EF1 Tornado — Shiawassee, Michigan

2023-08-11 · near Perry, Shiawassee, Michigan

Event narrative

The tornado touched down three miles west of Perry around Beardslee Rd, just south of W. Britton Rd, and initially traveled through Ruess Rd and Boulder Ln, where downed trees and fallen large tree limbs were observed. The tornado then intensified as it entered into the city of Perry. Damage located around the intersection of Polly St and Lamb St and southeast into the intersection of 2nd St and Washington St consisted of large uprooted trees, sheared large tree limbs, major roofing damage to several outbuildings, and shingle/siding damaging to some residential homes. These locations observed a peak wind around 95 mph with a tornado width around 430 yards. The tornado then weakened while entering the vicinity of Washington and 2nd St

where downed large tree limbs were observed, before lifting just east of this location.

Wider weather episode

Numerous showers and thunderstorms filtered in across portions of Southeast Michigan through the evening of August 11, 2023. The strongest storms were found within the vicinity of or along a warm front, which produced sporadic reports of hail up to an inch and some isolated damaging wind gusts. Prolonged heavy rainfall also led to flooding within Flint which led to multiple road closures. The most significant damage came from a supercell over Perry, MI, which resulted in the production of an EF-1 tornado with maximum wind gusts up to 95 mph. This tornado was on the ground for 12 minutes and started just west of Perry, before moving into the city. Uprooted and sheared trees, damage to outbuildings, and some siding/shingle damage to residential builds were observed. Downed trees also landed on some residential houses and vehicles, resulting in further damage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.8280, -84.2680)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1129697. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.