Destructive Thunderstorms Come Within Miles of Crippling Ice Storm on Chaotic Michigan Spring Day
March 30, 2025 will be a memorable day for many Michiganders as an incredibly varied slew of weather hit the state.
At the tip of the Lower Peninsula from Petoskey to Mackinaw, Gaylord and Alpena the region was completely crippled by an ice storm that left as much as an inch and a half of ice making roads impassable and felling thousands of trees.
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Across the middle and southern portions of the Lower Peninsula, a narrow, fast moving thunderstorm system brought high winds both straight line and tornados that brought destruction from the Indiana state line to roughly the edges of the ice storm-impacted areas.
For the ice storm, a roughly 50 mile swath of Northern Michigan is essentially closed to travel with the Michigan State Police reporting as of Monday morning travel in the state north of M-32 (that's East Jordan through Gaylord to Alpena) is impassable.
The Mackinac Bridge also closed for falling ice.
On the southern end of the system, the storms brought winds above hurricane force. The airport at Jackson clocked a 96 mile-per-hour gust. An 81 mph wind was observed at the Grand Rapids airport while 80 mph wind was coming off the lake at the pier marking the outlet of the St Joseph River near Benton Harbor.
That Jackson wind gust blew the roof from a mobile home. Damage reports lined the state from Niles north to past Muskegon, Lansing and Newaygo.
Check out some videos of both the ice storm and thunderstorm aftermath.
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Gallery Credit: Eric Meier