National Weather Service Comments On Benton Harbor-St. Joseph Storms

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The National Weather Service says Benton Harbor and St. Joseph got slammed with straight line winds and hail Thursday, and crews around the area are still cleaning up. National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Frazer tells WSJM News it was mostly isolated to Benton Harbor and St. Joseph.

“There was a complex of storms that came across the lake, moved into Berrien County and then to the east across southwest Michigan and produced different areas of wind damage, in some cases hail, and in some places, heavy rain,” Frazer said.

Was there a tornado?

“No, this appeared to be straight line winds, and trees of various sizes were blown over, maybe broken off. In some cases, some of the trees did fall on homes and at least one vehicle.”

Frazer says we’re not out of the woods yet, as there’s potential for more storms Friday night into Saturday morning. He warns temperatures are going to be high this weekend, and people need to watch out for heat illness. Don’t overwork yourself as you’re cleaning up. Meanwhile, Indiana Michigan Power showed about 6,4000 outages in its service area Friday morning. Farther to the south, there was only rain.