Tornadoes · United States · Michigan · 2021
EF0 tornado, Dover to Browns Corner, Michigan, June 26, 2021
From Dover to Browns Corner, this EF0 tornado ran 3.7 miles across Clare County on June 26, 2021, touching down at 5:09 PM EDT and reaching 100 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.
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
- June 26, 2021
- Touchdown
- 5:09 PM EDT (21:09 UTC)
- Lifted
- 5:16 PM EDT (21:16 UTC)
- On the ground
- 7 minutes
- Path length
- 3.7 miles (6.0 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $100,000
- County
- Clare County
- Touchdown point
- 43.860, -84.730
- Lift-off point
- 43.900, -84.680
- Record number
- 2106261509-01
The damage survey
2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS GRR, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.
- Beginning location of tornado. 3 miles Northeast of Clare near Surrey road and cornwell Avenue
- Trees snapped or sheared along the line. Near the end of the path a section of metal roofing was torn off a barn.
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 low pressure system and warm front combined to setup conditions favorable for the development of several weak tornadoes on June 26th. Storm damage surveys were conducted and it was determined that two EF-1 tornadoes occurred and that several EF-0 tornadoes occurred.
An NWS storm survey concluded that an EF-0 tornado occurred with a path length of about a hundred yards. The upwind side of a barn wall was partly caved in. Tree limbs were snapped and a house attachment or garage-like structure on cinderblocks was destroyed. One large and healthy tree northeast of the garage-like structure damage and along the centerline of the tornado track was completely delimbed. Elsewhere, there were trees snapped or sheared. Near the end of the path a section of metal roofing was torn off a barn.
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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19:39 UTC | 19:54 UTC | Tornado Warning | 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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
9.2 hours before the tornado, 165 km from the path. June 26, 2021.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 492 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -3 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 142 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 493 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 90 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 139 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 1.5
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.4 K/km
Detroit, MI (KDTX), 00:00Z
2.8 hours after it, 165 km from the path. June 27, 2021.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 651 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -4 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 564 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 832 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 309 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 359 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.1
- Supercell composite
- 5.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.0 K/km
The surface observations
Mount Pleasant (MOP), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:15 UTC | 76 | 74 | 190° 5 kt | 1010.2 | ||
| 19:35 UTC | 75.4 | 74.3 | 0° 0 kt | 1009.8 | RA | |
| 19:55 UTC | 74.7 | 74.5 | 160° 4 kt | 1009.5 | RA | |
| 20:15 UTC | 75 | 75 | 130° 3 kt | 1008.8 | -RA | |
| 20:35 UTC | 75.2 | 75.2 | 160° 6 kt | 1008.8 | RA | |
| 20:55 UTC | 75.6 | 75.6 | 170° 11 kt | 14 | 1008.5 | -RA |
| 21:15 UTC | 75.7 | 75.7 | 160° 8 kt | 1007.8 | +RA | |
| 21:35 UTC | 75.7 | 75.7 | 180° 11 kt | 20 | 1008.1 | |
| 21:55 UTC | 75.2 | 75.2 | 200° 10 kt | 16 | 1008.5 | |
| 22:15 UTC | 75 | 75 | 200° 9 kt | 18 | 1008.5 | |
| 22:35 UTC | 76.3 | 73.6 | 220° 11 kt | 16 | 1008.5 | |
| 22:55 UTC | 76 | 73.4 | 210° 13 kt | 16 | 1008.5 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The NCL Michigan radar (KAPX), 114 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:06 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:33 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Sw Sylvester | Mecosta, MI | EF-1 WITH PATH LENGTH ABOUT 3 MILES. WOOD BARN HEAVILY DAMAGED. CENTER PIVOT IRRIGATION TIPPED OVER. OPEN AIR ANIMAL BARN SHEET METAL ROOF TORN APART AND POWER POLES SNAPPED DOWNWIND. |
| 19:39 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ne Sylvester | Mecosta, MI | ROOF OFF OF BARN, TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN. |
| 21:09 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Ne Clare | Clare, MI | EF-0 WITH PATH LENGTH ABOUT 3.6 MILES. BARN WALL PARTLY CAVED IN. HOUSE ATTACHMENT ON CINDERBLOCKS DESTROYED. TREES DAMAGED ALONG MUCH OF THE PATH. SECTION OF METAL ROOF TORN OFF BARN NEAR THE END OF THE PATH. |
| 21:35 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 1.81 | 3 N Skeels | Gladwin, MI | RAINFALL SINCE 8 AM THIS MORNING. 1.20 INCHES OF RAIN FELL IN THE LAST 35 MINUTES (SINCE 5 PM). |
| 23:15 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 1.21 | 3 Se West Branch | Ogemaw, MI | AWOS STATION KY31 WEST BRANCH. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 26, 2021
11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 26 | 1:26 PM CDT | Unrated | Greene, IL | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| June 26 | 1:29 PM CDT | EF0 | Lake, IN | 3.3 | 250 | |||
| June 26 | 2:06 PM CDT | EF0 | Will, IL | 4.1 | 100 | |||
| June 26 | 3:31 PM EDT | EF0 | Ottawa, MI | 2.4 | 25 | $100,000 | ||
| June 26 | 3:33 PM EDT | EF1 | Mecosta, MI | 2.9 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| June 26 | 4:23 PM EDT | EF0 | Kent, MI | 0.6 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| June 26 | 4:31 PM EDT | EF0 | Ionia, MI | 1.1 | 25 | $75,000 | ||
| June 26 | 3:35 PM CDT | EF0 | Logan, IL | 0.2 | 75 | |||
| June 26 | 4:40 PM EDT | EF1 | Ionia, MI | 5.0 | 50 | $250,000 | ||
| June 26 | 4:36 PM CDT | EF0 | Livingston, IL | 0.7 | 75 | |||
| June 26 | 5:49 PM EDT | EF2 | Huron, MI | 6.8 | 400 | 6 | $1.9 million |
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.