FOWLERVILLE, Mich. – Aug. 24, 2023, set a record for most tornadoes in a single August day in the history of Southeast Michigan, with six in the region and seven statewide.
One year later, a look at Brandon Lang’s yard in Fowlerville takes him back like it was yesterday.
“We were on the couch, and we got a couple of news alerts on our phone, and then my wife’s dad said, ‘Tornadoes touched down in Webberville, and it’s coming your way,’” Lang said.
An EF-2 tornado with peak winds of 125 mph developed over northeast Ingham County before making a dangerous track towards I-96. The tornado moved northeast from Williamston onto the freeway, where it remained on I-96 for about a mile and a half before turning southeast and dissipating in Fowlerville, all while snapping trees on both sides of the freeway.
Twelve miles were touched by this tornado. Lang recalls the moment he knew it was heading towards his home and moved his family into the crawl space.
“I got my head out of the crawl space, went outside, I opened the door,” Lang said. “By the time I opened the door, it was full-blast again. I shut the door. I got back in the crawl space. But after it was all said and done, walking outside was pretty wild to see all the trees and everything we worked hard for, the pool and trampolines and all my kids’ stuff that were here. The play structures were all destroyed, and it’s, like, ‘What do you do?’”
A lot of trees have since been cleared, but the pile of them that remains towards the back of his property is a visual reminder of not only that tornado, but an even bigger story from that night.
While the nation’s tornado count often peaks in spring because of temperature patterns and jet stream migration, there really isn’t a “tornado season,” per se. There is only one month in which Southeast Michigan has not had a recorded tornado (January), and although June is still the most active month, May and August are nearly tied for second, meaning we take a little dip in July and usually see an uptick in tornadic activity in August.
We can also break down when we see the most tornadoes by the time of day. It’s no surprise that the afternoon and evening have the most activity, since that is usually the warmest part of the day.
But a bigger story is how tornado alley looks to be shifting. The largest increase in tornadoes has been from western Kentucky and the lower Ohio Valley to Mississippi and Louisiana. Pretty much Tornado Alley to Dixie Alley.
Although that doesn’t have a direct impact on Michigan, as we look back at Aug. 24, 2023, that was a historic day across Southeast Michigan. Fowlerville, Canton Township, Belleville, Newport, South Rockwood, and Gibraltar all had tornadoes touchdown that night.