A high wind warning is in effect for Ingham County and most of mid-Michigan until 8 p.m. today.

“This is big, and for people who say, ‘Ahh, I’m from Michigan
and I’ve seen it all,’ well, this is going to blow your patio over,” said George Wetzel, a meteorologist at the National Weather
Service in Grand Rapids, Mich.

A broad area of low pressure located Tuesday evening in northern Minnesota is expected to swing through the upper Great Lakes and into Ontario, Canada.

As the storm system “deepens” — barometric pressure decreases and the atmosphere becomes more unstable — sustained wind speeds might increase to more than 45 mph, Wetzel said.

The National Weather Service reported the system officially is stronger than one on Nov. 10, 1998, when one of the most powerful storm systems in the region’s history crossed through and wind gusts up to 70 mph were common.

Today’s storm is expected to be stronger than the storm which sank the SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior about 35 years ago.

“It looks likes its the deepest low (we’ve seen),” he said. “I guess you could say its unprecedented.”

A tornado warning was issued Tuesday afternoon for eastern Ingham County, prompting many students across campus to take shelter just in case.

Sara Upton, a retailing junior, was in the Main Library during the warning and said people were instructed to move to the building’s basement.

Students walked back upstairs and waited in a hallway for about 20 minutes when the basement was too crowded, she said.

The scramble from shelter to shelter and possibility of any tornado was not of most concern, Upton said.

“I was just worried about finishing my online quiz at the time,” she said.

No storm-related damage was reported Tuesday, but East Lansing police officers are prepared to direct traffic if the power goes out, Lt. Kevin Daley said.

Although MSU has a system in place for students and faculty to receive alerts, there is no university policy that automatically cancels classes in the event of a warning.

But some professors, such as history professor Samuel Thomas, said he would excuse any student if a life-threatening situation was taking place.

“I just try to use common sense — don’t endanger your life,” he said.