Tornadoes · United States · Michigan · 2008
EF1 tornado, Backus Beach, Michigan, June 22, 2008
This EF1 tornado ran 0.8 miles across Alcona County on June 22, 2008, touching down at 2:15 PM EDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- EF1
- Date
- June 22, 2008
- Touchdown
- 2:15 PM EDT (18:15 UTC)
- Lifted
- 2:17 PM EDT (18:17 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 0.8 miles (1.2 km)
- Path width
- 200 yards (183 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $50,000
- County
- Alcona County
- Touchdown point
- 44.770, -83.592
- Lift-off point
- 44.767, -83.578
- Record number
- 0806221215-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Much like the day before, thunderstorms developed thanks to strong heating during the afternoon of the 22nd. Several storms became severe, producing mainly large hail. However, a few storms interacted with the Lake Huron lake breeze, resulting in a single tornado and locally excessive rainfall.
EF1 tornado, with winds estimated up to 100 mph. Tornado tracked through a heavily forested area, downing many trees west of Mount Maria Road, east of Consolidated Road, and north of the West Branch River.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The surface observations
Alpena (APN), 34 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The NCL Michigan radar (KAPX), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:14 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.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are
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.