The EF3 tornado that hit Gaylord on May 20, 2022 was rare for Northern Michigan, in that most tornadoes over the past 70 years have formed in the lower half of the state. But it wasn’t wholly unique.
Of the more than 1,000 tornadoes reported in Michigan by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration since 1951, only a handful were located in Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, But of those, several were rated F/EF 3-5 by the Fujita scale, a rating system that is derived from the damage created.
Under the Fujita scale, storms rated F4 or F5 were characterized as “violent,” F2 and F3 were “strong,” and F0 and F1 were “weak.” That system lasted until 2006, and then evolved into the “Enhanced Fujita” scale, which follows similar principles of basing ratings on the damage the storm creates, but with a slightly different formula, while eschewing the characteristic descriptions.
Below are maps and a searchable database of all tornadoes in Michigan from 1951-2020, according to data provided by the NOAA.
You can rollover each mark on the map to get popup windows with information for each storm, including its F or EF rating, the date and time it touched down, how long it traveled, how wide it stretched, and the counties it passed through. Also included are the number of injuries and fatalities that occurred from the damage.
Data for 2021 is currently not available, so storms then are not included in the maps or database. According to summary data from the NOAA, there were 18 tornadoes that year.
Can’t see the F/EF 4 and 5 map? Click here
Can’t see the F/EF 2 and 3 map? Click here
Can’t see the F/EF 0 and 1 map? Click here
Below is a searchable database of all the tornadoes from 1951-2020. You can search by any of the columns like county or rating, and also sort top to bottom by clicking on the column headers.
Can’t see the database? Click here
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