shadowspar

I'm a bit of a weather nerd, so I've seen my share of storm damage. But no word of a lie, it hits different when it's somewhere you've frequented over the years. 😰



A strong tornado hit Gaylord, MI friday afternoon. It touched down in the commercial district along M-32, west of I-75.

This area is very familiar to many of us here in the twin Saults. It's about two hours from here down the Interstate, and is often the first stop on any roadtrip heading south. The Culver's in those pictures? I've eaten there. That Meijer? Often the first stop for groceries on a week away.

Known casualties so far are 44 injured and one dead.

While we do get the occasional tornado up this way, they're usually nothing like this. The initial damage makes it look like an EF2 tornado, possibly stronger (ETA: EF3). It will probably end up as one of the strongest, if not the strongest, ever to hit this far north in Michigan.

One of the local mega-churches east of town still has power and has been set up as a shelter. The Red Cross is on their way there. Thankfully it sounds like they're all set for volunteers right now, but if they put the call out I'm going to look at going down.

More storm reports and imagery on this NWS Gaylord Facebook post. And if you're living or travelling in the USA during thunderstorm & tornado season -- which for many states is the whole year save for the dead of winter -- I strongly recommend making the NOAA Storm Prediction Center's webpage a part of your morning news routine. Their Convective Outlook page in particular will give you a pretty good idea of whether or not you should be keeping an eye on the sky that day.