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EF2 tornado in Ingham County, Michigan

Tornado October 18, 2007 · Ingham County, Michigan

EF2

Rating

19.0 mi

Whole path

300 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injury

$15.4M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Ingham County → Shiawassee County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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 National Weather Service storm survey was conducted in Ingham county following the tornado that occurred on the night of October 18th. Based on extensive damage to buildings and trees the tornado was rated EF-2 with top winds estimated between 120 and 130 mph.

The tornado began just northeast of Mason around 10:28 pm EDT and

moved northeast at 40 to 45 mph through the town of Williamston

between 10:40 and 10:45 pm. Approximately 100 structures were

damaged in a subdivision on the south side of Williamston. Two

fatalities occurred about 4 miles northeast of Williamston where a

modular home and its 2 occupants were flipped into a pond. The

tornado then moved into Shiawassee county and dissipated shortly

thereafter.

The last time a fatal tornado occurred in Ingham county was on

August 14th, 1988 when one death resulted from a tornado that was

rated F-2 on the original Fujita scale.

The wider storm

A late season severe weather outbreak occurred on October 18th. An EF-2 tornado struck Ingham county, resulting in millions of dollars worth of damage and two fatalities. About a hundred structures were damaged in a subdivision on the south side of Williamston in Ingham county. The two fatalities occurred about four miles northeast of Williamston, where a modular home was flipped into a pond by the tornado.

There were also a tremendous amount of reports of wind damage with trees and power lines blown down, as well as several reports of three quarters to one inch diameter hail.

Began near Vantown (42.6100, -84.3000).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 62476. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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