EF1 tornado, Kent Corner to Frost Corners, Michigan, June 22, 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

June 22, 2015

Touchdown

2:30 PM EDT (18:30 UTC)

Lifted

2:36 PM EDT (18:36 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

4.6 miles (7.4 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

5

Property damage

$3.2 million

County

Ionia County

Touchdown point

42.890, -84.960

Lift-off point

42.861, -84.878

Record number

1506221230-01

91 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS GRR, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• automobile shoved into another. broken glass on rear of vehicles
• Church tower damage. significant loss of roofing material. truss structure of roof intact. tallest building damaged. shortest building on northwest side only sustained less than 20% roof damage. Brick facade building appears to have had damage worsened by debris from church damaged immediately to the west.
• About one-fourth of the roof was ripped off a church. The framing of the roof remained intact.
• About 2-3 dozen trees snapped off at the top just west of Electric facility. No significant damage noted to any of the buisness structures

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

A NWS storm survey confirmed that an EF-1 tornado struck Portland in Ionia county between 1:30 pm and 1:36 pm. It had peak winds of 110 mph with a path length a little over 4 miles. The path width was 50 to 100 yards. Three churches incurred heavy damage and dozens of trees were uprooted and snapped. There were 5 minor injuries and no fatalities. Multiple homes had significant roof damage and a baseball field was heavily damaged. It was estimated that the tornado caused 3.2 million dollars in damage. Severe thunderstorms also produced several reports of damaging wind gusts.

A NWS storm survey determined that an EF-1 tornado struck Portland in Ionia county. The estimated peak wind speed was 110 mph. There was damage to homes and businesses throughout portions of Portland and more than 50 structures were impacted with roof damage and broken windows. Dozens of trees were snapped and uprooted. Three churches were heavily damaged. There were 5 minor injuries and no fatalities.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:26 UTC and running to 21:03 UTC.

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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:41 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.

Ionia (Y70), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Grand Rapids radar (KGRR), 51 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:31 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

26 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.