EF1 tornado, Mettetal Arpt, Michigan, December 23, 2015

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

December 23, 2015

Touchdown

6:43 PM EST (23:43 UTC)

Lifted

6:46 PM EST (23:46 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000

County

Wayne County

Touchdown point

42.330, -83.463

Lift-off point

42.355, -83.445

Record number

1512231743-01

8 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DTX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A strong low pressure system tracking from the southern Plains into the Upper Great Lakes brought record December warmth to Southeast Michigan on Wednesday, December 23rd. Stronger winds associated with this system interacted with the unseasonably warm air to produce the first December tornado in Michigan history during the evening. This tornado occurred in Wayne County, just north-northeast of Canton. The tornado was rated EF-1 with peak winds of 90 mph. The tornado touched down at 643 pm EST, tracking 2 miles before lifting at 646 pm EST.

An NWS damage survey determined that a tornado touched down in a neighborhood just southwest of the intersection of Warren and North Lilley Roads in Canton. Several pine trees were knocked down along with other large tree limbs. EF-1 damage was then found at a light industrial complex on the southwest side of the Canton Airport where multiple buildings and vehicles were damaged. Additional EF-0 damage was found near the intersection of Joy and Haggerty roads were a metal roof was taken off a gas station and more trees were damaged. The tornado then lifted near Haggerty Road and Newport Drive.

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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:37 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.

The Detroit radar (KDTX), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:44 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 2015 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

30 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.