EF1 tornado, Hadley, Michigan, August 24, 2007

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

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

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

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

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

6. EF5over 200 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

EF1

Date

August 24, 2007

Touchdown

6:16 PM EDT (22:16 UTC)

Lifted

6:22 PM EDT (22:22 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

3.2 miles (5.1 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.0 million

County

Lapeer County

Touchdown point

42.923, -83.415

Lift-off point

42.950, -83.365

Record number

0708241616-01

Four tornadoes moved through portions of Southeast Michigan on August 24th, leading to an estimated $25M in total damages. One long-track tornado cut a path of EF0 to EF2 damage across Livingston, Geneseee, and Oakland Counties. Fenton was the hardest hit area, prompting the Governor of Michigan to declare a state of emergency there. Tornadoes also touched down in eastern Shiawassee County (rated as EF0), northwestern Washtenaw County (rated as EF0), and southwestern Lapeer County (rated as EF1). Thousands of trees were lost to the tornadoes. Although hundreds of homes and buildings were damaged, many destroyed, remarkably only one person was injured (minor cuts from flying glass) and there were no direct fatalities. One man died (indirect) of a heart attack during the cleanup process in Fenton.|In addition to the tornadoes, there were widespread reports of severe thunderstorm wind gusts producing downed trees, limbs, and power lines. The hardest hit areas with respect to severe thunderstorm winds included areas around Flint, Lapeer, St. Clair, Chelsea, Monroe, and many locations in Livingston, Oakland, Macomb, Wayne and Lenawee Counties.

This tornado tracked for several miles through Hadley Township, narrowly missing the town of Hadley. The initial tornado damage was observed one-half mile southwest of the Gregory and Brigham road intersection in Hadley Township. Significant damage to homes, outbuildings, and garages was observed at the intersection of Gregory and Brigham roads, and farther east along Brigham road. Damage to homes in this area was consistent with EF1 scale damage and maximum winds of roughly 110 mph. In addition, hundreds of trees were uprooted and/or snapped along Gregory Road and along Brigham road to near Hadley road. Lighter tree damage consistent with EF0 scale damage and winds around 70 mph occurred from the Hadley and Brigham road intersection northeastward to Pratt road (just west of Herd road). The average path width was 150 yards.

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

2 minutes of warning. NWS DTX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:14 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:07 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:08 UTC and running to 23:39 UTC.

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

Flint (FNT), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Detroit radar (KDTX), 27 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:14 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

9 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.