EF0 tornado in Washtenaw County, Michigan

This tornado touched down in Salem Township in extreme northeastern Washtenaw County. The initial tornado damage was noted just north of Seven Mile road and just west of Tower road in the area of Salem Farms Drive and Sunset Drive. This damage was primarily to trees, along with some shingle damage to roofs of houses. The damage path continued northeast to the Northville Crossings subdivision where there was damage to roofs and sidings of several homes. Further northeast there was tree damage along Currie Road just south of Eight Mile Road. The damage path weakened and ended along 8 mile and Chubb road in Washtenaw County. Throughout the path of the tornado, damage estimates were consistent with EF0 scale damage, with maximum winds near 70 mph along Sunset Drive and in Northville Crossings. Other damage to trees was more consistent with winds 55 to 60 mph. The average path width was 50 yards.

Four tornadoes moved through portions of Southeast Michigan on August 24th, leading to an estimated $25M in total damages. One long-track tornado cut a path of EF0 to EF2 damage across Livingston, Geneseee, and Oakland Counties. Fenton was the hardest hit area, prompting the Governor of Michigan to declare a state of emergency there. Tornadoes also touched down in eastern Shiawassee County (rated as EF0), northwestern Washtenaw County (rated as EF0), and southwestern Lapeer County (rated as EF1). Thousands of trees were lost to the tornadoes. Although hundreds of homes and buildings were damaged, many destroyed, remarkably only one person was injured (minor cuts from flying glass) and there were no direct fatalities. One man died (indirect) of a heart attack during the cleanup process in Fenton.

In addition to the tornadoes, there were widespread reports of severe thunderstorm wind gusts producing downed trees, limbs, and power lines. The hardest hit areas with respect to severe thunderstorm winds included areas around Flint, Lapeer, St. Clair, Chelsea, Monroe, and many locations in Livingston, Oakland, Macomb, Wayne and Lenawee Counties.