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EF1 tornado in Osceola County, Michigan

Tornado June 8, 2008 · Osceola County, Michigan

EF1

Rating

5.3 mi

Path length

880 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 880 yards (0.50 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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 storm survey team in Osceola county determined that a tornado with peak winds approaching 110 mph struck an area from just northeast of Hersey to the Pere Marquette Forest. This corresponds to EF-1 damage on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

Damage occurred along an intermittent path about five miles long and up to a half a mile wide. The most intense damage occurred along Cedar road in the Pere Marquette Forest... where a half mile wide section of forest was flattened. Other significant damage occurred about four miles east of Reed City... where winds estimated at around 90 mph damaged a barn and trapped the occupants of a house until the day after the storm.

The tornado occurred within a larger area of downburst wind damage that extended east northeast about 20 miles... beginning one mile northwest of Hersey to the Clare county line west of Lake George. Thousands of trees were snapped or uprooted and several barns and outbuildings were damaged by the winds.

The wider storm

NWS storm survey teams determined that one EF1 tornado struck Osceola county. Another EF1 tornado struck Eaton county and continued into extreme western Ingham county before dissipating. Extensive damage was documented in association with both tornadoes. Severe thunderstorms also produced numerous reports of wind damage and large hail.

Began near Hersey (43.8600, -85.4300).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Eaton County 1 dead EF1 Ingham County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 116801. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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