4Warn Weather – The power of Tuesday’s storms in Southwest Michigan is becoming clearer as teams survey the damage in hard-hit communities.
Crews from the National Weather Service and emergency management offices assessed damage across the region on Wednesday, but surveys were expected to continue into Thursday.
As of Wednesday evening, the National Weather Service had confirmed four Michigan tornadoes spawned by severe storms on May 7.
Dowagiac Tornado
Storms started leaving their mark on the state in the afternoon. An EF1 tornado touched down by the Dowagiac Municipal Airport and moved northeast for nearly 12 miles. It lifted near the border of Cass and Van Buren counties about 27 minutes later. At its strongest, it had winds estimated at 95 mph. At its widest, it was 950 yards or nearly the length of eight football fields. Trees took the brunt of the damage.
Union City Tornado
A brief EF1 touched down at 6:07 p.m. southwest of Union City in Branch County. It was on the ground for just one mile and one minute but destroyed a machine shed and reached winds of 95 mph.
St. Joseph and Branch Counties Tornado
The survey of a third and larger tornado was expected to continue into Thursday. Preliminary information from the National Weather Service indicates that it touched down in St. Joseph County and traveled into Branch County during the early evening. The agency said it would release the rating and path of the tornado after fully assessing the damage, but some of the damage was said to be consistent with a strong tornado.
Portage Tornado
A strong EF2, which packed winds as high as 135 mph, caused considerable damage in Portage. Meteorologists said it formed at 5:55 p.m. west of US-131 and traveled east-northeast for about 11 miles. It struck two mobile home parks and multiple apartment complexes, ripped the roof off of a FedEx building, and snapped and uprooted hundreds of trees. No one was reported hurt.
Apart from the tornadoes, thunderstorms brought damaging straight-line winds to Southwest Michigan and Southeast Michigan.
In Southeast Michigan, tornadoes are most common from April to August, with a peak in June.