Alert archive / Michigan / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 48, NWS Detroit, MI

July 20, 1987Huron County, Michigan

NWS Detroit, MI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 20, 1987, 7:12 PM EDT for Huron County, Michigan. It was in force for 63 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jul 20, 1987, 7:12 PM EDT (23:12 UTC)
Expired: Jul 20, 1987, 8:15 PM EDT
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Detroit, MI
Area: Whole counties

County Huron County, MI

The radar

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

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jul 20, 7:15 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 0	Huron, MI

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KFNT), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 140 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: 3198 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 697 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 89 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 101 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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, Jul 20, 3:30 PM EDT, 3 hours 42 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLINT MI
330 PM EDT MON JULY 20 1987

     ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 10PM EDT...

AT 320 PM WEATHER RADAR SHOWED SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING
WEST AND SOUTH OF SAGINAW BAY... AND ABOUT 10 MILES EAST OF FLINT.
NO SEVERE ACTIVITY HAS BEEN REPORTED BUT SOME SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
COULD DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON.

MOVEMENT OF THE DEVELOPING THUNDERSTORMS HAS NOT BEEN DETERMINED.

PERSONS IN THE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA ARE ADVISED TO REMAIN ALERT
TO THE POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS... WITH LARGE
HAIL... STRONG GUSTY WINDS... AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.

MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACH"ES

STJ

Special weather statement, Jul 20, 4:30 PM EDT, 2 hours 42 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLINT MI
430 PM EDT MON JULY 20 1987

     ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 10PM EDT...

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EDT THIS
EVENING FOR ALL OF EAST CENTRAL LOWER MICHIGAN.

WEATHER RADAR INDICATES SOME WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWER AND THUNDERSHOWER
ACTIVITY IN THE THUMB AREA OF EAST CENTRAL LOWER MICHIGAN..EAST AND
NORTHEAST OF FLINT. MOVEMENT IS SLOWLY TO THE EAST NORTHEAST.

A WEAK STATIONARY FRONT AND APPROACHING TROUGH WILL COUPLE WITH HIGH
TEMPERATURES AND AN ABUNDANCE OF MOIST AIR TO CREATE THE POTENTIAL FOR
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING HOURS IN EAST CENTRAL
LOWER MICHIGAN..AS WELL AS MOST OF THE REMAINDER OF THE LOWER
PENINSULA. THESE STORMS..WHEN SEVERE..CREATE STRONG THUNDERSTORMS
WINDS IN EXCESS OF 58 MILES AN HOUR..DANGEROUS LIGHTNING..LARGE
HAIL..AND OFTEN SPAWN TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.

NO SEVERE WEATHER HAS BEEN REPORTED AS OF YET..HOWEVER THERE EXISTS
THE THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA FOR THE
NEXT FEW HOURS. PERSONS IN THE WATCH AREA ARE URGED TO MONITOR WEATHER
CONDITIONS CLOSELY BY LISTENING TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO..OR LOCAL
TELEVISION AND COMMERCIAL RADIO STATIONS FOR FURTHER UPDATES AND
POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

KEITH DICKS
WSO FLINT MI

Special weather statement, Jul 20, 5:41 PM EDT, 1 hour 31 minutes before

-ARBSPSDTW
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT MI
530 PM EDT MON JULY 20 1987

AT 530 PM EDT...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS...WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN...WERE
OVER SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN. THE STORMS WERE OCCURRING AROUND THE DETROIT
METROPOLITAN AREA AND ITS SURROUNDING SUBURBS. REPORTS OF MARBLE SIZE
HAIL AND STRONG WINDS ACCOMPANIED SOME OF THE STORMS OVER INKSTER
MICHIGAN.

THE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.
BAILEY

Special weather statement, Jul 20, 6:05 PM EDT, 1 hour 7 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLINT MI
605 PM EDT MON JULY 20 1987

     ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 10PM EDT...

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EDT THIS
EVENING FOR ALL OF EAST CENTRAL LOWER MICHIGAN.

AT 520 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEATHER RADAT SHOWED STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ACROSS NORTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN. THE LINE
EXTENDED FROM 40 MILES NORTH OF HAUGHTON LAKE SOUTHWEST ACROSS LAKE
MICHIGAN.

HOUGHTON LAKE WEATHER RADAR SHOWED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN CRAWFORD
COUNTY... MOVING INTO ROSCOMMON COUNTY.  THESE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
HAVE PRODUCED A TORNADO WHEN THEY MOVED THROUGH GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY.

OTHER... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS... WITH HEAVY RAIN... WERE INDICATED
OVER SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN AT 530 PM. THESE STORMS PRODUCED MARBLE
SIZE HAIL AND STRONG WINDS IN DETROIT SUBURBS.

PEOPLE IN EAST CENTRAL MICHIGAN ARE ADVISED TO REMAIN ALERT TO THE
POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE WEATHER THIS AFTERNO0ON AND EVENING...
PARTICULARLY PEOPLE IN ARENAC... MIDLAND... AND BAY COUNTIES
CAN EXPECT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE NEXT HOUR OR SO AS SEVERE WEATHER
MOVES FROM CLARE AND ISABELLA COUNTIES EASTWARD.

LARGE HAIL... VERY HEAVY RAIN... DAMAGING WIND AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING
CAN BE EXPECTED.  TAKE COVER SHOULD SEVERE WEATHER THREATENS.

STJ

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 20, 5:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Crawford	45 min
Jul 20, 5:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Roscommon	60 min
Jul 20, 5:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Clare	75 min
Jul 20, 6:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Gladwin, Ogemaw	60 min
Jul 20, 6:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Arenac	42 min
Jul 20, 6:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Midland	44 min
Jul 20, 7:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Bay	63 min
Jul 20, 7:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Saginaw	65 min
Jul 20, 7:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Genesee, Shiawassee	56 min
Jul 20, 7:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Tuscola	56 min
Jul 20, 7:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Oakland	56 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Michigan, 1987 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1987

Sources

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