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EF2 tornado in St. Joseph County, Michigan

Tornado August 6, 2024 · St. Joseph County, Michigan

EF2
Rating
8.5 mi
Path length
700 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 700 yards (0.40 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 at the county line border, just north of Lewis Lake. The tornado did significant tree damage and snapped power poles along the entirety of Berry Ln. The tornado moved southeast towards Day Rd where it reached maximum

width of approximately 700 yards. Here, a well anchored manufactured home was slid approximately five feet off its foundation, along with significant tree damage. Near the

intersection of Bent Rd. and Floating Bridge Rd. the tornado completely destroyed a barn. Farther east on Floating Bridge Rd., the tornado removed a two-story barn roof completely off and moved it about 30 feet away. The tornado reached maximum

intensity of EF-2 along Floating Bridge Rd. Another barn roof received major roof damage, the residence's roof was partially removed, and significant tree damage was also observed. The tornado continued southeast crossing Mount Zion Rd with major

tree damage and center pivots being overturned. Near Pulver and Null Rd., eight power poles were snapped, an irrigation pivot was twisted, and minor/moderate roof damage was observed to three homes. Farther southeast along Cowling Rd, a well constructed

shed was moved 20-30ft away from its foundation and part of the structure was thrown into the Rocky River. Finally, the tornado caused minor roof damage to a warehouse along N. Main St in Three Rivers. While a portion of the roof was thrown into the trees

across the street, it is believed this is where the tornado terminated.

The wider storm

In the morning of August 6, a supercell developed and tracked east-southeast through southern Michigan, far northeast Indiana and far northwest Ohio. This storm produced an EF2 tornado in northwest St. Joseph county from Lewis Lake to the north side of Three Rivers. This storm did weaken with eastward extent but did maintain some rotation with reports of wall clouds and funnel clouds. Additional thunderstorms then developed east of I-69 Tuesday afternoon, with a few reports of wind damage in northwest Ohio.

Began near Edwards Corners (42.0333, -85.7616).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1204043. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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