A F1 tornado struck Tustin (Osceola county) during the late evening hours of the first of August. h.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS GRR wrote it up.
A F1 tornado struck Tustin (Osceola county) during the late evening hours of the first of August. The maximum winds were estimated to have peaked at the 100 to 110 m.p.h. range... ranking the tornado as a F1 on the Fujita scale. The tornado traveled from west to east and left a damage path that was 6.5 miles long and about a half mile wide. The storm traveled along 21 mile road passing about one mile north of the center of Tustin. The path of damage began about half a mile west of the intersection of 230th Avenue and 21 Mile Road. From there the tornado intensified and moved east. The worst damage occurred along 21 Mile Road between 220th and 200th Avenues. Numerous trees were snapped off or uprooted and several outbuildings and homes incurred roof damage from the high winds and falling trees. A garage attached to a house was destroyed and a camper was flipped over near the intersection of 21 Mile Road and 200th Avenue. The tornado continued east crossing U.S. 131 and ending between Makinaw trail and 170th Avenue, about two miles northeast of the center of Tustin. Numerous reports of downed trees and power lines were received from across most of southwestern and west central lower Michigan with severe thunderstorms through the late evening hours. One isolated report of three quarters inch hail was received from spotters in New Era (Oceana county).
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Grand Rapids, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 1, 2:55 PM EST, 4 hours 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 355 PM EDT THU AUG 01 2002 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION... FORECAST CONCERNS IN THE SHORT TERM ARE MAINLY TONIGHT...ASSOCIATED WITH THE FRONTAL PASSAGE. IN THE WAKE OF THE FRONT...HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS BACK IN FOR FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY. ALOFT...STRONG SHORTWAVE OVER MINNESOTA THIS AFTERNOON...PIVOTS NORTHEAST INTO ONTARIO...AND RIDGING REDEVELOPS ALOFT AS WELL. SO...PRECIPITATION CHANCES AND THREAT OF SEVERE ARE THE MAIN CONCERNS EARLY ON...THEN THE FORECAST SHOULD BE FAIRLY BENIGN. MODELS ARE ALL FAIRLY SIMILAR WITH THE MAIN FEATURES. COLD FRONT STRETCHES FROM THE WESTERN UPPER PENINSULA SOUTHWEST INTO IOWA AT 18Z. MOIST...UNSTABLE AIR IS IN PLACE AHEAD OF THE FRONT... WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE UPPER 80S/LOWER 90S AND DEW POINTS IN THE 70S. CAPE VALUES ARE ON THE ORDER 3000-4000 J/KG AND LI/S TO -10. BOUNDARIES FROM THE CONVECTION TO THE NORTH HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO PUSH SOUTHWARD...AND THE CAP HAS INHIBITED CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON. THE COLD FRONT PUSHING INTO THIS AIRMASS FROM THE WEST SHOULD NOT HAVE MUCH OF A PROBLEM BREAKING THE CAP THIS EVENING. WILL CONTINUE THE CHANCE POPS (40 PCT) AT THIS POINT THOUGH FOR SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. GIVEN THE EXTENT OF THE INSTABILITY...SEVERE STORMS REMAIN POSSIBLE. MAIN THREAT FOR STORMS THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT WOULD BE WIND...AS THE HIGH CAPE ENVIRONMENT WOULD SUPPORT THIS. WILL STAY NEAR GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES FOR LOWS...MAINLY IN THE 60S. LINGERING CONVECTION ALONG THE FRONT STILL SEEMS PLAUSIBLE IN THE SOUTH PER THE GOING FORECAST AND WILL LEAVE THAT AS IS. A 40 PCT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND STORMS IN THE MORNING. OTHERWISE...EXPECT MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES NORTH AND PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES SOUTH. HIGHS SHOULD MAINLY BE IN THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 80S. FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY LOOK FAIRLY QUIET WEATHER WISE...WITH SURFACE RIDGING IN PLACE...AND UPPER RIDGING REESTABLISHING ITSELF. WILL NEED TO BUMP HIGH TEMPS ON SATURDAY...AS 850MB TEMPS ARE IN THE 18 TO 19 C RANGE. WILL BUMP HIGHS INTO THE UPPER 80S AT MOST LOCATIONS. WILL LEAVE SATURDAY NIGHT DRY FOR NOW...BUT LATER FORECASTS MAY NEED TO INTRODUCE CHANCE POPS FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE THE HOT AIR RETURNS ON THE BACKSIDE OF THE RETREATING RIDGE. 850MB TEMPS ARE RISING INTO THE LOWER 20S C AND A LOW LEVEL JET IS BEGINNING TO PIVOT TOWARD LOWER MI. WILL GO WITH PARTLY CLOUDY AT THIS POINT WITH LOWS IN THE UPPER 60S. DUKESHERER EXTENDED FORECAST DISCUSSION... THE MODELS START OUT IN FAIR AGREEMENT WITH A 500 MB RIDGE ANCHORED IN THE MID WEST AND ANOTHER IN A SERIES OF WEAK SURFACE COLD FRONTS POISED TO ENTER THE WESTERN GREAT LAKES REGION. THE CANADIAN AND AVN ARE THE QUICKEST WITH THIS FRONT WITH IT EXTENDING FORM CENTRAL LAKE SUPERIOR ACROSS WI/SRN MN TO SD...ECMWF/MRF A LITTLE SLOWER WITH THE FRONT FROM THE MN ARROWHEAD TO A LOW IN THE CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS OF KS/NE. AS HAS BEEN THE CASE WITH THE PAST FEW FRONTS THERE ARE A NUMBER OF UPPER TROUGHS AND SURFACE WAVES THAT MOVE ALONG THE FRONT. UPPER WAVES GET DAMPENED OUT AS THEY MOVE THROUGH THE RIDGE AND DYNAMIC FORCING WITH THE FRONT WEAKENS AS IT STRUGGLES TO MOVE SE AND TRIES TO STALLS ACROSS NRN LWR BEFORE MOVING THROUGH. THE AVN/CANADIAN PUSH THE ONLY MODEL TO DIVERGE FROM THIS SOLUTION BRINGING THE FRONT THROUGH THE CWA ON MONDAY WHILE THE MRF WAITS FOR TUE TO BRING THE FRONT THROUGH. MODELS HAVE BEEN FAIRLY CONSISTENT IN BACKING FROPA ON THIS ONE 12 TO 24 HOURS OVER THE LAST FEW RUNS SO I HAVE DOUBTS THAT IT WILL MAKE IT THROUGH AT ALL WILL KEEP POPS FOR MONDAY AND CONTINUE THAT CHANCE THROUGH TUESDAY DUE TO THE UNCERTAINTY OF WHEN THE FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH. LOOKED AT GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES MAINLY FOR AMUSEMENT. IT LOOKS LIKE THE HEAT WILL CONTINUE. MWH .GRR...NONE.
MIZ037>040-043>046-050>052-056>058-020345-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
649 PM EDT THU AUG 1 2002
THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS
OF THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF LOWER MICHIGAN EFFECTIVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT
EDT FRIDAY MORNING. THIS WATCH INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES
IN WEST CENTRAL MICHIGAN
MASON...LAKE...OCEANA...NEWAYGO AND MUSKEGON
IN CENTRAL MICHIGAN
OSCEOLA...CLARE...ISABELLA...MECOSTA...MONTCALM AND GRATIOT
IN SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN
KENT AND OTTAWA
IN SOUTH CENTRAL MICHIGAN
IONIA
THIS WATCH INCLUDES THE ADJOINING COASTAL WATERS OF AFFECTED
LAKESHORE COUNTIES.
A TORNADO WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING TORNADOES. IF YOU
LIVE IN OR NEAR THE WATCH AREA YOU SHOULD REMAIN ALERT TO RAPIDLY
CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR THE
LOCAL NEWS OUTLETS FOR THE LATEST UPDATES AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
MJSThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
14 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Michigan in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Michigan, 2002Warnings in Michigan, August 2002
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5315566, 5315568, 5315569, 5315571, 5315567, 5315570, 5315572, 5315573, 5315574, 5315575, 5315576, 5315577, 5315578, 5315581, 5315580, 5315579.