Michigan utilities are working quickly to restore power as forecasts predict another hot and humid day ahead.

 Michigan's two largest utilities rushed to restore power after severe storms with 60-70 mph winds knocked down trees and utility lines across the state on Tuesday, leaving over 365,000 residents without electricity at one point.

By Wednesday morning, more than 320,000 customers remained in the dark. With hot and muggy temperatures expected to reach the upper 80s, and humidity making it feel like the low to mid-90s, residents faced challenges in staying cool.

Several school districts, including Ann Arbor, Clarkston, Eastpointe, Farmington, Fowlerville, Imlay City, Royal Oak, Southfield, Waterford, and Ypsilanti, announced closures and delays.

Fallen trees and downed power lines were observed on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, near Eureka and Clifford Streets in Lansing. Steve Freitag, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in White Lake Township, described the weather as a significant event, noting that damage reports were still coming in. He also mentioned a 35% chance of thunderstorms throughout the day.

The severe weather, which included damaging winds, triggered heat advisories and tornado sirens in southeast Michigan. Fortunately, no tornadoes were reported in metro Detroit, although the storms brought oppressive heat that felt like 100 degrees or more, leading to weather warnings and school closures in the afternoon, followed by more thunderstorms in the evening that knocked out additional power lines.

In addition to power outages, the storms caused damage to homes and infrastructure, flooded roadways, and disrupted traffic signals, resulting in chaos at intersections.

"Thank you for your patience as Tuesday's storms caused devastation on one of the hottest days of summer," said Norm Kapala from Consumers Energy, which still had 120,000 customers without power. "Our focus now is to restore electricity as quickly as possible."

The Jackson-based utility announced plans to distribute free water and ice in Rockland and Midland. Meanwhile, DTE Energy faced even greater challenges, with over 203,000 customers, including nearly 80,000 in Oakland County, without power. The company is bringing in 800 line workers from outside the area to expedite restoration efforts.

Looking ahead, climate scientists express concern that human-caused climate change is leading to increasingly hotter and more volatile weather patterns, which may make events like Tuesday's storms more common in the future.