Tornadoes · United States · Michigan · 1957

F2 tornado, Ottawa County, Michigan, June 22, 1957

This F2 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Ottawa County on June 22, 1957, touching down at 4:30 PM GMT-5 and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 to $50,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
June 22, 1957
Touchdown
4:30 PM GMT-5 (21:30 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
County
Ottawa County
Touchdown point
42.870, -85.870
Record number
604

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Detroit, MI (KFNT), 12:00Z

9.5 hours before the tornado, 200 km from the path. June 22, 1957.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 12:00Z on 1957-06-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -5583, lifted condensation level 1340 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Detroit, MI at 12:00Z on 1957-06-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 169 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 24 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5583 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1340 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
169 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
162 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Detroit, MI (KFNT), 00:00Z

2.5 hours after it, 200 km from the path. June 23, 1957.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 1957-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2391 joules per kilogram, CIN -9, lifted condensation level 1396 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 1957-06-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 81 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 21 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2391 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-9 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3694 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1396 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
81 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
153 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
5.8
0-3 km lapse rate
7.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1957 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 22, 1957

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 221:00 AM GMT-5F2Jackson, MO19.810$50 to $500
June 2211:00 AM GMT-5F0Freeborn, MN0.110
June 225:05 PM GMT-5F1Berrien, MI10.750$5,000 to $50,000
June 225:10 PM GMT-5F0Allegan, MI1.010under $50
June 227:00 PM GMT-5F2Bay, MI0.110$5,000 to $50,000
June 228:00 PM GMT-7F1Baca, CO0.110$50 to $500
June 2211:00 PM GMT-5F0Yoakum, TX0.110
June 2211:18 PM GMT-5F1Hale, TX0.510$500 to $5,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.