if there is a threat now again it is uh if you're in the southwestern corner of cazo county tornado warning ongo time to head to that safe shelter safe place uh it does appear the bulk of rotation where we are keeping a close eye on any tornado potential is actually a little bit south of the kalamazo or kalamazo county line again it is still needed if you are south of I94 in cazo County County from oh the Schoolcraft area towards uh let's say Vicksburg for example and even extending Eastward towards uh Fon for example uh north of m66 in the leonitis area uh it is time to head to the safest spot of whatever structure you may be in right now um it does appear if there's any bigger threat maybe some marginal hail torrential rain frequent thunder and lightning maybe even some stronger wind gusts on the Northern Tier of this uh tornado warn thunderstorm but it does look like for the most part that the bulk of any tornado threat is pro progressing into St Joseph County now this was in vanan County it moved its way a little bit more to the east Southeast clipping the north and east half of Cass County and now is extending into the Northwestern half of St Joseph County and you can really see that just based on uh our velocity signature here uh these bright greens bright Reds closely knotted together indicating that there is some tighter rotation uh across uh this general area and when we kind of put the look of rotation here's just another characteristic yeah you can still see there is a stronger indication from radar that there is rotation in this uh tornado waren thunderstorm yeah go ahead yeah so we do have some reports Blake sorry to interrupt you um these are actually out of alagan County a an area that was warned about an hour ago for a severe thunderstor storm warning there are reports of trees down in Valley Township Heath Township um those are in aligan county and Tanner Holbrook our morning anchor is on standby right now Tanner if you could get that information over to The Newsroom so that we can make sure we get a crew headed that way I know we have a crew headed down to the decer region um to check out damage but that is the area right now that we're watching for folks that don't know those I'll get that information to you go ahead Blake yeah the folks that um maybe not familiar with where some of these townships are uh Heath Township for example uh into uh parts of let's see that was Valley Township you said Sam uh that is generally just south of Hamilton uh to the west of aligan so uh Lake alagan itself uh the Swan Creek Marsh uh that is the general area those two townships where they're located in across uh aligan County so to the east of fenville for example and we did see some stronger wind gusts from velocity uh in uh as that storm made its way over the heart of alagan County we're at about 45 minutes ago I do want to make our way back to just regular radar here try to get a better enhanced look there we go and you can see that there is plenty of lightning associated with the storm those negative and positive strikes if this continues on its uh path over the next we'll say 45 minutes it does appear it's heading in that southeasterly direction uh we are talking uh to the north of Three Rivers the Centerville area so traversing still the northern half of St Joseph County and then possibly heading towards uh the cold water area if this thunderstorm holds its momentum and strength and at this time the tornado warning for Southeastern portions of vanen county has expired and you are no longer in the threat of the storm itself so if you have been seeking shelter you can now safely come out of your shelter location the main areas being impact Ed right now are extending down into Cass County as well as just the southwest corner of kalamazo County um where that current tornado warning is in effect we continue on it's actually Cass and Joseph County I should say just to the south of cazo County with Three Rivers as well um if we look at the storm we have now extended the tornado warning in Joseph County until 9:00 a.m. for kalamazo County zooming in see if it will give us a new time stamp here for those of you in kalamazo County okay it doesn't want to quite do that for me there we go by 8:45 that does expire until that time we ask that you continue to seek Shelter From The Storm we going to try to put a few more points location on the map here so that you can tell where the storm is headed now throughout the day today many of us are not going to be experiencing severe weather in the way that this system is currently producing we are mainly going to see heavy rainfall working throughout the region and even those of you along the lak shore starting to see some clearing as our low pressure system departs the region but it doesn't necessarily need to be tornado damage or wind damage that you're reporting to us and to the National Weather Service you can also report to us um any sort of flooding that you may be experiencing in those areas you can text that to 616 6 559 1310 if you are experiencing any flooding or any severe damage those of you in aligan County we've had a few reports of some trees down in alagan County from this morning severe thunderstorm warning and we would love to continue to receive those reports so that we can pass them along to the National Weather Service we're losing a little bit of our signatures in terms of debris which is great news not quite as high of um correlation or I want to say not as bright of colors that typically indicates that we're not seeing things lofted into the sky quite as much as maybe we were concerned about 10 to even 15 minutes ago looking at the rotation of the Storm still there but but I I agree with it a little bit broader uh in the rotation being uh at least detected via radar uh so this thunderstorm could be slightly uh weakening which would obviously be a great thing uh as it continues to push to the south and east this looks like it'll just be to the north of Three Rivers this is right really the heart of the storm Crossing 131 at this point between three rivers and flowerfield uh heading towards oh into Branch County pretty soon once it uh heads a little bit Past St Joseph County within the next hour if it continues on its strength momentum yep and that that radar couplet showing that the outbound Winds of the storm that's are red shade that means that the winds themselves are moving away from the thunderstorm and then you have our shades of green which are your inbound winds meaning that they are moving towards the radar itself so you have these winds circulating in and out of the thunderstorm and you can probably picture in your head that circular motion that could potentially be happening within our Sky hopefully we continue to see this storm weaken as we have in our last radar scan we will get another update within the next 4 minutes or so and next radar scan of where it's headed yeah and again I I do want to go back for those that are just joining us it is about 8:28 now on this Tuesday morning we have been in Non-Stop coverage since about oh just shy of 7 o'clock Sam that when that first severe thunderstorm morning uh came in at about uh just before 7 for vanen in Alan County and then this transitioned over to a tornado warning for vanan County and is continued now into a little bit of cazoo County the very Southern tip of cazo County but now into Cass into St Joseph County this is getting to The Fringe of our viewing area we're still going to let this go uh through its entirety over the next half hour uh with us being still in close proximity to these uh counties but if you are watching I want to expand the view here uh for everyone else watching us across West Michigan if you are watching from Grand Rapids missan Holland you you do not have a current severe uh threat for severe weather and I I don't think you will see one the rest of this morning this is all going to be situated now the rest of this morning for those that are near and south of I94 to the Michigan State Line so if you're watching again from Hastings you're watching from Lancing you're watching from Ionia you are not under a severe weather threat uh as of now and we do not believe you will be the rest of this morning so not saying to let your guard down completely you want to be weather aware with the ongoing heavy rainfall here and there um but by far the tornado warning that we are speaking of right now is generally near and south of I94 will continue to progress for those counties closer to the state line so places like Jackson Hillsdale for example uh if this extended into the east side of the State uh for those that are near Monroe dunde for example those are General markers that could see severe weather later this morning if you're back watching towards Pentwater lington you are not going to see severe weather the rest of this morning and then we have this looks like another continuation of that that tornado warning yep continuing to push it down further into Cass and St Joseph County um soon this will clear our viewing area and we will be able to wrap up our coverage for those of you uh interested in catching the last half hour of GMA I will say I don't see I want to check before I say this I want to look into our velocity scan here to make sure I'm not seeing much in the way of rotation it's definitely becoming becoming a little bit broader in St Joseph I would still continue to stay in your shelter location just north of Three Rivers and three rivers included Calo County you were in the clear you are still underneath the tornado warning but those of you Schoolcraft Vicksburg you can go ahead and exit your shelter location come on up from the basement move around your house freely head to work whatever it is that you need to do as that system continues to work off to the south and east of you and notice that while there is still some broad rotation this is by far weaker compared to what we just dealt with an hour ago this is this is a little bit of the loop notice how strong this rotation was as it passed right through pretty much the cater itself this is Southern vanan County right to the north of marcelis so that's part of Cass County still holding on to that strong rotation and then over the last couple of radar scans North The Three River still some broad rotation but definitely becoming weaker in nature we're seeing that in our velocity product the nature of wind and also that debris signature becoming a little less uh representative compared to just uh 30 45 minutes ago and I want to remind all of our viewers at home um exactly how they can report storm damage to us right now as this kind of exits the heart of our viewing area I want to make sure that you're aware what it is that you can do to um go ahead and submit those severe reports looking for a specific graphic for you here if I'm able to find it what you can do is text those reports to 61655 n310 that phone number gets directly to our inbox and it makes it really really easy here's the graphic I was looking for for you um it makes it really really easy for us to be able to see those reports we really uh prefer you to include an image or a video along with that report of damage but if of course severe enough we will send a crew out your way to assess the damage and get the national weather service over there as well if that phone number is too tricky for you to remember you can scan this QR code that's up on on your screen right now this QR code will take you to a website that will directly lead you to being able to submit any of those damage reports I want to take one final broad look at things here as this does exit the heart of our viewing area before we wrap up coverage remember everybody to the north of the St Joseph region now is no longer underneath a severe threat we do still have an ongoing tornado warning in St St Joseph County this tornado warning remains in effect until 9:00 a.m. because for the most part this is well out of our viewing area in um West Michigan and who actually receives our signal here at WZZM we are going to wrap up our coverage relatively quickly here yeah I think one last note uh for those that are if you have friends or family that are in St Joseph County into Branch County so that would include the Coldwater area a little bit to the South that's heading towards the Michigan State Line into portions of Indiana and Ohio uh this is generally where this uh supercell thunderstorm is traveling more of a southeasterly direction now over the last half hour Sam so again this is extending even probably if this holds its momentum will be south of the State uh within the next hour uh so this is the concern if you have friends or family again in parts of St Joseph Branch even Hillsdale County uh just let them know that yeah this uh is an ongoing tornado warn thunderstorm uh and traveling in its direction well to those of you who have been following with our coverage since the end of our 6:00 show this morning we really appreciate you sticking through this with us and we hope that you can continue to trust us to bring you the most accurate weather forecast um for the 13 weather impact team my meteorologist Samantha Jackson this is meteorologist Blake Hansen we'll continue to watch radar closely throughout the coming hours this has been a 13 weather impact [Music] alert e