Two Tornadoes Confirmed in Macomb County...

It has been confirmed that the thing I was photographing the other day was not just a funnel cloud, but a dying twister. 

The twister already passed the area it is said to have hit (15 & Groesbeck/16 & Garfield).  The sirens were screaming from that direction shortly before (definitely would be within earshot of sirens from that part of Clinton Twp).  When I was taking this pic, I felt an intense wind burst coming from behind me.  It was wierd because all the action was in front of me, and I was shooting at an angle that was perpendicular to movement.  I kept turning around to make sure there were no other formations coming from this cell on any side.  It was clear on 3 sides of me and above me, with some blue showing through.

Notice how dark it was in the photo above taken at 7:57 pm. 

At 8:01, the skies lightened as the cell passed (the large tree in the photo below is seen partially in the right of the pic above).  After taking this photo, I got into my car and headed to the north end of the lot to shoot southeast. 

The next pic below was taken at 8:05, now facing southeast.  Behind me, the sun was already visible through a mist, and another 5 minutes later, was out completely.

Here is a great slideshow by local ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV. One of my pics of the tornado dissipating was used when it was probably over St. Clair Shores between 10-11 mile, or perhaps it had gone out over the water at that point.  Some of the photos of damage are bizarre.  There's one of a trampoline up against the house - like at the 2nd floor level.  There's another shot of a hot tub that was shoved off a porch.  Now that's force if it was filled with water, and given it's low center of gravity.  Many large trees were toppled.

If you want to see video, watch this.  If you are short on time, slide over to the 3 minute mark and you will see filmed exactly what I was witnessing in the parking lot, from a further distance, and from a different angle. 

EDIT:  Here's great footage of it coming and then taking out the yard of these folks.  Watch where the small canopy they were under landed. 

I'm told that my photos were used on Fox 2 news in a broadcast.  I had sent the pics to both the ABC and Fox affiliates.  The latter I had used the form on their website.  I suggested the pics may be used by the Weather Service investigating since the camera was fixed and rotation could be seen between the shots.  I'm sure they found enough evidence on the ground, by the looks of it.  Often times, straightline winds will have enough force to do the same kind of heavy damage.  There are various signs they use to discern whether it was straightline winds or a tornado, such as the direction the trees  had fallen.  They can be all in one direction close to each other, but a block or two away, they might be laying in a different direction.  Or, actual twists can be seen in the wood of a tree stump, versus straight splinters.

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Apparent funnel cloud caught on camera...

The rotation is seen in a photo sequence I captured (8:05 - 8:08pm) from the parking lot of St. Edmund's parish in Warren. 

Edit August 21, 2010: The Weather Service confirmed that there were two tornados - one of them in the area of 15 & Groesbeck in Clinton Twp, which is where I thought the sirens were coming from at about the time that the wind kicked up.  I recall that what spooked me, was that the skies were clear behind me, yet that is the direction the wind was coming from.  This formation I shot, was that of a dying tornado - the one which crossed that intersection.

Published : Thursday, 19 Aug 2010, 9:02 PM EDT



myFOXDetroit.com Staff Reports


SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - Metro Detroiters are cleaning up after another round of severe summer storms. Oakland and Northern Macomb counties took the brunt of the blow.


The National Weather Service confirms a tornado touched down at 15 Mile Road and Groesbeck in Clinton Township and another touched down in Shelby Township.

That which I captured is not among the most spectacular of photographs of yesterday's supercell, which left a trail of damage, mostly in Macomb County.  But the sequence does reveal rotation in the clouds.  Read more below...

The sun was shining as I went into a local Kroger, with no sign of storms coming.  15 minutes later, while at the back of the store, I received a text from a weather service telling me that a tornado warning was up for my county.   I dismissed it thinking someone punched in a wrong county code.  Then, I went into checkout, took one look out the window which faced the north, and realized, it was no error.  It was still sunny where I was at, but looking at the outer cloud bands, I could see rotation.  The lightening was intense.

As I drove home, I tossed my cold groceries in, then grabbed my camera and tripod.  I went to a parking lot with a better view thinking, "this is really stupid - that lightening is all hitting the ground".  I literally said my "act of contrition" as I stood in the parking lot of St. Edmund's and shot away.  I was trying to capture lightening and instead snagged a funnel cloud. 

I began shooting north where I saw the lightening.  I had an unusual side view (most storms come from the southwest here, not the northwest traveling southeast)  I normally see the back side of a storm at best when it is south of me.  This was the first time I watched it move from north on a southeast path.  The X is about where I was standing, and you can see the storm cell path.

The sirens were going off northeast of my location where I saw this all. The wind just kicked up out of nowhere and things got spooky.  I looked up, around and behind me and it was still clear, so all of that wind was coming from what I was watching north of me.  As I watched the storm cell shift rapidly to the southeast, I got in my car and drove to the other side of the lot so I could shoot east/southeast.  That is when I spotted the apparent funnel and saw the rotation in the surrounding clouds. 

Rotation in clouds seen in photosequence

If you go to my smugmug page for this storm, single-click each photo first to load it.  After you have done that, you will be able to toggle between the photographs to see the rotation in the clouds.  Try pictures 2-3 first.  Then, rotation is visible in the last 4 photos after it had dissipated (it's best after you have the pics loaded to toggle back and forth between the 5th and 8th photos). These were shot some 15-30 seconds apart.  In all cases, look at the full picture where you can see the outer bands going in one direction at the top, and those where the apparent funnel was traveling going in another direction.

From start to finish, the photo sequence lasted from about 8:05 through 8:08pm.  A friend who lives in St. Clair Shores, which is where I thought it was over when I first spotted it, said it sounded like a freight train.  She lost power for a while.  Looking at the radar map, here is the path circled, and where I was standing. 

There are some really awesome pics by other in this collection at local WXYZ-TV.  Click "photo" above the picture and use the slideshow feature.  Also view the videos. 

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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

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Nuts! Freezing rain....

Photos I took after an ice-storm in January of 2007

I got up at 5:30 when freezing rain began with hopes of getting out the door and over to Grotto before things got too bad. It has been predicted to be warm enough to melt around 10:00 and a little later in the northern suburbs of metro Detroit.

Just a few minutes after 7:00am, and it is clear that I will be walking to the Catholic parish next door, St. Edmund's. I'm grateful to have this option.

Today is my mother's birthday and we have a party planned at the nursing home where she is residing temporarily at 1:45 today. I have to pick things up ahead of that so Noon mass is not an option.

I feel bad for Fr. Perrone and the choir. I am on a break from choir due to my mother's health issues and lack of time. This is a choir practice day. So many things have hampered choir practices after the 9:30am Mass on Sundays when they rehearse from 11-12, and on Wednesdays when practice takes place between 7-9pm. Bad weather has been high on the list of issues, completely shelving the abbreviated practice that takes place every Ash Wednesday following Mass. Keep the choir in your prayers. They are a dedicated bunch that sacrifice much for the sake of providing such beautiful sacred music at our parish. In the end, no matter how little practice they get, it seems the Blessed Mother and their guardian angels sees that they pull it off!

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