KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Crews in Kalamazoo are hard at work cleaning up damage left behind from Monday night's storms.
Pockets of strong wind gusts triggered a severe thunderstorm warning in Kalamazoo Monday afternoon. Wind gusts around the area topped 57 mph!
A massive tree fell on a home on Lay Boulevard Monday evening, crushing the roof and causing significant damage to the rest of the home. Other homes in Kalamazoo had similar damage, and a few neighborhood roads were still closed due to fallen trees.
Ryan Macher was home when the wind whipped up. A tree fell on his next-door neighbor's home, crushing the porch and causing roof and siding damage.
"It started to rain, like a downpour, and then all the sudden the rain kind of went away and it was just complete wind, like 60 mile an hour wind I'd guess," Macher said.
The gusts happened after showers moved through West Michigan and what is called a "wake low" developed.
Wake lows are not very common. They form when air dries out behind rain showers and warms up, creating a small but intense area of low pressure.
That low pressure creates a circulation driven by differences in air temperature and pressure. The circulation pulls air into the low very quickly, which results in the high wind gusts.
Unlike a regular thunderstorm where wind gusts are pushed outward from the rain, wake low winds are pulled in, but they can be just as powerful.
Want alerts when inconvenient or severe weather is headed your way? Download the FOX 17 Weather app and set up notifications for where you live.
For the latest details on the weather in West Michigan, head to the FOX 17 Weather page.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Follow FOX 17: Facebook - X (formerly Twitter) - Instagram - YouTube
