At least 1 killed, 23 hurt in rare northern Michigan tornado

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JOHN FLESHER and ED WHITE

GAYLORD, Mich. (AP) — A tornado tore through a small northern Michigan community on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring at least 23 others as it flipped vehicles, tore the roofs off of buildings, and downed trees and power lines.

The twister hit Gaylord, a city of about 4,200 people roughly 230 miles (370 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, at around 3:45 p.m.

Mike Klepadlo, owner of Alter-Start North, a car repair shop, said he and his workers took cover in a bathroom.

“I’m lucky I’m alive. It blew the back off the building,” he said. “Twenty feet (6 meters) of the back wall is gone. The whole roof is missing. At least half the building is still here. It’s bad.”



This image provided by Steven Bischer, shows an upended vehicle following an apparent tornado, Friday, May 20, 2022, in Gaylord, Mich. (Steven Bischer via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/tornadoes-michigan-detroit-weather-d49ca0c7505cd7c3eda55132ea6eca5d

[yaesu]

1. Been there a few times over the decades, that is rare for northern MI.

Last edited Fri May 20, 2022, 10:32 PM - Edit history (2)

The last tornado that big to hit anywhere in northern MI was back in 1991, that last one to hit within 20 MI of Gaylord was back in 1974.

[VGNonly]

2. Gaylord is a backyard for me.

I've been there many times. I have friends that live nearby, Johannesberg. I called them, all is well.

[JoeOtterbein]

3. Another F...!...

...Moment on the environment for me.

I cry today for my babies, and grand-babies, who are facing a "challenged" future without me.

(tears)

[James48]

4. No advance watch or warning.

I live 40 miles north of there- and there wasn’t a watch, or any warning, until it actually struck. The warnings were activated when the tornado was actually still tearing things up.

Michigan usually does a good job of having watches in advance.

[LeftInTX]

6. Yikes! There should have been!

It's the WPC, NWS and SPC that usually help put watches together. Of course, it's the local NWS office who put out the warnings.

There should have been a watch...

A Kennedy is from Minneapolis area and she was complaining about storms over there last night. (Thursday)

[wnylib]

7. Tornadoes are not common in western NY, but

they do happen here often enough to warrant a good alert system. But there are no warning sirens here. There are 4 radio stations all owned by the same media group. None of them issue tornado watches or warnings. We do not have a local TV station. Buffalo is the closest one.

The only good warning source here is the Buffalo NPR station. They give watches and warnings from the US Weather Service at Buffalo for surrounding communities and counties, with specifically named villages and cities. After 5 years of living in Ohio before moving here 40 years ago, I learned to recognize potential tornado weather and tune in to the NPR station for weather news.

It really annoys me that local media are oblivious to watches and warnings.

[LeftInTX]

8. We don't have tornado sirens in San Antonio

I live in a major media market, so the TV buzzes.

I also get alerts on my cell phone.

We get a few tornadoes here, but usually F0. (Often from hurricane remnants) F0s are the lowest and their tracks are often very short.
We had some F2s in 2012 and 2017. (They can cause extensive damage to homes. Removing and/or severely damaging roofs and can destroy mobile homes and barns ) The last tornado death we had here was in 1988, but I read it was actually from a tornado induced heart attack. We had two tornado deaths in 1953.





However, I would think winter storms, thunderstorms and flash floods would be a common enough occurrence in Western NY that the local radio stations would broadcast alerts. We get them for flash floods and severe thunderstorms.

[wnylib]

10. Sure, we get winter warnings all the time here.

But nobody here knows how to deal with tornado watches and warnings. We had a series of them for a few years in the mid 1980s, and again, around 2010. There were no warnings until after a few places were struck.

[James48]

5. Video from the scene

From local news.

https://www.facebook.com/MeteorologistMichaelStevens/videos/985620305482529/

Now Saying 1 dead, 40 injured.

[LeftInTX]

9. Everyone was out and about running errands etc..Doesn't look like many were able to seek shelter.

&ab_channel=ClickOnDetroit%7CLocal4%7CWDIV

&ab_channel=RandyBadour

?t=124


At the 6:18 min mark, this guy didn't know what the heck was going on. The tornado is to his back.
He fights the wind. Then keeps going.