EF1 tornado, Detroit Beach to Estral Beach, Michigan, June 15, 2023

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.

Rating

EF1

Date

June 15, 2023

Touchdown

6:09 PM EDT (22:09 UTC)

Lifted

6:18 PM EDT (22:18 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

4.8 miles (7.7 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Monroe County

Touchdown point

41.935, -83.332

Lift-off point

41.971, -83.252

Record number

2306151609-01

14 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DTX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

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

Numerous strong to severe thunderstorms developed during the late afternoon of June 15th, mainly south of I-96. Hail, measuring between 1-2 inches, emerged as the primary severe weather threat, with several instances of wind damage associated with gusts around 60 mph. The large hail caused extensive crop damage across Livingston county. Notably, an EF1 tornado also developed just west of Lake Erie. This tornado, which remained on the ground for 9 minutes, exhibited a maximum wind gust of 90 mph. In its wake, damage was reported which included multiple large fallen limbs and trees, along with damage to several residential properties.

Tornado touched down near Dixie Highway and the north part of the Detroit Beach neighborhood. Damage in this area was mainly large limbs down with winds estimated to 70 mph. Tornado tracked east-northeast through Woodland Beach where greatest damaged occurred with large limbs down and snapped hardwood trees. Estimated winds were to 90 mph with a 400 yd width in this area. Track continued into Baycrest Beach where limbs and a couple trees were down along the lakeshore with estimated winds up to 80 mph. Tornado crossed Pointe Aux Peaux Rd east-southeast of Dixie Highway before exiting over Lake Erie north of Fermi Power Plant. Damage in this portion of the track was EF0 with only limbs down.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

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.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:57 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 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.

Monroe (TTF), 12 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Detroit radar (KDTX), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:07 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2023 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

31 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.