GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Wednesday remains a "Weather Aware" day across West Michigan with the possibility of severe weather.
A Tornado Watch was issued across a chunk of West Michigan, but has since been cancelled after the morning round of thunderstorms.
TIMING
While we are already seeing strong storms this morning and potentially isolated to scattered severe storms, the strongest will likely be from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. There will be additional weaker storms from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., out ahead of the actual cold front.
HAZARDS
West Michigan is under a general thunderstorm risk as of 12PM Wednesday.
The primary question mark of Wednesday's severe risk is how morning thunderstorms behave, and its impact on additional convection during the afternoon. Widespread thunderstorms this morning could "overwork" the atmosphere, limiting the severe weather risk when the cold front arrives in the afternoon.
SAFETY
If a severe thunderstorm warning or tornado warning is issued, you need to seek shelter from this storm, preferably in a basement. If you do not have a basement, you will want to go into an interior room with no windows, trying to put as many walls between you and the outside as possible.
For your safety, it is important that you have multiple ways to stay weather aware and relieve critical weather information.
There are five direct ways in which you can receive weather alerts. The first is NOAA Weather Radio. We often refer to them as the “smoke detector” for severe weather, because they will automatically sound an alarm in the case of a natural disaster or severe weather.
There is also always your local TV station and radio station. The 13 ON YOUR SIDE Weather Department streams on-air and online during an active storm.
Your smartphones also offer numerous ways to receive critical weather alerts. We have a 13 ON YOUR SIDE Weather App that will allow you to track the storm and receive alerts.
Outdoor sirens are also an option, as they will go off in the threat of immediate danger, but are only meant to be heard outdoors. So, if you are inside this should not be how you receive your severe weather alerts. Outdoor sirens can also be unreliable, difficult for those hard of hearing and go off for other reasons beyond tornadoes.
While all of those methods are great, none of them are foolproof. So we suggest having two ways to receive alerts at all times.
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