F0 tornado, Coopersville, Michigan, April 11, 2001

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   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 mph

   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.

Rating

F0

Date

April 11, 2001

Touchdown

7:42 PM EDT (23:42 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Ottawa County

Touchdown point

43.070, -85.950

Lift-off point

43.070, -85.950

Record number

617

Severe thunderstorms developed during the evening hours of the 11th and continued into into the early morning hours of the 12th, producing numerous reports of downed trees and power lines, large hail, a few reports of flash flooding, and even a couple of F0 tornadoes. The first severe weather report was received from East Holton (Muskegon county), where three quarters inch hail was reported by trained spotters at 7:29 p.m. A severe thunderstorm produced one inch hail in Grand Haven (Ottawa county) at 7:40 p.m., and a very brief tornado touchdown occurred in Coopersville (Ottawa county) at 7:42 p.m. The tornado was classified as an F0, and it produced no damage. Numerous reports of severe weather were also received across Muskegon county: Three quarters inch hail was reported in east Holton at 7:29 p.m. One and three quarters inch hail was reported in Fruitport. A very brief tornado touchdown was reported by trained weather spotters in Cloverville at 7:40 p.m. It was also classified as an F0 tornado, and did not produce any damage. Finally, the thunderstorms also produced very heavy rain, causing flash flooding 1 mile west of Twin Lake (Muskegon county), where Cedar Creek went out of it's banks. In Muskegon (Muskegon county), many low lying areas were covered in one to two feet of water, many homeowners reported flooded basements, and portions of several roads were reported as flooded by area law enforcement. Another round of severe thunderstorms developed late at night. Three quarters inch hail was observed at Twin Lake (Muskegon county) at 11:35 p.m. Severe thunderstorms produced extensive damage across Newaygo county: Roof damage included shingles that were blown off of a home 5 miles north of White Cloud at 11:57 p.m. Law enforcement reported that numerous trees were blown down along M-37 between Newaygo and White Cloud. Minor roof damage to a house occurred 3 miles northeast of Fremont. In White Cloud, 8 trees were blown down, each of which was 2 feet in diameter. In Mecosta county, one inch and nickel sized hail was reported in Big Rapids at 12:30 a.m. At 12:40 a.m., the road commission in Mecosta county reported that numerous trees were blown down countywide. One inch hail was observed in Le Roy (Osceola county) at 12:30 a.m. Across Kent county, a tree was blown down 2 miles northwest of Rockford at 12:35 a.m., and several trees were reported down by area law enforcement at 12:40 a.m. The final report of severe weather was received from Marion, in Osceola county, where 0.88 inch diameter hail was reported at 12:50 a.m.

Trained spotters reported a very brief tornado touchdown. The tornado was classified as an F0, with winds of 40 to 72 m.p.h. The tornado did not produce any damage.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:21 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 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.

Muskegon (MKG), 26 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

49 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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