Tornadoes · United States · Michigan · 2015
EF0 tornado, Browne Center, Michigan, July 13, 2015
This EF0 tornado ran 0.8 miles across Kent County on July 13, 2015, touching down at 1:15 AM EDT and reaching 50 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 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
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
- EF0
- Date
- July 13, 2015
- Touchdown
- 1:15 AM EDT (05:15 UTC)
- Lifted
- 1:17 AM EDT (05:17 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 0.8 miles (1.3 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $50,000
- County
- Kent County
- Touchdown point
- 42.810, -85.410
- Lift-off point
- 42.822, -85.389
- Record number
- 1507132315-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Severe thunderstorms developed during the late evening hours of July 13th and continued into the early morning hours of July 14th, resulting in several reports of wind damage including downed trees and power lines. An isolated EF-0 tornado also briefly touched down in Alto, causing tree damage but no injuries.
A NWS storm survey concluded that an EF-0 tornado touched down about a third of a mile southwest of 84th street and Morse Lake Road in Alto. The tornado had a maximum path width of 50 yards and was on the ground for about 2 minutes. Peak wind speeds were estimated at 75 to 85 mph. It caused roof damage to one home and snapped and uprooted several trees. There were no injuries.
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.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 04:56 UTC | 05:44 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GRR |
| 05:55 UTC | 16:14 UTC | Flood Advisory | GRR |
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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 01:10 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), 00:00Z
5.3 hours before the tornado, 161 km from the path. July 14, 2015.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 478 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -131 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 970 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1143 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 10 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 60 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 137 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.5
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.3 K/km
Detroit, MI (KDTX), 12:00Z
6.7 hours after it, 161 km from the path. July 14, 2015.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 616 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -77 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 315 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 850 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 111 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 121 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 0.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.9 K/km
The radar
The Grand Rapids radar (KGRR), 15 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:16 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Wnw Beechwood | Ottawa, MI | COUNTY ROAD COMMISSION CONFIRMED SEVERAL TREES DOWN IN THE SOUTHWESTERN PORTIONS OF OTTAWA COUNTY. MOST OF THE DOWNED TREES ARE CENTERED AROUND PARK TWP AND JAMESTOWN TWP. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 04:37 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Zeeland | Ottawa, MI | EMERGENCY MANAGER AND ROAD COMMISSION NOTED A FEW LARGER TREES DOWN IN THE ZEELAND AREA, BUT NO SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE HAD OCCURRED. |
| 04:38 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | 4 Ssw Holland | Allegan, MI | ESTIMATED WIND GUSTS BETWEEN 50 AND 60 MPH. SOME SMALL TREE DEBRIS WAS NOTED BY THE SPOTTER AT THE TIME OF THE REPORT. |
| 04:39 UTC | TSTM WND GST 52 | 2 S Holland | Allegan, MI | |
| 04:41 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ne Holland | Ottawa, MI | SPOTTER ESTIMATED 50 MPH WINDS IN THE AREA AND NOTED THAT FIRE DEPT REPORTED POWER LINES DOWN IN THE AREA OF COLUMBIA AND 38TH |
| 04:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Wsw Grandville | Kent, MI | TWO FOOT DIAMETER TREE REPORTED DOWN ON SHED. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 04:59 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Kentwood | Kent, MI | SEVERAL SMALLER TREE LIMBS DOWN, RANGING 1 TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER. A COUPLE OF LARGER TREE LIMBS DOWN (ABOUT 6-10 INCHES IN DIAMETER, EACH). THE LARGER OF THE TWO DAMAGED A WOODEN FENCE BEHIND THE HOUSE. NO STRUCTURAL D |
| 05:02 UTC | TSTM WND GST 42 | 2 Ese North Dorr | Allegan, MI | MESONET STATION 1 ESE NORTH DORR /AV010/ |
| 05:05 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | 1 Ene Dorr | Allegan, MI | MESONET STATION DORR /E7465/ |
| 05:05 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | 1 Ne Dorr | Allegan, MI | MESONET STATION DORR /E7465/ |
| 05:08 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Wnw Lowell | Kent, MI | ONLINE SUBMISSION OF ROOF DAMAGE TO HOME ALONG WITH SEVERAL TREE LIMBS THAT WERE DOWNED IN THE AREA. |
| 05:08 UTC | TSTM WND GST 52 | 3 Ene Kentwood | Kent, MI | |
| 05:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ese Beechwood | Ottawa, MI | TREE DOWN AT 6TH STREET AND COLLEGE AVE. |
| 05:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Nnw Clarksville | Ionia, MI | IONIA COUNTY ROAD COMMISSION ESTIMATES THAT UP TO TWO-DOZEN TREES HAVE BEEN DOWNED DUE TO HIGH WINDS. VARIOUS AREAS HAVE BEEN AFFECTED AND ARE SCATTERED ABOUT THE COUNTY. START TIME IS ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 05:15 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Ssw Alto | Kent, MI | NWS DAMAGE SURVEY RATED EF-0 WIND DAMAGE WITH PEAK ESTIMATED WIND SPEED OF APPROXIMATELY 75-85 MPH. ROOF DAMAGE TO ONE HOME. NUMEROUS TREES SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. CORN FIELD SUSTAINED EXTENSIVE DAMAGE. |
| 05:16 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Cutlerville | Kent, MI | WOOD-TV RELAYED A REPORT OF TREE DOWN NEAR MAPLEBROOK RD IN CALEDONIA. THEY ALSO RECEIVED REPORTS OF SHINGLES TAKEN OF A HOUSE, AS WELL AS A WINDOW BLOWN OUT. |
| 05:22 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 N Cutlerville | Kent, MI | POWER LINE REPORTED DOWN AT 56TH AND DIVISION. RELAYED BY WOOD-TV |
| 05:33 UTC | TSTM WND GST 45 | 3 S Ionia | Ionia, MI | AWOS STATION IONIA COUNTY ARPT /Y70/ |
| 05:35 UTC | TSTM WND GST 44 | 1 Ene Charlotte | Eaton, MI | AWOS STATION CHARLOTTE FITCH BEACH ARPT /FPK/ |
| 05:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Wnw Wacousta | Clinton, MI | ROAD COMMISSION REPORTED AROUND 12 TREES DOWN ACROSS SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF CLINTON COUNTY. TIME OF OCCURRENCE WAS ESTIMATED BY OFFICIALS TO HAVE STARTED AROUND 1:40 A.M. RADAR ESTIMATES BEST WINDS IN THE AREA BETWEEN 1:30 |
| 05:46 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Nw Ionia | Ionia, MI | TREES REPORTED DOWN AT APPLETREE AND M-66 |
| 05:46 UTC | FLOOD | Lowell | Kent, MI | PUBLIC REPORT RELAYED BY EM OF STREET FLOODING OCCURRING AT MAIN STREET AND HUDSON. |
| 05:55 UTC | FLOOD | Ada | Kent, MI | REPORT OF 3 STRANDED VEHICLES NEAR FULTON AND ADA DRIVE. COURTESY OF WOOD-TV |
| 05:56 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ssw Ionia | Ionia, MI | TREES AND POWER LINES REPORTED DOWN AT THE 200 BLOCK OF WEST RIVERSIDE DRIVE |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2015 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of July 13, 2015
10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 13 | 5:20 PM CDT | EF1 | Green, KY | 1.1 | 50 | $200,000 | ||
| July 13 | 5:58 PM CDT | EF0 | Adair, KY | 1.5 | 35 | $1,000 | ||
| July 13 | 6:13 PM CDT | EF0 | Cumberland, KY | 0.7 | 100 | $50,000 | ||
| July 13 | 6:33 PM CDT | EF0 | Richland, WI | 0.1 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| July 13 | 6:34 PM CDT | EF3 | Rice, KS | 5.3 | 350 | $270,000 | ||
| July 13 | 7:18 PM CDT | EF0 | Clay, TN | 0.8 | 100 | $20,000 | ||
| July 13 | 8:59 PM EDT | EF0 | Benton, IN | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| July 13 | 9:15 PM EDT | EF0 | Warren, IN | 0.0 | 50 | |||
| July 13 | 9:25 PM EDT | EF1 | Putnam, IN | 0.6 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| July 13 | 9:27 PM EDT | EF1 | Putnam, IN | 0.1 | 25 | $5,000 |
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.