Tornadoes · United States · Michigan · 1961

F2 tornado, Kent and Ottawa counties, Michigan, September 22, 1961

This F2 tornado ran 2.7 miles across Kent and Ottawa counties on September 22, 1961, touching down at 5:20 PM GMT-5 and reaching 2,000 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, 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
September 22, 1961
Touchdown
5:20 PM GMT-5 (22:20 UTC)
Path length
2.7 miles (4.3 km)
Path width
2,000 yards (1829 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
Counties
Kent and Ottawa counties
Touchdown point
43.030, -85.820
Lift-off point
43.120, -85.770
Record number
622

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

10.3 hours before the tornado, 197 km from the path. September 22, 1961.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 12:00Z on 1961-09-22Temperature 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 -6029, lifted condensation level 897 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 1961-09-22The 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 29 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 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
-6029 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
897 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
113 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Detroit, MI (KFNT), 00:00Z

1.7 hours after it, 197 km from the path. September 23, 1961.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 1961-09-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 258 joules per kilogram, CIN -136, lifted condensation level 1340 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 1961-09-23The 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 146 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 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
258 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-136 J/kg
Surface CAPE
491 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1340 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
146 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
183 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Muskegon (MKG), 37 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:00 UTC7665200° 12 kt1012.2-TSRA
22:00 UTC6761110° 15 kt1011.9-TSRA
23:00 UTC6964180° 6 kt1011.2
00:00 UTC7066160° 6 kt1011.2

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1961 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of September 22, 1961

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 221:15 PM GMT-5F2Rock, WI6.92201$5,000 to $50,000
September 222:00 PM GMT-5F2Fond du Lac, WI12.6300$5,000 to $50,000
September 225:00 PM GMT-5F1Will, IL2.0800$5,000 to $50,000

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.