A severe thunderstorm swept across west Michigan on Friday evening, prompting multiple 'destructive' warnings for winds up to 80 mph that left at least one woman reportedly trapped in her home and triggered alerts from Allegan to Calhoun counties. The National Weather Service began issuing the first severe thunderstorm warnings shortly after 3:24pm, after earlier placing the region under a broader severe thunderstorm watch.
Meteorologists had flagged the risk hours earlier, saying storms capable of damaging straight-line winds were likely to arrive in west Michigan after 5pm or 6pm. By mid-afternoon, that forecast had materialised into concrete alerts as a fast-moving line of storms built to the west and raced inland, catching many residents on their commute home and into the evening.
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