Such a Nice Day...Until the EF3 Came Through

Like many cities in the east, Detroit experienced significantly warmer than normal early spring temperatures. Thursday, 15 March 2012, started out as yet another beautiful day, with daytimes highs expected to be in the mid-70s, which is 30 to 35 degrees above normal. There was a slight chance of thunderstorms, and only an isolated pulse-type of severe storm was remotely anticipated. Scattered thunderstorms began developing during the mid-afternoon, and a severe thunderstorm watch was issued...with severe hail being the primary threat. Then, one supercell developed, followed by others. This paper will focus on one supercell that dropped an EF3 tornado which devastated the community of Dexter, as well as our on-air coverage of that storm, which is credited with being a primary factor in nobody being hurt or killed despite the destruction.