Tornadoes · United States · Michigan · 2022

EF0 tornado, Vassar to Wahjamega, Michigan, August 1, 2022

From Vassar to Wahjamega, this EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Tuscola County on August 1, 2022, touching down at 2:14 PM EDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    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
EF0
Date
August 1, 2022
Touchdown
2:14 PM EDT (18:14 UTC)
Lifted
2:16 PM EDT (18:16 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.7 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Tuscola County
Touchdown point
43.409, -83.389
Lift-off point
43.412, -83.382
Record number
2208011214-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Thunderstorms moving through Tuscola County brought down trees and spawned two weak tornadoes.

Emergency management reported numerous uprooted trees, including sheared trees and tree limbs, along the path of the tornado.

Emergency management reported a several trees blocking the M24 and State Route 46 intersection.

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)ExpiredProductOffice
18:16 UTC19:00 UTCTornado WarningDTX
18:33 UTC21:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryDTX

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 16:21 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

6.2 hours before the tornado, 77 km from the path. August 1, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 12:00Z on 2022-08-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 5 joules per kilogram, CIN -35, lifted condensation level 919 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2022-08-01The 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 65 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 knots.193958Sfc1 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
5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-35 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
919 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
65 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
92 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Detroit, MI (KDTX), 00:00Z

5.8 hours after it, 77 km from the path. August 2, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 2022-08-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 896 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 1038 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2022-08-02The 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 21 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
896 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
996 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1038 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
64 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Caro (CFS), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
16:15 UTC7866.4180° 6 kt1007.8-RA
16:35 UTC7767200° 6 kt1007.8-RA
16:55 UTC76680° 0 kt1008.1
17:15 UTC75.468.50° 0 kt1007.5-RA
17:35 UTC72.770.3170° 4 kt1008.1+RA
17:55 UTC67.864.40° 0 kt1008.5+RA
18:15 UTC6765330° 9 kt1007.8+RA
18:35 UTC68.466.20° 0 kt1007.5RA
18:55 UTC69670° 0 kt1007.5-RA
19:15 UTC70.768.50° 0 kt1007.1-RA
19:35 UTC73700° 0 kt1006.8
19:55 UTC76.371.20° 0 kt1006.8

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

The radar

The Detroit radar (KDTX), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:15 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
17:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Nne MillingtonTuscola, MIREPORT OF MULTIPLE TREES DOWN ON INTERSECTION OF SAGINAW RD AND SHERIDAN RD
17:56 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ene VassarTuscola, MIREPORT OF MULTIPLE TREES DOWN NEAR INTERSECTION OF CAINE RD AND WATERMAN RD.
18:00 UTCHEAVY RAIN 1.045 S AuburnSaginaw, MI2 HOUR TOTAL RAINFALL.
18:02 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ene VassarTuscola, MIREPORT OF MULTIPLE TREES DOWN NEAR INTERSECTION OF SHERIDAN RD AND WATERMAN RD. POSSIBLE TORNADO.
18:14 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Sse CaroTuscola, MIREPORT OF MULTIPLE TREES DOWN NEAR INTERSECTION OF M24 AND STATE RTE 46. POSSIBLE TORNADO.
19:00 UTCHEAVY RAIN 3.05ReeseTuscola, MI2 HOUR TOTAL RAINFALL.
19:22 UTCHEAVY RAIN 2.1DeckerSanilac, MI1 HOUR TOTAL RAINFALL.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 1, 2022

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 14:46 AM CDTEF0Mason, IL0.460
August 15:12 AM CDTEF1Logan, IL1.960
August 11:56 PM EDTEF0Tuscola, MI2.4200
August 16:05 PM CDTEF2Marshall, WV to PA1.8350$650,000
August 17:35 PM EDTEF0Greene, PA1.2150$200,000

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.