Tornadoes · United States · Michigan · 2014

EF0 tornado, Ray Center, Michigan, August 20, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Macomb County on August 20, 2014, touching down at 2:04 PM EDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 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
August 20, 2014
Touchdown
2:04 PM EDT (18:04 UTC)
Lifted
2:07 PM EDT (18:07 UTC)
On the ground
3 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000
County
Macomb County
Touchdown point
42.773, -82.837
Lift-off point
42.773, -82.832
Record number
1408201204-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A low topped thunderstorm produced a weak tornado west of Richmond.

A brief EF0 tornado touched down around 204 pm EDT on Place Road between 29 and 30 mile road in Lenox Township. Maximum wind speeds were estimated to be 75 mph. Thin medal sheds were destroyed, with minor tree damage. This weak tornado was captured on video.

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

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 16:24 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 (KDTX), 12:00Z

6.1 hours before the tornado, 49 km from the path. August 20, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 12:00Z on 2014-08-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 817 joules per kilogram, CIN -36, lifted condensation level 599 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 12:00Z on 2014-08-20The 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 40 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 knots.193958Sfc1 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
817 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-36 J/kg
Surface CAPE
71 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
599 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.1
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Detroit, MI (KDTX), 00:00Z

5.9 hours after it, 49 km from the path. August 21, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 2014-08-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 203 joules per kilogram, CIN -17, lifted condensation level 1141 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 2014-08-21The 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 42 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 knots.193958Sfc1 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
203 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-17 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1099 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1141 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
25 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Selfridge Angb (MTC), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
16:29 UTC7768240° 4 kt1010.8
16:35 UTC7768220° 5 kt1010.8
16:55 UTC7767.64200° 5 kt1010.8
17:16 UTC80.666.2 6 kt1010.8
17:21 UTC80.666.2220° 8 kt1010.8
17:46 UTC80.666.2230° 10 kt1010.5-SHRA
17:55 UTC79.8867220° 8 kt1010.5-SHRA
18:05 UTC78.866.2230° 7 kt1010.8VCSH
18:55 UTC80.7862.24270° 12 kt171011.2
19:55 UTC82.5862230° 12 kt1010.5

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

The radar

The Detroit radar (KDTX), 53 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:04 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
18:04 UTCTORNADO5 Wsw RichmondMacomb, MIA BRIEF EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN AROUND 204 PM ON PLACE ROAD BETWEEN 29 MILE AND 30 MILE ROAD IN LENOX TOWNSHIP. PATH LENGTH WAS ESTIMATED TO BE 0.25 MILES WITH A PATH WIDTH OF 100 YARDS. WIND SPEEDS WERE ESTIMATED TO BE

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 20, 2014

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 201:45 PM MDTEF0Custer, ID0.15

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.