Large hail, lightning, damaging winds: Severe storms could hit part of Michigan this weekend

After our mid-week severe weather spawned a tornado and brought on flash-flooding in parts of Southeast Michigan, our next severe weather threat is shifting north for this weekend.

Scattered but severe storms could impact the top half of the Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula, the National Weather Service said.

For the Lower Peninsula, that risk area is shown in yellow on the map below. It runs down on a diagonal from Traverse City to Cadillac and then into the tip of The Thumb.

Big hail, high winds and lots of lightning could be associated with this storm line. So if you have outside activities planned Saturday morning or early that afternoon, make sure you have a way to get weather alerts and have access to shelter.

“A line of strong storms is expected to track from west to east across Northern Michigan in the early Saturday morning/early Saturday afternoon time frame, potentially bringing severe weather to the area,” NWS meteorologists in Gaylord said. “Primary hazards will be damaging winds, large hail, and frequent lightning.”

Here are the key messages being shared by the NWS:

• Scattered severe thunderstorms are possible across Northern Michigan on Saturday.
• The most likely time for thunderstorms will be from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
• Primary threat is damaging wind gusts, large hail and frequent lightning.
• Very hot and humid weather is in store for the region this weekend. Heat index values are expected to reach well into the 90s and even low 100s Sunday and Monday afternoon. Little relief is expected overnight with lows staying in the 70s.
• Strong southwest winds gusting to 30-45 mph will likely lead to high swim risk for some Northern Michigan beaches Saturday.

Severe storms could also develop over the western half of the U.P. very early Saturday. That timeframe is from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m., NWS meteorologists in Marquette said.

“After some spotty daytime convection, a complex of storms is expected to move through late tonight into the early hours of Saturday. Some strong to severe storms will be possible, with the main concerns being strong, damaging winds and large hail.”

Confidence in the storms developing across Michigan early Saturday is high, NWS staff said. The exact timing is still a little uncertain, so that’s why that time range is broad right now.

As we get more updates later today, we will post them on our MLive Weather page here.