Tornadoes · United States · Michigan · 1993

F2 tornado, Ogemaw and Arenac counties, Michigan, April 24, 1993

This F2 tornado ran 7.0 miles across Ogemaw and Arenac counties on April 24, 1993, touching down at 6:22 PM EDT and reaching 440 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 3, 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
April 24, 1993
Touchdown
6:22 PM EDT (22:22 UTC)
Path length
7.0 miles (11.3 km)
Path width
440 yards (402 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
3
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
Counties
Ogemaw and Arenac counties
Touchdown point
44.150, -84.130
Lift-off point
44.220, -83.920
Record number
152

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:17 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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

10.4 hours before the tornado, 170 km from the path. April 24, 1993.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 12:00Z on 1993-04-24Temperature 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 -12736, lifted condensation level 1254 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 1993-04-24The 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 330 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 44 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-12736 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1254 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
330 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
388 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

1.6 hours after it, 170 km from the path. April 25, 1993.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 1993-04-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 250 joules per kilogram, CIN -150, lifted condensation level 733 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 1993-04-25The 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 382 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 53 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
250 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-150 J/kg
Surface CAPE
20 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
733 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
382 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
431 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.8
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Houghton Lake (HTL), 55 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:40 UTC160° 11 kt995.6
21:00 UTC6052180° 8 kt995.9DZ
21:15 UTC150° 11 kt995.3
22:00 UTC6054160° 11 kt993.9-SHRA DZ
22:09 UTC180° 12 kt25995.3
22:25 UTC290° 8 kt995.3
23:00 UTC6055240° 10 kt994.6DZ
00:00 UTC5947260° 16 kt21995.9

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1993 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 24, 1993

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 245:40 PM EDTF1Oscoda, MI0.1100$5,000 to $50,000
April 246:50 PM CDTF4Tulsa, OK5.52507100$5 million to $50 million
April 246:57 PM CDTF3Rogers, OK8.025030$5 million to $50 million
April 247:46 PM CDTF2Mayes, OK4.51501$500,000 to $5 million
April 248:17 PM CDTF0Mayes, OK0.110
April 249:05 PM CDTF0Benton, AR0.120
April 249:15 PM CDTF0Adair, OK0.110
April 2410:55 PM CDTF0Coal, OK0.120
April 2411:15 PM CDTF0Laclede, MO0.5432$50,000 to $500,000
April 2411:15 PM CDTF0Pittsburg, OK0.110
April 2411:35 PM CDTF0Johnston, OK0.120
April 2412:55 AM CDTF1Washington, MO2.050$50,000 to $500,000

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.