Michigan is at the highest risk for severe weather in the U.S. on Wednesday, with isolated tornadoes possible through the afternoon and evening hours.
The Severe Weather Prediction Center has placed Southern Michigan, including Southeast Michigan and most of the Thumb region, in the Elevated Risk category for severe storms, the third highest on a scale of five. That zone stretches into Northern Ohio and Indiana.
Primary threats for storms on Wednesday are damaging winds, hail, isolated tornado activity and localized flooding.
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We don’t get severe risks this high very often. Typically, we’re listed in the Marginal or Slight risk categories. Areas stretching into Saginaw are listed in the Slight risk category.
What severe weather levels mean
Marginal, Slight, Enhanced, Moderate, and High risks represent progressively larger threats for organized severe storm episodes. Here’s a breakdown:
Thunderstorms (light green) - General or non-severe thunderstorms - Delineates, to the right of a line, where a 10% or greater probability of thunderstorms is forecast during the valid period.
1-Marginal (dark green) - Marginal risk - An area of severe storms of either limited organization and longevity, or very low coverage and marginal intensity.
2-Slight (yellow) - Slight risk - An area of organized severe storms, which is not widespread in coverage with varying levels of intensity.
3-Enhanced (orange) - Enhanced risk - An area of greater (relative to Slight risk) severe storm coverage with varying levels of intensity.
4-Moderate (red) - Moderate risk - An area where widespread severe weather with several tornadoes and/or numerous severe thunderstorms is likely, some of which should be intense. This risk is usually reserved for days with several supercells producing intense tornadoes and/or very large hail, or an intense squall line with widespread damaging winds.
5-High (magenta) - High risk - An area where a severe weather outbreak is expected from either numerous intense and long-tracked tornadoes or a long-lived derecho-producing thunderstorm complex that produces hurricane-force wind gusts and widespread damage. This risk is reserved for when high confidence exists in widespread coverage of severe weather with embedded instances of extreme severe (i.e., violent tornadoes or very damaging convective wind events).
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