I once witnessed something akin to a white squall. I was working in a small restaurant facing East Grand Traverse Bay when a huge wind (microburst?) caused several birches across the street on the water's edge to topple. Looking across the bay, I saw a wall of white and nothing else. The whole thing lasted only 15 to 20 minutes, but when it was over, several boaters had lost their lives. My daughter and her girlfriend had barely made it to the friend's house to shut the windows when it hit. They were two terrified young girls, I can assure you. The friend's house was in a wooded area on the shore of the same bay. The boaters were lost in West Grand Traverse Bay on the other side of Old Mission Penninsula.