F1 Tornado — Ingham, Michigan

2001-09-09 · near Lansing, Ingham, Michigan

Wider weather episode

A F1 tornado with a path length of 8.5 miles, which was 300 yards wide, produced maximum wind speeds of 110 m.p.h. that caused extensive damage. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries. The tornado touched down on Windsor Highway in Eaton county three quarters of a mile west of I-69. The tornado began as a F0 about 150 feet wide. The tornado moved northeast at about 40 m.p.h. and caused a considerable amount of tree damage, major damage to barns and outbuildings, and minor damage to homes. It crossed I-69 just south of Davis Highway, blowing over a semi trailer causing minor injuries. It began to strengthen and widen as it crossed Davis Highway, and numerous trees were blown down and barns destroyed. As it crossed I-96 it continued to strengthen and it destroyed a large metal building that housed a used parts store on Canal road. It lifted a double wide mobile home off its foundation, but did not cause major damage because the mobile home was securely tied down at all supports. Several trees were blown down in the area. The tornado continued northeast on Canal road and destroyed a large cooling tower at the Erickson power plant, at which time the tornado's peak intensity of F1 with 110 m.p.h. winds was attained. It was estimated that more than 4 million dollars in damage was incurred to the Lansing Board of Water and Light's Erickson power plant. The tornado continued to move northeast, gradually weakening and becoming wider. It caused damage to semi trailers and trees along Creyts road, and to the roof of the Meijer warehouse. It proceeded across Mt. Hope highway and crossed I-496 near Snow road. It knocked down a large tree and sent branches of the tree flying through the air like missiles, which broke windows out of numerous cars in a church parking lot. The tornado continued to weaken as it moved through residential areas just north of I-96, causing mainly tree damage. The last damage occurred on a golf course just east of Waverly road in Ingham county, where a tree was blown down. An isolated severe thunderstorm earlier in the day blew down several large limbs in Oakfield township (Kent county). In Harrison (Clare county), trained spotters reported that a large tree was blown down by a thunderstorm wind gusts. Finally, spotters in DeWitt (Clinton county) reported that a large tree was blown down onto a power line.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.7333, -84.5333)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5269038. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.