Tornadoes · United States · Michigan · 2023
EF0 tornado, Munith to Waterloo, Michigan, July 26, 2023
From Munith to Waterloo, this EF0 tornado ran 1.4 miles across Jackson County on July 26, 2023, touching down at 2:39 PM EDT and reaching 150 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
- July 26, 2023
- Touchdown
- 2:39 PM EDT (18:39 UTC)
- Lifted
- 2:43 PM EDT (18:43 UTC)
- On the ground
- 4 minutes
- Path length
- 1.4 miles (2.3 km)
- Path width
- 150 yards (137 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Crop damage
- $10,000
- County
- Jackson County
- Touchdown point
- 42.415, -84.252
- Lift-off point
- 42.421, -84.225
- Record number
- 2307261239-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Two EF-0 tornadoes struck portions of Jackson county on July 26th resulting in some damage mostly to trees and some crops. Severe storms also produced damaging wind gusts.
A brief EF-0 tornado occurred southeast of Stockbridge. It touched down near Orchard Creek east of Fitchburg road and south of Baseline road. Several dozen large trees were impacted with several uprooted trees along the path. Several homes on Musbach road had minor roof damage or damage from tree debris. The tornado lifted near Dewey road.
A brief EF-0 tornado occurred just north of Whitehead Lake and south of Territorial road in northeast Jackson county. It moved east northeast and lifted just northeast of Leeke road and north of Bowdish road. Intermitted damage was foudn along the path primarily to trees and crops. One business along the path sustained some minor structural damage that included roof damage and siding damage to an outbuilding.
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.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 14:05 UTC and running to 20:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14:05 UTC | 20:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | GRR |
| 18:30 UTC | 19:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GRR |
| 22:34 UTC | 23:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GRR |
| 22:35 UTC | 00:09 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:09 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
6.7 hours before the tornado, 74 km from the path. July 26, 2023.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -91647 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1873 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 29 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 12 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 50 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 81 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.6 K/km
Detroit, MI (KDTX), 00:00Z
5.3 hours after it, 74 km from the path. July 27, 2023.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 24 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -192 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 66 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1097 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 29 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 128 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 138 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.6 K/km
The surface observations
Mason (TEW), 22 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:55 UTC | 84.2 | 69 | 160° 6 kt | 14 | 1011.9 | |
| 17:15 UTC | 83.5 | 69.4 | 160° 6 kt | 1011.5 | ||
| 17:35 UTC | 83.3 | 70.5 | 160° 7 kt | 1011.2 | ||
| 17:55 UTC | 82.6 | 71.6 | 160° 4 kt | 1010.5 | -RA | |
| 18:15 UTC | 81 | 72.5 | 220° 3 kt | 1010.8 | -RA | |
| 18:35 UTC | 72.7 | 67.5 | 160° 10 kt | 1010.8 | +RA | |
| 18:55 UTC | 71.8 | 68 | 220° 4 kt | 1011.2 | RA | |
| 19:15 UTC | 71.6 | 68 | 250° 4 kt | 1011.2 | -RA | |
| 19:35 UTC | 71.4 | 68 | 210° 6 kt | 1011.5 | -RA | |
| 19:55 UTC | 71 | 68 | 160° 4 kt | 1011.2 | RA | |
| 20:15 UTC | 70.7 | 68 | 150° 6 kt | 1010.8 | RA | |
| 20:35 UTC | 71.2 | 68 | 160° 6 kt | 1010.8 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Detroit radar (KDTX), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:40 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:19 UTC | TSTM WND GST 48 | 3 Ene Sandstone | Jackson, MI | ASOS station KJXN Jackson County-Reynolds Field Airport. |
| 18:24 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Somerset Center | Hillsdale, MI | Several trees down and/or uprooted in Somerset Center in McCourtie Park. Time estimated from radar. Several photos on Twitter. |
| 18:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Jerome | Hillsdale, MI | Several large tree branches down. A few trees also downed. Time estimated from radar. |
| 18:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Somerset Center | Hillsdale, MI | Spotter reports numerous large trees uprooted or down at the trailer park in Somerset Center. Time estimated via radar. Photos on Twitter. |
| 18:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Jerome | Hillsdale, MI | Delayed report. Several large trees snapped on Jerome Road and at the Jerome Rd and Sandhill Rd intersection. |
| 18:39 UTC | TORNADO | 2 N Munith | Jackson, MI | Delayed report after a storm survey was conducted. A brief tornado occured southwest of Stockbridge, Michigan on Wednesday, July 26th from aboiut 239 pm to 243 pm. Damage path was about 1.5 miles long and 150 yards wide. |
| 18:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Sw Brooklyn | Jackson, MI | Reports of trees and wires down in Hanover, Liberty, and Columbia Townships. |
| 18:47 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Sse Stockbridge | Jackson, MI | Delayed report after a storm survey was conducted. A brief tornado occured southeast of Stockbridge, Michigan on Wednesday, July 26th from aboiut 247 pm to 251 pm. Damage path was about 2 miles long and 50 to 100 yards w |
| 18:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ssw Chelsea | Washtenaw, MI | Multiple trees down across the area. A couple trees blocking roadways. |
| 18:58 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Stockbridge | Ingham, MI | Funnel clouds reported by Stockbridge fire dept. |
| 18:59 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 N Scio | Washtenaw, MI | EM reports large tree down on a house with an individual trapped inside. Time estimated by radar. |
| 19:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ne Saline | Washtenaw, MI | Report of multiple trees and tree limbs down near the intersection of Woodland and East Industrial. |
| 19:02 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 N Ann Arbor | Washtenaw, MI | Report of a large tree limb down on a roof of a house near the intersection of Pontiac and Barton. |
| 19:03 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Wsw Dixboro | Washtenaw, MI | Report of a large tree down near the intersection of Prairie Street and Briarcliff Street. |
| 19:03 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Pinckney | Livingston, MI | Dispatch reports numerous trees and power lines down across Pinckney. |
| 19:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Howell | Livingston, MI | Dispatch reports numerous trees and power lines down near Howell. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2023 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of July 26, 2023
1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 26 | 2:47 PM EDT | EF0 | Jackson, MI | 2.4 | 100 | $150,000 |
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.