EF1 tornado in Antrim County, Michigan

The tornado formed 4 miles east of Alba in a location on Olds Rd 0.5 miles east of the Alba Rd intersection. It tracked east northeast for about 1.75 miles before exiting Antrim county 200 yards southeast of the Alba Rd/Old Alba Rd intersection. The tornado continued in Otsego county for almost 16 additional miles before dissipating at 1457 EST. In Antrim county, no injuries or fatalities were reported. Several homes were damaged along with numerous softwood trees snapped at their trunks (DI 28, DOD 4) along Patterson Rd. While the highest rating of EF1 in Antrim county was assigned at this location, the tornado was rated EF3 in Otsego county. The maximum path width in Antrim county was 200 yards.

Multiple thunderstorms tracked across northern Michigan during the afternoon, including a supercell thunderstorm that produced the EF-3 tornado that hit the town of Gaylord along with very large hail in other parts of the area.

Setting the stage for severe weather was a trough that rotated across the upper Midwest that developed and strengthened surface low pressure west of Lake Michigan. This system helped draw a warm, moist airmass northward across the state that helped provide the instability necessary to support severe thunderstorms later in the day. Storms initially formed along the cold front across Wisconsin during the morning hours and moved northeast across Lake Michigan, making it into the forecast area by early afternoon. The strongest line segment generated a measured wind gust of 76 mph at Frankfort Light and continued to produce damaging wind gusts across Leelanau and Antrim counties as it quickly moved northeast.

As this segment moved further away from the cold front, it began to transition into a supercell thunderstorm. This storm moved east-northeast across a very favorable environment in place across northern lower Michigan, eventually producing a tornado that caused considerable damage in the city of Gaylord. This supercell continued to trek across the area, producing baseball-sized hail in Posen.

For additional context, this was the first time in reliable recorded history (since 1950) that Gaylord was hit by a tornado. This was also the first significant tornado (EF2 or greater) in the county warning area since October 18, 2007.