Michigan is being hit with a fairly uncommon weather system tonight. It’s called a Quasi-Linear Convective System, and it has the potential to be dangerous.
The system it’s a severe storm with straight line wind patterns and the potential to form tornadoes.
Andy Sullivan is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord. He said one QLCS hit the state last night, and another is expected tonight.
“They occur every year, especially in the plains,” Sullivan said. “Northern Michigan we don’t see them quite as often maybe every couple, three years but, having two possibly in two nights consecutively is pretty uncommon.”
He said quasi-linear systems only occur east of the Rockies. The systems are formed when humidity from the Gulf of Mexico meets with fronts farther north.
Due to the strong winds that accompany the storm, Sullivan said QLCS’s have the potential to form tornadoes.
“Yeah in a lot of cases you can get little spin ups of tornadoes along the actual squaw line itself,” he said. “So you can have some localized heavier damage intermixed with the wider spread straight line wind damage.”
Due to the nature of the QLCS, Sullivan said it could result in a deadly aftermath.
“Certainly they can be very dangerous with strong winds of 70 and sometimes 80 miles per hour,” he said. “You can knock down trees and power lines and any of that stuff can fall on homes and cars and be potentially deadly.”
Sullivan said after the weather passes, the area should experience a few days of cooler temperatures followed by the tail end of summer weather.