Hail No – All the Worst Damage from Davison, Michigan Ice Storm
With Michigan's constantly changing weather, a little bit of hail is hardly newsworthy. But the kind of hail that hammered Genesee County, especially Davison, this past Thursday was anything but little.
How Does Giant Hail Form in The Middle of a Michigan Summer?
According to Treehugger, it all starts with cumulonimbus clouds, which typically sit 40,000 to 60,000 feet into the atmosphere. The lower storm clouds contain hot, humid air, but up above those clouds, temperatures drop below freezing. So, when "updrafts" occur during certain thunderstorms, the wind can whisk raindrops up into the freezing region, causing them to form into ice crystals. Or in Davison's case, ice boulders.
According to the National Weather Service, updraft speeds of around 24 mph are needed to create pea-size hail. So, you can only imagine the updraft speed that must have been present during Thursday's storm to create the incredibly large chunks that fell from the sky.
Extreme Damage in Davison
In most cases in Michigan, if there is any hail at all, it is pea-sized for the most part. And during Thursday's storm, most of Michigan was barely affected by the hail.
But in Davison, the damage was severe. The siding of homes was ripped up, car windows shattered or blown out completely, car hoods severely dented, windows of trailers and RVs blown, and more.
Todd Wenzel Buick GMC of Davison went viral for 400+ of the vehicles in their inventory getting destroyed by unbelievably large hail.
And, when the little bit of hail started clattering down on the rest of Michigan, we were sure that we were getting the worst of it at the time. Little did we know, there was "Hail on Earth" just a few short miles away.
Check out the following photos sent in by locals in the Davison area that got hit the hardest. Believe it or not, the hail continues to get bigger as you scroll.