Tornadoes · United States · Michigan · 2021

EF1 tornado, Campbell Corners to West Sebewa, Michigan, June 26, 2021

From Campbell Corners to West Sebewa, this EF1 tornado ran 5.0 miles across Ionia County on June 26, 2021, touching down at 4:40 PM EDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $250,000 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
June 26, 2021
Touchdown
4:40 PM EDT (20:40 UTC)
Lifted
4:49 PM EDT (20:49 UTC)
On the ground
9 minutes
Path length
5.0 miles (8.0 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$250,000
County
Ionia County
Touchdown point
42.806, -85.158
Lift-off point
42.847, -85.078
Record number
2106261440-01

The damage survey

5 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 90 mph.

  • Multiple homes damaged - including Bippley/Jordan Lake Road, Ainsworth Road, and Harwood Road. Power lines on Clarksville Road are near the end point of the tornado.
  • Trees and Limbs were snapped along the path
  • East of Freeport. Damage to 2 properties - including a farm off Vedder Road with the silo top ripped off and barns damaged.
  • Tree line damage just Northeast of the Bell Road/Vedder Road intersection is approximately where this tornado lifted off the surface.

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 determined an EF-0 tornado occurred with path length of a mile.There was damage to 2 properties - including a farm off Vedder Road with the silo top ripped off and barns damaged. Tree line damage just northeast of the Bell |Road/Vedder Road intersection is approximately where the tornado lifted off the surface.

An NWS storm survey determined that an EF-1 tornado occurred north of Lake Odessa. Multiple homes and barns were damaged at the following locations: Bippley/Jordan Lake Road, Ainsworth Road, and Harwood Road. Convergent tracks were observed through corn and wheat fields. Trees were blown down or snapped. Wood power poles were snapped on Clarksville Road near the end point of the tornado.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:11 UTC and running to 23:48 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:37 UTC19:11 UTCFlood AdvisoryGRR
17:11 UTC23:48 UTCTornado WatchGRR
19:10 UTC13:51 UTCFlood WarningGRR
20:44 UTC21:15 UTCTornado WarningGRR

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

8.7 hours before the tornado, 138 km from the path. June 26, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 12:00Z on 2021-06-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 492 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 493 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, Detroit, MI at 12:00Z on 2021-06-26The 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 90 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 42 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Detroit, MI (KDTX), 00:00Z

3.3 hours after it, 138 km from the path. June 27, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 2021-06-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 651 joules per kilogram, CIN -4, lifted condensation level 832 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 2021-06-27The 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 309 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Grand Rapids radar (KGRR), 36 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:39 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
17:30 UTCHEAVY RAIN 3.752 Ese BelmontKent, MITHIS IS A 2 DAY RAINFALL TOTAL FROM PLAINFIELD TWP. IN KENT COUNTY.
18:00 UTCHEAVY RAIN 2.553 Ssw Comstock ParkKent, MITHIS IS A 24 HOUR RAINFALL REPORT IN WALKER, OR 3 MILE AND ALPINE.
18:45 UTCHEAVY RAIN 3.671 Ssw KentwoodKent, MIRAINFALL SINCE THURSDAY THROUGH 7 AM THIS MORNING.
20:10 UTCHEAVY RAIN 1.051 Se GrandvilleKent, MIMESONET STATION DW6683 GRANDVILLE. THIS IS A ONE HOUR RAINFALL REPORT.
20:20 UTCHEAVY RAIN 1.373 Sw WyomingKent, MITHIS RAINFALL OCCURRED IN 40 MINUTES.
20:23 UTCTORNADO3 Wnw LowellKent, MIEF-0 WITH PATH LENGTH 0.6 MILES. TREES AND LIMBS WERE SNAPPED FROM BENNETT ST AND CUMBERLAND AVE TO VERGENNES ST EAST OF CUMBERLAND AVE.
20:31 UTCTORNADO1 Ene FreeportIonia, MIEF-0 WITH PATH LENGTH OF ABOUT 1 MILE. BARNS AND TOPS OF SILOS WERE DAMAGED ALONG VEDDER ROAD EAST OF HASTINGS ROAD.
20:42 UTCTORNADO2 N Lake OdessaIonia, MIEF-1 WITH PATH LENGTH ABOUT 4.5 MILES. ONE HOME WITH ATTACHED GARAGE ADDITION HAD HALF OF THE ROOF TORN OFF. OTHER HOME HAD SIDING DAMAGE. DOZENS OF TALL HEALTHY TREES SNAPPED HALFWAY UP THE TRUNK. POWER POLES SNAPPED.
20:57 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 N Lake OdessaIonia, MIROOF TORN OFF A HOUSE. TREES SHREDDED. TREE ON STRUCTURE.
22:03 UTCHEAVY RAIN 2.552 W AdaKent, MI5.43 INCHES - 3 DAY TOTAL.
22:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nw MasonIngham, MIROOFING MATERIAL AND INSULATION ON US-127 AT MM 68.
22:40 UTCFLOOD2 Ese East LansingIngham, MIGRAND RIVER AVE WEST OF OKEMOS IS FLOODED AND IMPASSABLE.
22:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Sw HoltIngham, MITREES IN THE ROAD CLOSING TRAFFIC AT GALE RD AND COLUMBIA RD.

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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 261:26 PM CDTUnratedGreene, IL0.125
June 261:29 PM CDTEF0Lake, IN3.3250
June 262:06 PM CDTEF0Will, IL4.1100
June 263:31 PM EDTEF0Ottawa, MI2.425$100,000
June 263:33 PM EDTEF1Mecosta, MI2.9100$100,000
June 264:23 PM EDTEF0Kent, MI0.650$50,000
June 264:31 PM EDTEF0Ionia, MI1.125$75,000
June 263:35 PM CDTEF0Logan, IL0.275
June 265:09 PM EDTEF0Clare, MI3.7100$100,000
June 264:36 PM CDTEF0Livingston, IL0.775
June 265:49 PM EDTEF2Huron, MI6.84006$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.