EF1 tornado, Orangeville to Podunk, Michigan, May 15, 2025

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

May 15, 2025

Touchdown

10:50 PM EDT (02:50 UTC)

Lifted

11:00 PM EDT (03:00 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

6.8 miles (10.9 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Barry County

Touchdown point

42.580, -85.510

Lift-off point

42.600, -85.380

Record number

2505152050-01

33 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 100 mph.

• Multiple houses with roof damage
• Fall direction to the NNW, some shearing on tops of trees.
• Numerous trees uprooted, generally falling toward the ENE, some shearing/topping of trees
• Siding displaced from house and smashed into mailbox

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

A severe weather outbreak occurred on May 15-16 across lower Michigan that brought 8 tornadoes to the Grand Rapids forecast area and saw straight line winds in excess of 100 mph impact counties along the Lake Michigan shore on May 15. Large hail also occurred with storms on May 16. Tens of thousands were without power, some for several days due to the widespread nature of this severe weather event.

The tornado crossed the most southern part of Gun Lake before traveling to the northeast before lifting off northeast of the Otis Sanctuary. Mostly tree damage was observed along the path, though several homes had minor roof damage or were damaged by falling trees. Several docks in Gun Lake were heavily damaged, including one that had multiple sections lifted and thrown well into the lake.

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS GRR issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:33 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:22 UTC and running to 03:56 UTC.

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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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 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.

Grand Rapids (GRR), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Grand Rapids radar (KGRR), 35 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:50 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 2025 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

34 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.