The warmth of spring and summer will be here soon. With the warmer weather will come the threats from summertime severe weather. Thus, Governor Snyder has declared April 12th through 18th as Michigan Severe Weather Awareness Week. During that week people are asked to reacquaint themselves with the hazards and safety precautions associated with springtime flooding and summertime thunderstorms.
Now that the harshest cold of winter is now in the rear view mirror, the warmth of spring and summer will soon be returning to Michigan. With the arrival of the new seasons, come the threats from spring and summertime severe weather. Thus, as another severe weather season approaches, Governor Rick Snyder has declared April 12 – April 18, 2015, as Severe Weather Awareness Week in Michigan.
A cool spring and summer of 2014 resulted in a quiet severe weather season across Upper Michigan, but the same wasn’t the case across the rest of Michigan. While Lower Michigan saw an average number of tornadoes in 2014, it was the other severe weather hazards: severe winds, lightning, hail, and flooding, that were the most damaging. There was one death, 19 injuries, and a Michigan record $2 billion attributed to in severe weather in 2014.
The most damaging severe weather event in Michigan’s history occurred in 2014. On August 11, four to six inches of rain fell over the most populated areas of the Detroit area in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties in just a three- to four-hour period. The resultant flash flooding affected over 115,000 homes and business, thousands of vehicles and caused $1.8 billion in damages.
2014 followed along with recent trends. There were fewer days of severe weather activity across the state. However, when there was the severe weather, it was more extreme and more impactful with higher winds, larger hail, and more intense rainfall resulting in more significant damage across Michigan.
Despite the perception that the Upper Peninsula is immune to significant severe weather, the area is at risk for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, hail, floods and lightning. During Severe Weather Awareness Week in Michigan, the National Weather Service is encouraging residents to review severe weather safety procedures especially since they probably have not been put into action in some time. Plan ahead. Be sure everyone in your household knows where to go and what to do when severe weather threatens. The best time to prepare for severe weather is before it happens. Being weather ready is a collective effort. It takes the whole community to effectively prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate against damages caused by severe weather. Additional severe weather awareness week and weather safety information can be found at www.weather.gov/mqt.
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