09/28/2023

SWMI AMS/NWA Chapter Meeting Minutes

Thursday, September 28, 2023

West Michigan Aviation Academy 

5363 44th st., Grand rapids, MI 49512

Officers Present: Alana Dachtler, Aubrey Papke, Linda Paige 

Attendance: Ernie Ostuno (speaker), Tom Osterbaan, Bruce Smith, Kimberly Smith, William Marino, Kriegh Tomaszewski, Jim Carpenter, Matt Kirkwood, Jeff Wilhelm, Cort & Kim & Hadley Scholten

Call to order: 7:02pm

The 8/24/23 Kent County Tornado Damage Survey By Ernie Ostuno 

The meeting starts and president Alana Dachtler leads discussion and talks about orders of business and talks about monthly meetings on Thursday evenings. Summer weather predictions results coming next month in October, meeting dues recap, welcomes speaker Ernie Ostuno to the floor to discuss the Kent Country Tornados from 8/24/23.

Ernie describes finding the tornadoes pathway from around Alpine township to Plainfield Township. Pathway was about 9 miles, 110 mph, EF2, looked similar to Kentwood tornadoes in 2014. Ernie describes a damage indicator and what the different acronyms and levels of these damages are. 

Peach Ridge and Baumhoff north of 6 Mile is where the rain wrapped tornado began, some roof and apple orchard damage with trees snapped at the graft point. Peak Winds were EF0, Ernie describes how foresters determine these damages by testing break-points of trees with a winch. 80-85 mph range. Cornstalk convergence observed near Baumhauf.

Tornado strengthened a bit around 5668 Alpine Avenue NW at Backyard Fun Zone buildings. West facing doors blew in and block walls blew out. Peak winds around 100 mph. A Lot of debris lofted and blown down into the field behind.

Ernie makes another connection to a past tornado on August 20 of 2016 with the corn convergence and garage blowing in and cinder block walls falling apart. 

House on 687 Scott View Drive NE garage door and wall blew out, severe destruction to roof from winds blowing in and punctured house next door. 768 Scott view Drive NE also had a garage door that blew in and the wall blew out. Estimated winds around these houses were 95 to 105 mph. 

Ernie compares the 2023 tornado to a 1965 and 1956 tornadoes to a tornado alley with third acre farm.

Ernie is currently studying correlation coefficient cross-section showing debris plume up to about 7800 feet. Somewhat low for a tornado with winds in excess 100 mph. This is then compared to the Ingham County EF2 on 5/20/22 where the correlation coefficient cross-section had greater debris. Maximum estimated wind speeds and TDS height is compared on a scatter plot.

Scott lake Golf Course view drive NE, classic example of white pine limb shedding. 90 mph or more. To estimate the wind speeds based on tree damage - tree as a MAST, SAIL and ANCHOR. How will each component respond in wind? Trees can fail at any of these points, whichever is currently weakest. Diagnosis: find failure point and estimate wind speed that caused failure. Limbs and trunk start bending, limbs break off and sometimes trunk snaps. Trees have adapted to survive wind storms. Brittle wood survives better than other trees. Individual trees have lower wind tolerance to others; rotted trunk, rotted limb, high H/D low LCR, shallow roots. His studies use lots of forestry resources, Ernie is revamping the tree damage indicator project and EF scale. He then goes on to describe another table of what these measurements look like with multiple trees.

 Ernie opens up for discussion and questions amongst meeting members. 

Meeting adjourned at: 8:24pm

After the meeting Treasurer Andy Schut reported a Checking account balance: $27.83 and a Savings account balance:  $893.97