Tornadoes · United States · Michigan · 2010

EF0 tornado, Huron City, Michigan, July 18, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Huron County on July 18, 2010, touching down at 10:11 PM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $75,000 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
July 18, 2010
Touchdown
10:11 PM EDT (02:11 UTC)
Lifted
10:13 PM EDT (02:13 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$75,000
County
Huron County
Touchdown point
44.033, -82.827
Lift-off point
44.019, -82.791
Record number
1007182011-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A warm front lifted north of southeast Michigan, as a strong low tracked in from Wisconsin. A few severe thunderstorms developed, one of which produced a tornado in Huron County.

A National Weather Service Storm Survey confirmed a weak EF0 tornado hit the Lighthouse County Park in Huron County. The tornado touched down at 1011 PM about 1.5 miles northwest of the Park, and tracked over and close to Lighthouse Road. The tornado, with maximum winds of 80 mph, then continued to track southeast, moving through the County Park and exiting out into Lake Huron at 1013 PM. The total path length was estimated at 2 miles, with a maximum width of 75 yards. |Numerous trees were blown down, one of which fell onto a camper. Roof damage was also observed at one home.

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

The warnings

15 minutes of warning. NWS DTX issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:56 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:47 UTC and running to 03:30 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:47 UTC03:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchDTX
01:56 UTC03:00 UTCTornado WarningDTX
02:11 UTC03:08 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDTX

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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:45 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.

Alpena, MI (KAPX), 00:00Z

2.2 hours before the tornado, 121 km from the path. July 19, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Alpena, MI at 00:00Z on 2010-07-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 806 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 504 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, Alpena, MI at 00:00Z on 2010-07-19The 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 33 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 42 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
806 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
847 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
504 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
33 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
88 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
1.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Alpena, MI (KAPX), 12:00Z

9.8 hours after it, 121 km from the path. July 19, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Alpena, MI at 12:00Z on 2010-07-19Temperature 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 -67819, lifted condensation level 631 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, Alpena, MI at 12:00Z on 2010-07-19The 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 -21 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 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
-67819 J/kg
Surface CAPE
10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
631 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
1 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Port Hope (P58), 1 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:51 UTC7470140° 3 kt1005.4
01:51 UTC74710° 0 kt1004.7
02:51 UTC706840° 12 kt161006.4
03:51 UTC69670° 0 kt1007.1

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

The radar

The Detroit radar (KDTX), 157 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:12 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
02:11 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ese Huron CityHuron, MITREE DOWN ON PROPANE TANK WITH THE TREE ON FIRE.
02:11 UTCTORNADOEne Huron CityHuron, MIA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY CONFIRMED A WEAK EF0 TORNADO HIT THE LIGHTHOUSE COUNTY PARK IN HURON COUNTY. THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN AT 1011 PM...ABOUT 1.5 MILES NORTHWEST OF THE PARK...TRACKING OVER OR CLOSE TO
02:27 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sw GagetownTuscola, MIMULTIPLE TREES DOWN.
02:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Nw Cass CityTuscola, MIMULTIPLE TREES DOWN.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of July 18, 2010

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 184:08 PM EDTEF0Allegan, MI0.375$150,000
July 183:21 PM CDTEF0Sheboygan, WI3.350$5,000
July 186:56 PM EDTEF0Wexford, MI0.1100$8,000
July 185:45 PM MDTEF0Logan, CO0.150

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.