Blog Article
April 13, 2026 Severe Weather Recap: Tornadoes & Floods
A full recap of the April 13, 2026 weather events, including confirmed tornadoes in Kansas and Minnesota, plus catastrophic storm damage in Michigan.
April 13 Recap: Early Tornadoes, Giant Hail, and a Michigan Deluge
Y'all, yesterday was one of those days where the atmosphere decided to throw the whole kitchen sink at us. We had tornadoes in the Plains, catastrophic storm damage in Michigan, a random earthquake in Nevada, and a super typhoon spinning up out in the Pacific.
We knew this week was going to be active, but Monday decided not to wait its turn. Let us walk through exactly how April 13 unfolded.
The Severe Setup Over-Delivers
Down in Kansas, Ottawa took a direct hit. Emergency managers confirmed a damaging tornado on the ground, accompanied by hail two and a half inches across. That is tennis ball size, folks. Up north in Minnesota, the atmosphere was just as volatile. A confirmed tornado touched down in Amboy and took out some farm outbuildings. Just up the road in Faribault, emergency management reported hail a full three inches in diameter.
!Diagram of a supercell updraft producing giant hail
When you get three-inch hail, you have an updraft in that thunderstorm moving at highway speeds straight up into the sky. It takes a massive amount of energy to keep a chunk of ice that heavy suspended in the air.
The Michigan Situation
While the Plains dealt with the spin-up tornadoes, Michigan took a brutal hit from severe storms and heavy water.
Bay County reported catastrophic structural damage and an aircraft incident after severe storms rolled through. We are still waiting on official National Weather Service surveys to tell us exactly what kind of winds caused that level of destruction, but the impacts were severe.
Then came the water. The rain came down so hard and fast that officials had to initiate simultaneous emergency floodgate releases at both the Tippy and Mio dams in Northern Michigan. That triggered immediate Flash Flood Warnings for the Manistee and Au Sable rivers.
!Cross-section of a dam floodgate release
The Weird and the Wild
Just to add to the historical record for April 13, the weather was not the only thing making noise.
- Nevada Earthquake: A Magnitude 5.7 earthquake rattled Silver Springs, Nevada, followed by a string of aftershocks.
- Super Typhoon Sinlaku: Out in the Western Pacific, Sinlaku reached a rare 175 mph intensity. That prompted Typhoon Warnings for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
- Sierra Snow: The Central Sierra Snow Lab wrapped up a 72-hour snowfall total of 42.6 inches. Winter is holding on tight out west.
- Wyoming Wind: Arlington, Wyoming, measured a non-thunderstorm wind gust of 65 mph.
Forecast vs. Reality
In our last update, we focused heavily on the Enhanced Risk for today across the Great Lakes and the upcoming Tax Day threat in the Southern Plains. We expected the Midwest storms to peak today.
Here is the truth. The atmosphere got a head start. The storms yesterday in Kansas and Minnesota proved that you do not need the highest risk categories on a map to see a destructive tornado. We tracked the setup, but the sheer intensity of the Michigan storms and the Kansas hail exceeded the baseline expectations for a Monday. We were looking ahead to the main event, and the warm-up act ended up causing real damage.
What Comes Next
The pattern is not done with us. Today, the Storm Prediction Center has an Enhanced Risk stretching from Iowa into the southern Great Lakes, including Chicago and Detroit. There is also an Enhanced Risk covering parts of Oklahoma. We are looking at a 30 percent probability for severe wind and hail in these zones.
By tomorrow, that threat shifts slightly east with a Slight Risk for the Southern Plains up into the Middle Mississippi Valley and across eastern Ohio into Pennsylvania.
The Bottom Line
Yesterday was a harsh reminder that weather does not respect our calendars or our forecast periods. A storm system does not wait for its designated peak day to start producing tornadoes and giant hail. If the ingredients are there, the atmosphere will use them. Have multiple ways to get warnings today, especially if you live in the Great Lakes or Oklahoma.