Storms sweep across northern U.P. counties
Storms sweep across northern U.P. counties
By JOHN PEPIN Journal Munising Bureau
NEWBERRY — A cluster of thunderstorms rumbled out of Minnesota and into parts of the Upper Peninsula early Sunday, toppling trees, dropping hailstones and knocking out power to numerous local residents.
Forecasters said the weather disturbance was more than a conventional line of thunderstorms, it was a large cluster of storms called a mesoscale convective system.
“It’s random storms that weaken and strengthen and weaken and strengthen as they move across an area,” said Marcia Estrem, an associate forecaster with the National Weather Service office in Negaunee Township. “And the area where the damage was done was in parts of Houghton, Keweenaw, Alger and Luce counties.”
Between 4 and 6 a.m., residents in the Laurium area reported nearly four inches of rain. In Calumet, there was penny to quarter-size hail.
The heavy rains flooded basements in some places with up to 3-feet of water and forced closure of a section of M-203 after a washout of the roadway between Begunn and Muggun creeks.
A lightning strike ignited a fire in Chassell, while power outages were reported with trees knocked down in several places, including along M-203 south of McLain State Park.
Whipping across Lake Superior, the storms next hit land in northern Alger County at Grand Marais. There, more power outages were reported and trees were felled across roads and power lines were downed, according to the Alger County Sheriff’s Department.
In neighboring Luce County, Newberry had about an inch of rain as the storms struck between 6 and 8 a.m. McMillan reported .65 inches over a 24-hour period.
Michigan State Police troopers from the Newberry post said several trees had fallen, including one that was across a roadway near Curtis in Mackinac County that was struck by two different vehicles.
Most of the storm damage in the eastern part of the Upper Peninsula occurred north of M-28.
Luce County emergency management officials reported roughly a dozen large trees down along M-123 between Newberry and Tahquamenon Falls State Park.
Some of the trees were uprooted while others were snapped off and all of them were lying in the same direction, which is characteristic of strong storms that are not tornados, Estrem said.
One tree fell on a house in Newberry, while another very large tree reportedly toppled about a mile west of McMillan.
Weather forecasters have predicted another possibility of severe thunderstorms occurring across the region today.
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