What caused these threatening squall clouds to spread across the Michigan skies?

There was a menacing beauty in the skies as severe storms swept across Michigan on Tuesday. When storms are as strong as they were this morning, the atmosphere can display spectacular cloud formations due to turbulent conditions.

This morning, strong, straight-line winds left significant damage in their path in the form of downed trees and widespread power outages. In these types of storms, strong wind gusts occur directly before the storm. These wind gusts are often accompanied by gusts.

These are very long, low-hanging clouds. Upward movement can be observed near the leading edge. According to the National Weather Service, an important identifying feature of squall clouds is that they are always associated with the parent cloud or thunderstorm they precede.

While these clouds look threatening, they rarely produce tornadoes and are more likely to be associated with straight-line winds. However, as we saw this morning, straight-line winds can be just as dangerous, so always pay attention to weather warnings.

Another cloud that is a little less common but still present in some Michigan thunderstorms is roll clouds. As the name suggests, roll clouds are long, horizontal clouds that exhibit horizontal rolling motion. One important distinction the National Weather Service makes between shelf and roll clouds is that roll clouds are completely separated from the parent cloud or thunderstorm. This makes them less common. They are also associated with wind gusts before a thunderstorm.

Finally, it is especially important to recognize a specific cloud type, as it can indicate a possible tornado. Wall clouds look like a wall in the sky. They form as the cloud base descends, and often exhibit rotation. Wall clouds can look similar to squalls, but squalls are often long and extend across much of the horizon, while wall clouds are localized. These are not usually seen in straight-line winds like we experienced today, but rather in supercellular thunderstorms that produce tornadoes.