West Michigan Derecho, May 30-31, 1998
Рет қаралды 2,045
Жыл бұрынA significant derecho swept through the Midwest and Great Lakes Saturday evening, May 30 through Sunday morning May 31, 1998. This video journal includes recorded audio from NOAA weather radio broadcasts on May 30 via the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Doppler radar and weather watch box imagery, early morning video of the line of storms from Kalamazoo and Kent County, Michigan, followed by video of extensive straight-line wind damage across portions of Walker, Michigan.
I was a 17 at the time this was recorded, monitoring the conditions overnight and into the early morning hours, but remained in Kalamazoo County spotting locally as the storms rolled through just after 5 a.m. Beyond the dark skies and scenic departure of the storms at sunrise, the core damage transpired an hour north in Ottawa, Kent, Muskegon and Newaygo counties.
The videos recorded in Kent County, Michigan, specifically in and around Walker, were provided by Kent County Emergency Management and Eric Hutchinson as the storms rolled through and after sunrise to survey the damage.
Video produced and edited by Blake Naftel, 1998, 2023.
@RikkiSpanish 5 ай бұрын
This was amazing! Thanks for putting all of these clips together. ❤ I still vividly remember that morning. My family and I lived in Mt. Clemens at the time, just north of Detroit. I was 13 years old. My mom woke me up some time before 5 am to tell me that we had a tornado watch. She was getting ready to leave for work, so as the weather nerd of the family, I was now in charge of keeping an eye on the storms. I honestly didn't think anything big was going to happen. Mother Nature called my bluff. 😂 Those storms produced some of the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my life. It sounded more like explosions instead of the usual rumbling. The straight line winds were also incredibly loud. The most powerful gusts made this odd whistling sound. I have never heard that sound again.
@LawrenceBurkett Жыл бұрын
Thanks for sharing this, Blake! This was one of the key events in my childhood that got me (even more) interested in meteorology. I was on the southern periphery of the derecho as it was propagating to the east across Michigan at around sunrise on the 31st. The lightning and mammatus associated with that storm system were remarkable!
@BlakeNaftel Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the comment, Lawrence! 1998 was a very active severe weather season in the Midwest/Great Lakes and very impactful to me as well. Perfect for budding meteorologists and/or weather enthusiasts to witness a sample of everything from derechos, tornadoes, incredible electrical storms to blizzards.
@bluetoad6848 Жыл бұрын
I'm so grateful videos like this are being uploaded online recently. The southern great lakes derecho was one of my favorite storms to study, but actual videos/photos of the storm/damage is so sparse. Now there's been several videos, photos, and news broadcasts uploaded online recently which help add some visual clarity to this storm's strength. Like, reading about the damage is one thing, but it's footage like this that really helps reveal the true magnitude of this storm's extreme intensity. I still consider this to be one of, if not the most intense derecho in US history to this day.
@shelby6895 Жыл бұрын
awesome video
@Ally_Rayne6 8 ай бұрын
I vividly remember this event. This derecho died when it came into NYS and it explosively became tornadic supercells. I remember the tornado that hit where i was living in NY. We only had a couple of TV stations and we still were using an antenna. So all we could really get WBNG at the time. We got the report of a large tornado on the ground near Binghamton and we took cover just as a precautionary measure. I was only a year and a half old when this happened. As my birthday was the next day in 1998.
@RagingMoon1987 Жыл бұрын
You were only 17? Could've fooled me! You handled this situation very well.
@BlakeNaftel Жыл бұрын
Thanks! I was pretty wired on Pepsi.
@coreycoyle9548 Жыл бұрын
I remember this Derecho real well, Living in Southern Wisconsin frequency of lightning flashes Like a strobe-like effect, and very strong winds. Great Video!!!! F+L, Corey
@elainepratt2750 Жыл бұрын
I remember this storm....it came through central MI about 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning. I heard it but didn't get up....around 8 a.m. looking outside it was a lot of destruction ....we had trees uprooted in our woods and a huge maple tree limb came down...took down our American flag from the front porch but missed the porch by inches. We were without power for 5 days. .
@rosaxdicho Жыл бұрын
Do you have any recordings from the television or radio stations before and during the storms!?!?
@BlakeNaftel Жыл бұрын
No, I was out spotting locally. Since the storms rolled into West Michigan between 4:45-5 a.m. on a Sunday, there was no wall-to-wall weather coverage. At the time, The Weather Channel would scroll warning text locally on cable, and there likely were some cut-ins on WOOD and WZZM, but I did not record any of those. The earliest newscasts I recall were Sunday morning around 8 a.m., well after the storms had passed.
@TheGearTurtle 2 ай бұрын
My family lives in Michigan and was in that storm I only know my mom's part of the experience I haven't asked my dad but I know he was living in Kent County and building a well known s10 blazer but I kinda can guess that my town got nailed because I'm East of Walker so my town probably did get nailed
@TheGearTurtle 2 ай бұрын
I meant to say that Walker is east of where I live
Blake Naftel
Рет қаралды 30 М.