40s and clouds here today. Good reprieve from the sweltering 50s and sun earlier in the week. But now we're headed into the 60s and maybe cracking 70....

If you haven't seen it before, here is a good paper on that outbreak with a Michigan focus: https://ejssm.com/ojs/index.php/site/article/view/14/13 The surface map from that afternoon is quite something. It was one of those cases where the dryline made it unusually far east, and that undoubtedly played a role in the setup that day. Look at the dewpoint gradient in IL and WI!

April 3, 1956 was the date of the worst tornado to ever hit the Grand Rapids area. All of Kent and Ottawa counties’ strongest tornadoes happened month of April. That’s because April is when we can have the strongest clashes of air masses and stronger winds aloft. That’s what happened April 3, 1956, creating the only F5 tornado ever in West Michigan and one of only two to ever dig into Michigan’s soil. Between 6:40 p.m. and 7:50 p.m., the Hudsonville-Standale tornado cased immense devastation along its 52-mile path. Seventeen people were killed. The damage in northwest sections of Hudsonville was incredible, Though the damage was serious, the area was still relatively rural at the time, with homes scattered about. Much more development has been built up since the 1956 twister. Once the tornado left Hudsonville, it continued a path to the northeast, impacting homes in the Jenison area. Jenison High School, not yet standing because it was built in 1970, would have been in the tornado’s path. The tornado continued on through Walker, eventually crossing what is now I-96 and then M-37 (Alpine Avenue). The tornado continued racing northeast at approximately 45 mph, eventually cutting through Rockford and ending near Trufant. I live less than a mile from were the tornado crossed Bristol NW.

I think this is good way to show Sunday...