An isolated severe thunderstorm caused very minor damage near Rockford during the afternoon hours of May 27th, where trained spotters reported that a couple of trees were blown down four to five miles east of Rockford. No other severe weather was reported.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS GRR wrote it up.
An isolated severe thunderstorm caused very minor damage near Rockford during the afternoon hours of May 27th, where trained spotters reported that a couple of trees were blown down four to five miles east of Rockford. No other severe weather was reported.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Grand Rapids, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 27, 12:32 PM EST, 1 hour 38 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Rapids MI 132 PM EDT FRI MAY 27 2016 LATEST UPDATE... Aviation .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 327 AM EDT Fri May 27 2016 Memorial Day weekend will see occasional showers and a few thunderstorms along with temperatures in the upper 70s to lower 80s most days. && .UPDATE... Issued at 1233 PM EDT Fri May 27 2016 An enhanced warm advection wing convergence zone has developed from Wisconsin extending southeast across Lake Michigan into northern Indiana. A modest low level jet nosing into the Chicago area is advecting in higher dewpoint air at H850. This boundary will be the main source of lift this afternoon. Scattered showers and storms are expected on the northwest to southeast oriented boundary this afternoon. Favorable instability for thunder has developed rapidly today in the clearing ahead of the advection wing cloud band. Deep layer shear is marginal with upper ridging still in place over the region. Effective bulk shear is currently a bit more favorable across the northern forecast area at 30-35 kts. Storms this afternoon could produce gusty winds, small hail, and brief heavy rain. && .SHORT TERM...(Today through Sunday) Issued at 327 AM EDT Fri May 27 2016 Weak sfc low tracks from Southern Plains to north of Lake Superior the next few days with Michigan in moist southerly flow, but not a strong focus for convection. Lifted indices are are progged to be in the minus 2 to 5 range this afternoon and evening so we expect diurnal enhancement for coverage of storms that will persist into the evening then decrease overnight. Similar pattern expected for Saturday as set up is the same. A weak cold front coming through on Sunday afternoon could also bring an enhanced coverage of showers and thunderstorms. .LONG TERM...(Sunday night through Thursday) Issued at 327 AM EDT Fri May 27 2016 Good agreement in the models showing a cold front coming through Sunday evening. With this agreement I increased pops for Sunday evening across central lower as the best dynamics should remain to the north. Behind this front the area should be largely dry late Sunday night through Tuesday as a drier and slightly cooler air mass moves in. The upper ridge that was so dominate much of this past week over the far eastern U.S. should become reestablished as we move into the middle of next week. This will help bring gulf moisture back into the Great Lakes. The ECMWF races another cold front east that could come through Wednesday evening. But the GFS is much slower and still has this front to our west through Thursday. I like the look of the slower GFS given the building ridge over the eastern seaboard. We could start seeing more showers and storms as early as Tuesday night, but it seems more likely to hold off until Thursday. Expect rather uniform and pleasant temps through the long term with daytime highs from the mid 70s to lower 80s...and nighttime lows mainly in the 50s. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Saturday afternoon) Issued at 128 PM EDT Fri May 27 2016 The atmosphere has become unstable. Showers were developing at this time. They should grow into thunderstorms over the next hr or so. Thus Tafs sites mostly feature a thunderstorm for the next hr or two...then VCTS for the remainder of the afternoon into the evening hrs. Low level winds will increase tonight. This may lead to some turbulence. I did not go with LLWS...but it was a close call. This increase in winds could also trigger thunderstorms...especially Saturday morning. && .MARINE... Issued at 327 AM EDT Fri May 27 2016 Some areas of fog will be around this morning but tend to lift in the afternoon as winds and showers increase. Winds and waves should remain below small craft advisory conditions through the weekend. && .HYDROLOGY... Issued at 108 PM EDT Fri May 27 2016 River levels across the area are near to just above their expected values for this time of year. Precipitation of up to an inch is possible over the next week. Convection through the weekend will produce localized heavy rainfall. Rises will mainly be confined to smaller creeks and streams and should not reach flood levels. && .GRR Watches/Warnings/Advisories... MI...None. LM...None. && UPDATE...EBW SYNOPSIS...Ostuno SHORT TERM...Ostuno LONG TERM...JK AVIATION...MJS HYDROLOGY...63 MARINE...Ostuno
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 240 PM EDT FRI MAY 27 2016 LMZ844>849-MIZ037>040-043>046-050>052-056>059-064>067-071>074- 280845- ST JOSEPH TO SOUTH HAVEN MI-SOUTH HAVEN TO HOLLAND MI- HOLLAND TO GRAND HAVEN MI-GRAND HAVEN TO WHITEHALL MI- WHITEHALL TO PENTWATER MI-PENTWATER TO MANISTEE MI-MASON-LAKE- OSCEOLA-CLARE-OCEANA-NEWAYGO-MECOSTA-ISABELLA-MUSKEGON-MONTCALM- GRATIOT-OTTAWA-KENT-IONIA-CLINTON-ALLEGAN-BARRY-EATON-INGHAM- VAN BUREN-KALAMAZOO-CALHOUN-JACKSON- 240 PM EDT FRI MAY 27 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED...MOSTLY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD HAVE SMALL HAIL AND WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THERE IS A MARGINAL RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER ON SUNDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. OSTUNO MJS
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
218 PM EDT FRI MAY 27 2016
MIZ050-056-057-271900-
KENT MI-MUSKEGON MI-OTTAWA MI-
218 PM EDT FRI MAY 27 2016
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY...
AT 215 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A LINE OF
THUNDERSTORMS... EXTENDING FROM NEAR COOPERSVILLE TO NEAR FOREST
HILLS...AND MOVING NORTH AT 25 MPH.
WIND GUSTS AT LEAST 40 MPH WITH SOME DOWNED TREE LIMBS WILL BE
POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. PEA SIZE HAIL IS ALSO POSSIBLE.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
ROCKFORD... SPARTA... AND CEDAR SPRINGS.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THESE STORMS.
LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE 15 MILES AWAY FROM A THUNDERSTORM. SEEK A SAFE
SHELTER INSIDE A BUILDING OR VEHICLE.
&&
LAT...LON 4329 8594 4329 8531 4291 8531 4289 8532
4303 8601
TIME...MOT...LOC 1815Z 199DEG 20KT 4308 8587 4301 8543
CASSPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 237 PM EDT FRI MAY 27 2016 MIZ044-045-051-271930- MECOSTA MI-NEWAYGO MI-MONTCALM MI- 237 PM EDT FRI MAY 27 2016 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY... AT 237 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES EAST OF GRANT...MOVING NORTH AT 35 MPH. WIND GUSTS AT LEAST 50 MPH WITH DOWNED TREE LIMBS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM. LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... BIG RAPIDS... NEWAYGO... WHITE CLOUD... HOWARD CITY... GRANT... MORLEY... CANADIAN LAKES... CROTON... SAND LAKE... PARIS... STANWOOD... PIERSON... RODNEY... WOOSTER... AMBLE... HAWKINS... BITELY... WOODVILLE... WOODLAND PARK... CORAL... PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM. LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE 15 MILES AWAY FROM A THUNDERSTORM. SEEK A SAFE SHELTER INSIDE A BUILDING OR VEHICLE. && LAT...LON 4381 8530 4329 8536 4329 8580 4381 8599 TIME...MOT...LOC 1837Z 178DEG 28KT 4329 8564 CAS
The Grand Rapids radar (KGRR), 27 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:08 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Trained spotters reported that a couple of trees were blown down just east of Rockford.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Michigan in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, May 2016
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 635718.