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| Final outlook of the night removes all but a Marginal Risk for extreme SE Michigan |
Most of the severe threat has died down for the night. The tornado watch in west Michigan was never extended, and aside from some reports of light damage such as downed trees and power outages (along with some amazing footage of one of the most evil looking shelf clouds I've ever seen), no major severe weather really manifested itself even within the watch area. There were no reports of tornadoes touching down.
I did manage to capture something amazing, though, which is nothing short of a gift from the heavens. I looked out my window about 45 minutes ago to see this:
Those are altocumulus mammatus clouds. What makes these types of clouds form is not yet fully understood, and there are a wide range of theories, but the general consensus is that they're usually characterized by extreme instability and/or high levels of windshear. They usually only occur under the base of a supercell thunderstorm; to see them form under altocumulus clouds is extraordinarily rare. To put this into perspective, me seeing this in Michigan is akin to a bird watcher spotting a bald eagle in Florida. This is essentially the holy grail of skywatching, next to seeing an actual tornado on the ground. I personally have never seen these types of clouds in my life.
It's been a good day.
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