A severe thunderstorm moved through Ann Arbor this evening. The graphic is from 1:47 AM Friday (via the Local 4 website), just after the storm had moved east of the city. The National Weather Service issued a series of alerts including a tornado warning for the City of Ann Arbor, which briefly activated the tornado sirens at around 1 am. Residents in the student neighborhood gathered on porches to observe the unusually heavy rain and frequent lightning, and a handful of students were observed running scantily-clad through the rain.

> See NWS forecast

Local blogger Brandon characterized the storm this way:

“This is one of the best electrical storms I’ve ever witnessed. Lightning is running across the sky in really slowly-growing fingers. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen, and frankly I don’t have the scientific vocabulary to do justice describing what is happening. It’s just plain cool.”