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Ingredients for thunderstorms coming together for Monday

Posted at 10:16 PM, Apr 23, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-23 22:16:31-04
When thunder roars, go indoors.

When thunder roars, go indoors.

WEST MICHIGAN — When we start talking about the chance for thunderstorms, there are a few things we need to look at. Temperatures play a key role here in Michigan for whether we get thunderstorms or not.

Thunderstorms require some kind of lift. Now because we don’t have mountains here, storms rely on their own energy or warm air to ring out thunder and lightning. As most of us know, warm air rises, thus providing the lift needed for thunderstorms.

Looking at the models below, we can see that they are predicting very warm temperatures for Monday evening. Don’t get your hopes up for a toasty day though, I think the models are a little over zealous and we will probably only reach the low 70s and upper 60s on Monday. Regardless, upper 60s is still warm and able provide the lift needed for a few thunderstorms.

Looking over the other image, we can see that rain will move through Michigan around that time. The combination of warm air and energy with this system will cause the instability needed for a few thunderstorms to pop up.

Warm MondayMonday Rain

There are no severe weather warnings or statements for West Michigan at this time.