Alert archive / Michigan / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 4, NWS Grand Rapids, MI

May 6, 1986Calhoun County, Eaton County, Michigan

NWS Grand Rapids, MI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 6, 1986, 4:43 PM EDT for Calhoun County, Eaton County, Michigan. It was in force for 27 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 6, 1986, 4:43 PM EDT (20:43 UTC)
Expired: May 6, 1986, 5:10 PM EDT
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Rapids, MI
Area: Whole counties

Counties Calhoun County, MI, Eaton County, MI

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KFNT), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 127 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 358 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -121 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 979 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 115 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 187 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KLAN 062043
SVRLAN
MIC045-025-062130-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LANSING MI
443 PM EDT TUE MAY 6 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 530 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTIES OF

SOUTH CENTRAL LOWER MICHIGAN...SOUTHERN EATON AND NORTHERN CALHOUN

RADAR SHOWS A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER NORTH CALHOUN AND SOUTH
EATON COUNTIES MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. ONE INCH HAIL WAS REPOTED
WITH THE STORM AT 435 PM. THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED
35 MILES SOUTHWEST OF LANSING 438 PM.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM..GET TO A REINFORCED BUILDING.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE3 STRONG DAMAGING WINDS..LARGE HAIL..VERY
HEAVY RAIN..AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. THEY CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO
SPAWN A TORNADO WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING..SO BE ON THE
LOOKOUT.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 6, 10:51 AM EDT, 5 hours 52 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LANSING MI
1030AM EDT TUE MAY 6 1986

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER SOUTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN...

AT 1030 AM EDT RADAR SHOWED A VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER NORTHEAST
INGHAM COUNTY  AND A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING FROM SOUTHWEST
EATON COUNTY  SOUTH THROUGH CALHOUN AND BRANCH COUNTIES INTO NORTH
INDIANA.
BATTLE CREEK EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORTED HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT
LIGHTNING IN A 1015 STORM BUT LITTLE WIND AND NO HAIL.
A STORM NEAR MARSHALL HAD 40 TO 45 MPH GUSTS AND SMALL HAIL HEAVY WITH
FREQUENT LIGHTNING.
REAL SMALL HAIL AND HEAVY RAIN WAS REPORTED IN SOUTHWEST BRANCH COUNTY
AT 1030.
THE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT UP TO a40 MPH.
ENT

Special weather statement, May 6, 4:19 PM EDT, 24 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LANSING MI
407 PM EDT TUE MAY 6 1986

...THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING IN SOUTHERN LOWER MICHINGAN...

AT 405 PM AN AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS IS DEVELOPING IN SOUTHWEST EATON
COUNTY AND EXTENDS SOUTHWARD THROUGH BARRY, KALAMAZOO, ST JOSEPH, AND
INTO INDINANA. RADAR INDICATES THESE STORMS TO BE STRENGHTENING AND
MOVING TO THE ESAT AT 40 MILES PER HOUR.
SUTTLE

Special weather statement, May 6, 4:32 PM EDT, 11 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LANSING MI
429 PM EDT TUE MAY 6 1986

...THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN...

BATTLE CREEK EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORTED 1/4 TO 1/2 INCH HAIL WE(ST
AND NORTH SECTIONS OF BATTLE CREEK AT 425 PM.
THE STORM IS MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.
ENT

The office that day

Everything else NWS Grand Rapids, MI issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 6, 11:36 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Ingham, Jackson	9 min
May 6, 6:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Calhoun, Jackson	52 min
May 6, 7:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Eaton, Jackson	45 min
May 6, 7:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Ingham	65 min
May 6, 7:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Ingham	47 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Michigan, 1986 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1986

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.