EF2 tornado, Saint Joseph County, Michigan, March 6, 2026

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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, as surveyed

EF2, preliminary

Date

March 6, 2026

Touchdown

3:47 PM EST (20:47 UTC)

Lifted

4:07 PM EST (21:07 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

12.4 miles (20.0 km)

Path width

450 yards (411 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

10

County

Saint Joseph County

Touchdown point

41.913, -85.714

Lift-off point

41.959, -85.485

Highest wind the damage implies

130 mph

Surveyed by

NWS IWX

The office's name for it

ThreeRivers

Survey last edited

March 20, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

Another tornado from the same supercell that produced the

Edwardsburg tornado touched down west of Arthur L Jones Rd, north

of M60. The tornado quickly intensified and produced EF-2 damage with estimated wind speeds of 120-130 mph. Here, the tornado hit a Menards, removing the roof on the southwest and northwest portions of the building, along with an exterior wall collapse. One section of an nearby Uhaul facility was also completely destroyed. The

tornado continued through the heart of Three Rivers, producing EF-1 and isolated pockets of EF-2 damage to residences and businesses

(including the hospital). The tornado crossed the St. Joseph River, producing extensive damage to a lumber yard before uprooting many trees in a local cemetery. The tornado produced another pocket of

EF-2 damage to a double-wide mobile home and a brand new school

transportation facility. Multiple school trailers were tossed either across the street or inside the transportation facility itself which had its roof removed. As the tornado became cut off from the main supercell, it began to jog more eastward. It produced more damage north of Centreville, including a large barn and additional trees snapped.

Written by NWS IWX in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

27 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS IWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• Menards. NW wall collapsed inward, roof completely gone. Wind might have entered from roof removal on SW corner, lifted roof + wall system on NW corner, allowing wall to fall inward. Could not access SW side of building. photos suggest wall (but lower quality wall) collapsed with roof removed in that corner too
• Entire 1 sections of uhaul storage facility destroyed. Video shows entire structure lifted off the ground intact. Straight nailed from bottom sill plate
• Multiple large trees with trump snapped ~ halfway up
• Attached garage destroyed. Anchored but toe nailed

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS IWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:38 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:45 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.

Three Rivers (HAI), 3 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 65 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:46 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 2026 tornado in MichiganEvery tornado in Michigan since 1950Warnings in force in Michigan nowThe forecast where you are

15 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.