Southeast Michigan severe weather: Strong winds, hail, isolated tornado risks Thursday

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The atmosphere is starting to wake up across Southeast Michigan today, and you can already feel it with temperatures surging well above where we’ve been lately.

Many spots across southern Michigan are making a run into the upper 60s and even touching the low 70s this afternoon—plenty of warmth to help fuel what could become a stormy evening.

Severe thunderstorm risks

We’ve already had a few rounds of thunderstorms move through earlier today, with some rumbles reported from Garden City through Livonia and into Downtown Detroit. Those storms brought brief heavy downpours but have since pushed out of the area. 

And while sometimes early-day storms can take the edge off severe weather potential later on, that doesn’t appear to be the case today. The atmosphere still has enough energy left in it to support stronger storms as we head into the evening hours.

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Timeline:

The window we’re watching closely runs from about 5-10 p.m, with the most favorable timing for severe weather between 6–8 p.m. That’s when conditions look most supportive for storms to organize and strengthen as they move through.

Biggest threats:

The primary threats remain consistent: damaging wind gusts up to 60 mph, hail around 1 inch in diameter, and the chance for an isolated tornado. 

While the highest risk—the true bull’s-eye—continues to sit just to our south across northern Indiana and northern Ohio, southeast Michigan is close enough to that zone that we can’t ignore the threat.

What you can do:

One thing to keep in mind this evening is how quickly storms can ramp up. It may stay quiet for much of the afternoon, and then things change in a hurry during that early evening window. That’s typical of setups like this, where all the ingredients are in place but just need the right trigger.

So as we head through the rest of the day, it’s a good idea to stay weather aware, especially if you have plans between dinner time and the evening commute home or evening activities. We’ll be watching closely to see exactly how things evolve, but the potential is there for a few storms to turn strong to severe before the night is over.

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