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EF2 tornado in St. Joseph County, Michigan

Tornado May 7, 2024 · St. Joseph County, Michigan

EF2

Rating

19.5 mi

Whole path

950 yd

Path width

Injury

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through St. Joseph County → Branch County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 950 yards (0.54 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado touched down in St. Joseph county on the south side of Centreville and then tracked northeast, passing north of Colon and into Branch county near Havens and Goodrich Lake. The tornado finally weakened and lifted south of Union Lake. Extensive damage occurred to trees and center pivot irrigation systems along the track with the most significant damage occurring from north of Colon to north of Sherwood, when video evidence indicated the tornado became multi-vortex. Several homes suffered loss of roof and walls, resulting in the area of highest damage being consistent with an EF2 tornado and winds of up to 130 mph. An 84 year old man suffered minor injuries in a residence north of Colon.

The wider storm

Thunderstorms produced severe tornadoes, large hail, and damaging wind gusts on the afternoon and evening of May 7. The largest hail stone reported was 4 inches in diameter.

Began near Centreville (41.9132, -85.5258).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Cass County EF1 Branch County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1167152. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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