Video and images of severe storms across West Michigan Monday night and Tuesday

As I wrote about earlier this week, severe storms raced across West Michigan with strong wind and large hail. 

News stories, photos and video have exploded across the television and internet after the storm was over.

The Grand Rapids National Weather Service offers this account of the event:

Around 1140 PM EDT…parts of extreme southwest Kalamazoo County experienced a combination of up to golf ball sized hail and winds in excess of 80 mph. The greatest damage occurred west-southwest of Schoolcraft. An NWS damage survey determined that the winds were straight-line and not tornadic. The western sides of many homes had their siding shredded by the wind driven hail.

The X in the image below indicates where the greatest wind damage occurred. The thunderstorm that produced this damage was in the process of “bowing out”, meaning that it assumed the shape of a bow by the time it reached Schoolcraft. This type of radar signature is frequently associated with damaging winds. However, it is unusual for the winds to be accompanied by such large hail.

This storm was moving east along a warm front. Strong vertical wind shear combined with concentrated atmospheric instability near the front allowed this storm to become very severe. Storms farther north that crossed the Grand Rapids area did not produce strong winds due to the cold air that was north of the warm front.
 

Grand Rapids National Weather Service Radar image

Grand Rapids National Weather Service Wind driven hail damage on west side of home

I surfed the web so you don’t have to. Here are the stories, images and video of the storms from Monday night and Tuesday.

WOOD TV8
SW Mich. hit hard by severe storms
Chief Meteorologist Bill Steffen from WOOD TV8 has a nice discussion here:  Canoe in a tree 
Photos Posted on WOODTV.com http://participate.woodtv.com/

WZZM TV 13
Dissecting the storms that hit West Michigan 
Thunderstorms pulverize siding, topple RVs in Kalamazoo County
Weather Photo Gallery

WWMT
Storms rip through West Michigan 
Schoolcraft rocked by straight-line winds
Weather Photos - WWMT  

WXMI
Storm Damage in Kalamazoo Co. - 04.06.10 -- FOX 17
Kalamazoo Co. Storm Clean-up - 04.06.10 -- FOX 17
Spring Storm in Your Eyes: Facebook and Website - 04.06.10 -- FOX 17
Hail weather video 40610 -- FOX 17

The Kalamazoo Gazette
Hail, high winds cause widespread damage throughout Southwest Michigan
The Kalamazoo Gazette Videos