EF0 Tornado — Antrim, Michigan

2025-09-22 · near Clam River, Antrim, Michigan

Event narrative

An extremely photogenic tornadic waterspout developed over central Torch Lake and dissipated shortly after making landfall on the eastern shore of Torch Lake north of the mouth of the Clam River. Only minor tree damage was observed. Event was initially reported to NWS Gaylord by a storm chaser watching a Torch Lake area webcam; chaser reported seeing debris lofted in the air on the webcam footage as the waterspout made landfall.

Wider weather episode

Upper trough axis over the Upper Midwest during the day on the 22nd, with various disturbances rotating through the flow. A decaying mesoscale convective vortex tracked from southeastern WI in the morning to northwest lower MI by evening; a regeneration of storms with this disturbance across northwest lower MI in the late afternoon in an environment otherwise marginally favorable for severe weather resulted in storm rotation that stretched to the ground. A short-lived tornado touched down in northwestern Grand Traverse County; another tornado touched down in the vicinity of Torch Lake in Antrim county, which did track over the lake, producing a very photogenic tornadic waterspout and resulting in some damage in the city of Bellaire, MI. The area of storms progressed eastward, producing hail southwest of Gaylord, MI and a photogenic funnel cloud north of Grayling, MI with no known evidence of a touchdown.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (44.9746, -85.2849)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1297758. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.