Whitmer's office asks for investigation into why a tornado watch wasn't issued Friday

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office has hinted at whether federal budget cutbacks at the National Weather Service had an impact on how much notice that Southwest Michigan residents had ahead of Friday's dangerous, tornadic activity.

"The National Weather Service exists to monitor conditions and inform Americans of severe weather in their communities. The fact that the (National Weather) Service did not issue a tornado watch is troubling, especially with the loss of life in Michigan," Whitmer spokeswoman Stacey LaRouche said in a statement to The Detroit News. "While tornadoes can be hard to predict, the federal government should investigate whether the failure to issue a watch was related to federal cuts." 

Whitmer's office has not responded for comment from CBS News Detroit. 

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center did not issue a tornado watch for Michigan on Friday, even after tornado warnings were issued. There were tornado watches in other states that day, according to archives of the NWS Tornado X account. 

"No tornado watch was issued by the Storm Prediction Center because the extremely isolated nature of the storms did not warrant one," CBS News Detroit chief meteorologist Ahmad J. Bajjey said Monday about Michigan's weather conditions. "The supercell formed in a 'perfect storm' type of environment. Tornado warnings were issued for that supercell in each instance, but on a marginal risk day, as what we experienced, a watch is not normally issued unless storms are expected to be more widespread. A watch is issued hours in advance as a heads up for a large area that widespread, severe storms are likely to occur, which was not the case on Friday."

A tornado warning means that a tornado has been physically seen or indicated by weather radar, according to NWS. In a rare instance, the NWS can issue a more extreme alert with the phrase "tornado emergency," which means that a violent tornado has touched down in the specific area. 

While a tornado watch does not need to be in effect for a tornado warning or tornado emergency to be issued, the NWS explains that the watch phrasing does mean that "weather conditions could lead to the formation of severe storms and tornadoes." 

Archives of the storm alerts as they were issued, and follow-up reports from the NWS, detail the chronology. 

Friday's weather maps from the NWS Storm Prediction Center placed Southern Lower Michigan into a "marginal risk." The CBS News Next Weather Team closely watched the scenario because of the potential for storms. 

"Despite there only being a Marginal Risk (level 1/5) for severe weather on March 6th, the environment was favorable for tornadoes in the afternoon," NWS said later. 

And that's what happened. 

Storm formation

A National Weather Service Severe Weather Summary report for March 6 explained that a supercell formed in La Porte County, Ind., and then moved northeast into Southern Lower Michigan. The NWS bureaus in Northern Indiana and Grand Rapids have since determined that the supercell fed four tornadoes in Michigan. 

A tornado warning with the phrase "radar indicated" was issued at 3:14 p.m. Friday for an area that included Edwardsburg, Michigan. Several counties would eventually have tornado warnings with that phrase. The phrase "life-threatening situation" was added to some notices, including an update to a tornado warning that included Three Rivers. 

Tornado damage was later confirmed in Edwardsburg, Three Rivers and Union City, with the north side of Union City among the hardest-hit areas. 

There were three fatalities in Branch County and one fatality in Cass County as a result of the tornadoes, along with injuries in Branch County and St. Joseph County. 

The NWS did issue a severe thunderstorm watch from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday for part of Southwest Michigan, including Branch County, according to the agency's social media posts. The tornado outbreak had ended by this time, but there were additional severe thunderstorms in the region.     

Storm surveys

Survey teams from NWS have since issued preliminary ratings of the tornadoes as follows: 

• Edwardsburg (Cass County) - EF-1 with maximum winds of 95 mph. 
• Three Rivers (St. Joseph County) - EF-2 with maximum winds of 130 mph. 
• Union City (Branch County) - EF-3 with maximum winds of 160 mph. 

And the NWS Grand Rapids has confirmed an EF-0 tornado in Calhoun County. 

Whitmer surveyed the tornado-damaged area via Michigan State Police helicopter on Sunday.

"Our hearts go out to anyone affected by the severe storms and tornadoes," the NWS Northern Indiana bureau said in its weather summary report.