The area in brown has a significant risk of a tornado or two later today. Please keep up on the weather in this region. 

Governor Whitmer: If you wish to be helpful, get on the bandwagon for a National Disaster Review Board which would investigate situations like this with an eye to making improvements in the way we forecast and react to disasters.  Friday's forecast for southwest Michigan was poor. There were unforecast major tornadoes. While I don't like it, it happens. I've certainly made my share of poor forecasts over a 50+ year career. The forecaster(s) involved likely feels like kicking themselves and is resolving to do better in the future.  That stipulated, there were no cuts in tornado watch forecasters at the National Storm Prediction Center where tornado watches are issued which, by the way, is not in Michigan but in Norman, Oklahoma. President Trump had nothing to do with it. I suspect Governor Whitmer already knows it. Attempting to politicize a poor weather forecast is beyond the pale.  I also fault the Detroit News  for playing along . They didn't even contact the Nat...

It has been a long time since I've run anything about economics and since the weather is pretty calm right now, it is a good time.  Unfortunately, the U.S. is a long way from capitalism as it should be practiced. These days we have a lousy version some call "crony capitalism." The well-connected prosper. In order for capitalism (I prefer the term "free enterprise") to work properly, a society needs a strong moral foundation -- which we have frittered away the past 50 years.  When I was in college, we used to argue whether it was excessive for the President of a company's salary to be more than 15 times that of the lowest paid, full-time worker. Unfortunately, today, it sometimes 4,000+ times -- terribly excessive*. Regardless, what we have now is better than socialism or, especially, communism which do nothing but breed misery and poverty for the average person.  At the end of the above cycle, a nation looks something like this.  Remember with this year'...

Kathleen, meteorologist Cat Taylor, and me at DQ  after documenting the May 19, 2013, tornado near Clearwater, Kansas.  Photographer Jaime Green and I after bagging a  tornado near Larned, Kansas, 2012. When the National Severe Storms Laboratory/University of Oklahoma storm chasing program began in 1972, a question came up: Where to celebrate if a tornado was found and documented? In the Oklahoma of the early 70's, there were very few McD's or Wendy's in rural areas where tornadoes were most likely to be found (no one wanted to chase in cities: too dangerous due to the risk of being trapped by traffic). So, a trip to Dairy Queen -- which was found in nearly every small town in Oklahoma at the time -- became a tradition if you bagged a tornado.  I've continued that tradition. We have many photos like the ones at the top of the page with great people with whom we've had the honor of chasing. BTW: I almost always get a chocolate dipped ice cream cone.  Why am I br...

The tornado sirens went off about 11:30 last night and you went to the basement for a good reason. An EF-0 tornado touched down near Lake Quivira and ended just barely into Missouri 1 mi. NE of Westwood Hills. A street is closed in Westwood Hills, it might have to do with picking up tornado debris. Fortunately, the tornado did not go any farther, otherwise it would have struck the Plaza. The tornado lasted 9 minutes.