Tornadoes · United States · Michigan · 2016

EF1 tornado, Hurley to Anvil Location, Michigan, July 11, 2016

From Hurley to Anvil Location, this EF1 tornado ran 2.4 miles across Gogebic County on July 11, 2016, touching down at 11:55 PM CDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 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 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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
July 11, 2016
Touchdown
11:55 PM CDT (04:55 UTC)
Lifted
12:00 AM CDT (05:00 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
2.4 miles (3.9 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$100,000
County
Gogebic County
Touchdown point
46.434, -90.063
Lift-off point
46.451, -90.018
Record number
1607112255-01

The damage survey

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DLH and NWS MQT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

A warm and humid air mass ahead of a low pressure system approaching from the Northern Plains set the stage for the formation of severe thunderstorms over portions of Gogebic County from late evening on the 11th into the early morning of the 12th. The storms caused flash flooding and damaging winds over portions of Gogebic County.

An EF1 tornado touched down near the Wisconsin-Michigan border just southeast of Van Buskirk and caused damage for less than a mile before dissipating. Damage consisted mostly of uprooted or snapped trees.

The NWS storm survey confirmed a low end EF1 tornado about three miles south of Bessemer. Winds from the tornado were estimated around 90 mph. The tornado touched down near the intersection of S. Barber Road and Spruce Road and ended 2.4 miles to the east-northeast, just northeast of the intersection of W. Harding Road and Koski Road. Damage included multiple trees down on a garage on Spruce Street and half a barn destroyed in Bessemer Township on Elder Street. |||The damage path was 200 yards wide or less and occurred just before midnight CDT.

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)ExpiredProductOffice
23:05 UTC01:42 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchMQT
00:37 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMQT
02:21 UTC05:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryMQT
02:55 UTC09:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningMQT
04:59 UTC05:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMQT
05:30 UTC05:59 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMQT

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 00:50 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.

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), 00:00Z

4.9 hours before the tornado, 266 km from the path. July 12, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 00:00Z on 2016-07-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1537 joules per kilogram, CIN -60, lifted condensation level 1146 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 00:00Z on 2016-07-12The 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 150 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 knots.1939Sfc1 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
1537 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-60 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2657 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1146 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
150 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
226 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.9
Supercell composite
8.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), 12:00Z

7.1 hours after it, 266 km from the path. July 12, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 2016-07-12Temperature 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 -44642, lifted condensation level 1049 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 2016-07-12The 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 -74 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 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
-44642 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1049 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
108 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 171 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:51 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
03:45 UTCFLASH FLOOD5 Sw Little Girls PointGogebic, MIGOGEBIC COUNTY SHERIFFS REPORT THAT THE MONTREAL RIVER BRIDGE IS FLOODED ON LAKE RD. AT THE MICHIGAN AND WISCONSIN BORDER. THE GOGEBIC COUNTY ROAD COMMISSION HAS CLOSED LAKE RD. FROM NEAR SAXON WI TO LOWER POWERS ROAD.
03:50 UTCFLASH FLOOD4 N SaxonIron, WIMONTREAL RIVER IS ON THE BRIDGE ALONG HIGHWAY 122 AND LAKE ROAD.WATER OVER THE ROADWAY.
04:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 S BessemerGogebic, MIGOGEBIC COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGER REPORTS HALF A BARN WAS DESTROYED IN BESSEMER TOWNSHIP ON ELDER STREET. DELAYED REPORT.
04:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 S BessemerGogebic, MIGOGEBIC COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTS MULTIPLE TREES DOWN ON A GARAGE WITH STRUCTURAL DAMAGE ON SPRUCE STREET IN BESSEMER TOWNSHIP. DELAYED REPORT.
04:54 UTCTSTM WND DMGWakefieldGogebic, MINWS STORM SURVEY CONCLUDED THAT DAMAGE IN AND IMMEDIATELY SURROUNDING WAKEFIELD WAS CAUSED BY STRAIGHT LINE THUNDERSTORM WINDS UP TO 90 MPH. A CAMPER TRAILER WAS OVERTURNED...A LARGE BUILDING HAD THE ROOF RIPPED OFF...A
04:55 UTCTORNADO3 S BessemerGogebic, MINWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMS LOW END EF1 TORNADO ABOUT 3 MILES SOUTH OF BESSEMER. WINDS WERE ESTIMATED AT AROUND 90 MPH. THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF S. BARBER RD AND SPRUCE RD AND ENDED 2.4 MILES TO TH
05:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGWakefieldGogebic, MIGOGEBIC COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTS MULTIPLE TREES DOWN IN WAKEFIELD.
05:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGWakefieldGogebic, MIPOWER LINES ARE DOWN IN WAKEFIELD ON HARRISON RD. LARGE TREES OF 30 TO 40 INCH DIAMETER HAVE SNAPPED. POWER IS OUT IN WAKEFIELD.
05:00 UTCTSTM WND GST 731 W WakefieldGogebic, MIMESONET STATION WAKEFIELD /MC026/.
05:10 UTCNON-TSTM WND GST 731 W WakefieldGogebic, MIMESONET STATION WAKEFIELD /MC026/.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of July 11, 2016

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 115:25 PM CDTEF2Meeker, MN3.1100
July 115:52 PM CDTEF2Meeker, MN2.24001$50,000
July 115:58 PM CDTEF1Stearns, MN4.0250
July 117:00 PM EDTEF0Manatee, FL0.120
July 1111:41 PM CDTEF1Iron, WI to MI2.3100$50,000

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.