What is a wake low? The cause of Michiana's storm damage explained

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Most of the damage that Michiana saw yesterday didn’t happen during the first round of heavy rain and storms or later overnight storms, but by what was in between those two.

Now, as I mentioned, this damage was caused mostly by an extremely gusty system known as a wake low that formed between the lines of storms.

A wake low is caused by sinking warm air behind a storm. Storm systems usually lift air in front of it and drop air behind it, but if that dropping happens at a time of day when heating is normally happening, the difference between the cold air in the storm and the warm air sinking behind it will create a wake low.

The atmosphere always wants to be in a state of balance, so air rushes towards that surface low pressure and we get gusty conditions.

Very strong winds happen from this, with the highest wind gust in Michiana yesterday measuring up to 70 mph recorded at South Bend International Airport.

As we have seen in the past 24 hours, a severe wind threat can cause just as much damage as a tornado, so make sure you are staying aware of the threats for the next round of severe weather on air, online, and on the ABC57 weather app.