Isolated severe storms affected portions of Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties on June 20th.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
Isolated severe storms affected portions of Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties on June 20th.
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 Jun 20, 6:02 PM EST, 23 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Grand Rapids MI
702 PM EDT Sun Jun 20 2021
LATEST UPDATE...
Aviation
.SYNOPSIS...
Issued at 344 PM EDT Sun Jun 20 2021
- Severe Weather/Heavy Rain threat tonight
- Windy and colder Monday with some frost Tuesday morning
- Next major system end of week / some showers possible Wednesday
&&
.DISCUSSION...(This evening through next Sunday)
Issued at 344 PM EDT Sun Jun 20 2021
- Severe Weather/Heavy Rain threat tonight
Overall it seems our severe weather threat is somewhat less than
we were thinking earlier. Even so there still remains a
significant threat for strong to severe thunderstorm tonight.
Locally heavy rain is expected near and south of I-96. The risk
for strong to severe storms is from around 6 pm tonight till
around 5 am Monday.
There will be two periods of severe storm potential. The first is
the warm advection push in front of the system. Seems the overall
threat is a little less as a result of the MCV upstream that has
pushed the warm air farther south. Even so, we have our boundary
stalled near I-94, so when the upstream MCV over MO gets into this
area I am thinking it will track along the boundary. That is
supported by most our HI-RES models. It is this first wave of
convection that has the greatest risk of tornadoes. Surface winds
will turn to the east north of the boundary this evening and that
will increase the low level shear. Surface based capes in the
2500 to 4000 j/kg range south of I-94 to I-80. The effective bulk
shear over the southern counties will be between 40 and 50 knots.
All of this supports strong to severe storms, large hail and
isolated tornadoes.
The second period of strong to severe storm is from the polar jet
on the northern stream coming into this area. We get into the
entrance region of that jet. It is at that time the low level jet
really develops, and increases to near 50 knots. The HRRR 17z run
showed 60 knot winds associated with the line of storms coming on
shore near South Haven just after midnight. It is during that
time when train echoes are possible near and south of I-96.
Locally 2 to 3 inches of rain is possible in some areas.
- Windy and colder Monday with some frost Tuesday morning
The cold front sweeps through around sunrise. This will be some
seriously cold air coming in behind the front. The 850 temps fall
to near 2c by Monday evening, from 13c in the morning. We get on
the polar ward side of the polar jet by evening too. It would not
be out of the question to get some lake enhanced rain showers. Air
temperatures will fall during the day. Temperatures could be in
the upper 50s by evening.
Skies should clear Monday night. With dew points in the 30s, it
would seem likely frost would develop over northern area. I could
see locations like Leota getting below freezing.
- Next major system end of week / some showers possible Wednesday
The next digging northern stream system stays in Canada but it
boots the trough over the Great Lakes out into the north Atlantic.
This sets up a warm advection event Wednesday, which may well
bring showers to the area again. instability is not all that high
so this would be more rain showers than thunderstorms.
Behind that we get shortwave ridging briefly so Thursday will be
quiet but seasonably warm. Finally there is another northern
stream shortwave that digs into the central North American trough.
It will significantly deepen that trough and result in another
system not to much different than what is happening tonight into
Monday.
&&
.AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Monday evening)
Issued at 702 PM EDT Sun Jun 20 2021
Storms are starting to develop, so I used the NAMNEST radar
reflectivity forecast as my guide for timing the convection
through the TAF sites, for the 00z TAFs. It seemed to me to be
closest to what was actually happening when I wrote the TAFs.
There will be two periods of thunderstorms. The first early this
evening is the warm air push northward. Then there will be second
band of thunderstorms around 06z to 08z ahead of the cold front.
Each line of storms will likely have gusty winds and IFR
conditions due to very heavy rain. Hail is possible but was not
included in the TAFs.
Once the cold front comes through ceilings will fall into the
MVFR/IFR range and winds will be gusty into Monday afternoon. The
lower clouds will likely persist into late afternoon.
&&
.MARINE...
Issued at 344 PM EDT Sun Jun 20 2021
The push of cold air Monday will result in a rather unpleasant
beach day to say the least. Winds will be gusting to over 30 mph
and air temperatures will be falling into the 50s. The strong
winds will result in possible rip currents and 5 to 7 foot waves.
Our current hazards for tomorrow look good so no changes were
made.
&&
.GRR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MI...Beach Hazards Statement from midnight EDT tonight through late
Monday night for MIZ037-043-050-056-064-071.
LM...Small Craft Advisory from midnight tonight to 2 AM EDT Tuesday
for LMZ844>849.
&&
SYNOPSIS...WDM
DISCUSSION...WDM
AVIATION...WDM
MARINE...WDMHazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Grand Rapids MI 422 PM EDT Sun Jun 20 2021 MIZ037>040-043>046-050>052-056>059-064>067-071>074-212030- Mason-Lake-Osceola-Clare-Oceana-Newaygo-Mecosta-Isabella-Muskegon- Montcalm-Gratiot-Ottawa-Kent-Ionia-Clinton-Allegan-Barry-Eaton- Ingham-Van Buren-Kalamazoo-Calhoun-Jackson- 422 PM EDT Sun Jun 20 2021 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of southwest Lower Michigan. .DAY ONE...Tonight The Enhanced Risk of severe thunderstorms continues tonight. The primary threat is for damaing winds, large hail is also possible and there remains a very slight threat for tornadoes. Localized flooding is possible too. The area of greatest concern is mostly over the southern half of the area. There are two periods of strong to severe storms, the fist is early tonight, prior to 11 pm, then a second period of strong to severe thunderstorms from around midnight till about 4 am. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday Strong winds will result in hazardous condtions at area beaches on Monday. Scattered frost is possible Monday night north of route 20. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is possible tonight. LMZ844>849-212030- 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- 422 PM EDT Sun Jun 20 2021 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of southwest Lower Michigan. .DAY ONE...Tonight Thunderstorms will result in wind gusts over 40 knots and large waves. Cloud to water lighting will also be an issue. The threat for these harards is greatest south of Grand Haven. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday Winds and waves will be hazardous to beach goes and small craft Monday. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is possible tonight.
The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:26 UTC.
1 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
An isolated severe storm produced hail up to one and three quarters inches in diameter near Keeler.
Several large tree limbs were blown down across portions of southern Kalamazoo county by wind gusts estimated at up to 60 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Michigan in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, June 2021
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: 960419, 960420.