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F1 tornado in Dickinson County, Michigan

Tornado September 30, 2002 · Dickinson County, Michigan

F1
Rating
5.2 mi
Whole path
200 yd
Path width
$7.0M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Florence County, Wisconsin → Dickinson County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado developed over northeast Florence County, WI (See Storm Data for Wisconsin, Northeastern, for more information on the beginning portion of this tornado) and crossed the Menominee River just south of the Iron Mountain-Kingsford airport. The storm moved east-northeast into Kingsford and Iron Mountain. As the storm moved into Iron Mountain, the track shifted more to the east and the damage path became more sporadic before the tornado lifted completely on the east side of Iron Mountain. Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down, blocking highway US-2 and disrupting electric power and telephone service. Gas lines were ruptured and several commercial buildings sustained substantial roof damage in Kingsford.

The wider storm

On Sep 30, a short wave moving from the plains into south central Canada brought a warm front into Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Scattered thunderstorms developed along the front, with several of these storms becoming severe. One supercell that originally developed in an area of higher shear over northern Wisconsin produced three tornadoes and extensive downburst wind damage in southern Dickinson County when it encountered an outflow boundary from earlier convection. The majority of damage to the Iron Mountain, Kingsford and Quinnesec areas was caused by downburst winds, which knocked trees into homes, downed power lines, etc. The most significant damage was produced by the tornado that moved through Kingsford and Iron Mountain.

Began near Kingsford (45.7833, -88.0833).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5316736. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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