The National Weather Service has confirmed four tornadoes hit Michigan on Friday afternoon in preliminary findings.
The twisters range in strength from EF0 to EF3, with the weakest reaching winds of 85 mph in Calhoun County between Teknosha and Homer, and the strongest reaching 150 mph in the area of Union Lake and Union City. The third confirmed tornado, an EF2, reached top wind speeds of 130 mph in the Three Rivers area. The fourth, an EF1, reached 95 mph in the Edwarsburg area.
Tornadoes are rated on the Enhanced Fujita scale based on estimated wind speeds and the damage they cause. An EF0 tornado has winds of 65 to 85 mph, while an EF1 produces winds of 86 to 110 mph. EF2 tornadoes range from 111 to 135 mph, and EF3 storms bring winds of 136 to 165 mph. The strongest tornadoes are EF4, with winds of 166 to 200 mph, and EF5, which exceed 200 mph.
The Union Lake, Union City tornado
The National Weather Service confirmed Saturday that an EF3 tornado with estimated winds of 160 miles per hour hit the Union City area on Friday afternoon. The tornado began at 4:35 p.m. Friday and traveled 3.7 miles. It damaged several homes near Union Lake, killing three people and injuring 12 others, three of whom were hospitalized.
The Branch County Sheriff’s Office identified the Union Lake victims as Penni Jo Guthrie, 65; Keri Ann Johnson, 54; and William Andrew Akers, 63.
The tornado touched down on the northwest side of Union Lake and quickly intensified as it tracked along the lake’s shoreline. Video showed the storm reaching peak strength near Prairie Rose Lane and Tuttle Road, where it appeared to form multiple vortices and was strong enough to pull chunks of ice from the lake, according to the weather service.
Several homes and cottages were destroyed in the area, with debris scattered or lofted to the northeast. One mobile home was thrown about 100 yards, killing its occupant. The tornado continued northeast in a weakened state, causing damage in Union City before lifting near the county line.
The Three Rivers tornado
An EF2 tornado ripped through Three Rivers on Friday with estimated peak winds of at least 130 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service’s initial survey efforts Saturday focused on the area of Michigan 60 and West Broadway Street, where several commercial structures were damaged. Only a small portion of the possible track has been assessed so far, so the path length, maximum path width and specific start and end locations and times remain to be determined.
Authorities plan to continue analyzing damage along the suspected track to refine estimates of the tornado’s intensity and impact. Further details, including more precise information about the Three Rivers tornado’s path and characteristics in Three Rivers, are expected to be released on Sunday.
On Friday, social media users shared videos of a twister causing damage in the Three Rivers area, including ripping the roof off a Menards store, pulling apart a storage unit and lifting a car in the parking lot of a strip mall along US-131.
The Clarendon Township tornado
An EF0 tornado with peak winds of about 85 mph touched down just west of the intersection of P Drive South and 18½ Mile and traveled northeast before ending near N Drive South between 20 Mile and 21½ Mile.
The storm uprooted several trees and snapped a few weakened trunks along its path. Minor structural damage was reported, including a chicken coop that lost part of its roof and a farm outbuilding where some walls collapsed and metal roofing was blown into nearby fields. Near the end of the path, a few more trees were uprooted, though many other broken limbs along the roadway appeared unrelated to the tornado.
Edwardsburg twister traveled 13 miles
The weather service reported late Sunday that an EF1 tornado touched down at 3:11 p.m. Friday in Cass County, northwest of the intersection of Runkle Street and Conrad Road, destroying an attached garage and damaging the front of a home where a 12-year-old boy was killed.
The storm moved northeast, damaging mainly trees and causing minor roof damage as it crossed Yankee Street east of Dailey Road. The tornado then widened and intensified, with its most severe damage along Harris Street between Hess Road and M-62, where numerous trees were snapped or uprooted and some homes and pole barns suffered roof damage. The top speed of the twister’s winds reached 91 mph.
The tornado crossed M-62 and continued northeast, damaging areas along Oil City Road and Monette Street and near Curtis, Day and Chain lakes before lifting just east of the intersection of South and Walnut roads. It was on the ground for more than 13 miles.
Sheriff Clint Roach also said there were several injuries reported in the southern end of his county near the Indiana state line.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: What we know about the deadly tornadoes that hit Michigan
Reporting by Kevin J. Hardy, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
