The week of May 24–28 1896 was perhaps the most violent single week of tornado activity in United States history. Keep in mind the Weather Bureau (now the NWS) didn’t have F ratings on tornadoes, damage and ratings listed below are estimated by today’s standards.
Late during the evening hours of May 25, an F5 tornado touched down in eastern Michigan and moved northeast for about 30 miles (48 km). The tornado affected portions of Oakland, Lapeer and Livingston Counties northwest of Detroit. Towns affected included Thomas, Ortonville, Oakwood, and Whigville just after 9:00 pm. Homes were leveled or swept away, and fatalities occurred along the path. Entire farms were leveled, and debris from homes was found up to 12 miles (19 km) away.
Trees were completely debarked along the path as well, with even small twigs stripped bare in some cases. Homes were swept away in Thomas, including one that was obliterated with the debris scattered up to 10 miles away. A piano from that residence was found 200 yards away from the foundation, with one end “pounded full of grass”. Weather Bureau inspectors reported that grass in the center-most part of the circulation was “pounded down into the earth, as if it had been washed into the earth by a heavy flow of water.” At least 100 people were injured.
With 47 deaths, this is the second-deadliest tornado ever in Michigan trailing only the Flint Tornado of 1953 which killed 116 in Genessee County just outside Flint. Twenty-two people were killed in Ortonville, ten in Oakwood, three in Thomas, four north of Oxford and three in Whigville with others in rural areas. Nine of the fatalities were in a single home in Ortonville.
Other killer tornadoes on that day touched down in Ogle County, Illinois (two different tornadoes) and Macomb & Tuscola Counties in Michigan. Several homes and farms in the Mount Clemens area were wiped out and others were moved from their foundations. The recently completed Colonial Hotel was leveled. Thirty homes were leveled in total, and two people were killed.
The most “extreme” tornado in recorded history was the Tri-State Tornado, which spread through parts of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana on March 18, 1925. It is considered an F5, even though tornadoes were not ranked on any scale at the time. It holds records for longest path length at 219 miles (352 km), longest duration at about 3½ hours, and fastest forward speed for a significant tornado at 73 mph anywhere on Earth. In addition, it is the deadliest single tornado in United States history with 695 fatalities. It was also the third-costliest tornado in history at the time, but has been surpassed by several others non-normalized. When costs are normalized for wealth and inflation, it still ranks third today.
The deadliest tornado in world history was the Daulatpur–Saturia tornado in Bangladesh on April 26, 1989, which killed approximately 1,300 people. In its history, Bangladesh has had at least 19 tornadoes kill more than 100 people, almost half of the total for the rest of the world.
Strong Tornadoes (F4 or F5) 1950-2000
| County | Date | Time | Mag | Deaths | Injuries |
| St. Clair | 05/21/53 | 1521 | F4 | 2 | 68 |
| Monroe | 06/08/53 | 1715 | F4 | 4 | 18 |
| Genesee | 06/08/53 | 1930 | F5 | 116 | 844 |
| Lapeer | 06/08/53 | 2130 | F4 | 0 | 23 |
| Manistee | 04/03/56 | 1735 | F4 | 2 | 24 |
| Allegan | 04/03/56 | 1745 | F5 | 18 | 340 |
| Genesee | 05/12/56 | 1725 | F4 | 3 | 116 |
| Wayne | 05/12/56 | 1755 | F4 | 0 | 22 |
| Livingston | 07/04/57 | 1755 | F4 | 0 | 6 |
| Macomb | 05/08/64 | 1559 | F4 | 11 | 224 |
| Ottawa | 04/11/65 | 1654 | F4 | 5 | 142 |
| Branch | 04/11/65 | 1803 | F4 | 23 | 294 |
| Branch | 04/11/65 | 1840 | F4 | 21 | 293 |
| Clinton | 04/11/65 | 1915 | F4 | 1 | 8 |
| Monroe | 04/11/65 | 2035 | F4 | 2 | 29 |
| Clinton | 04/21/67 | 1915 | F4 | 0 | 8 |
| Oakland | 03/20/76 | 1815 | F4 | 1 | 55 |
| Kalamazoo | 04/02/77 | 1332 | F4 | 0 | 10 |
| Eaton | 04/02/77 | 1406 | F4 | 1 | 44 |
We haven’t had a severe tornado outbreak with EF4 or EF5 ratings in over 40 years here in Michigan. The NWS claims this is due to change at some point. As we get closer to April we have to keep this in mind as the battle of climate and changes in the season moves us into tornado season. The CPC should put out their April forecast today…
We had a period of wet snow yesterday, enough to coat the ground in Otsego. We may see some more light snow tonight which will break for a fairly pleasant\ weekend.
Get ready for very cold temps especially the night temps. Low around 20degrees tonight! Incredible late March cold!
Interesting write up Michael. I like the chart. Tornadoes scare me. I always try to make sure we have our items ready in the basement if I hear storms moving this way.
Historically if you draw a line from Grand Haven to Grand Rapids to Flint to Port Huron. South of that line is were one would find Michigan’s tornado ally if you will. With yesterdays official 0.6″ of snow fall Grand Rapids is now up to 7.4″ for March and 76.4″ for the season. Muskegon only reported a trace of snow and at Lansing it was all rain. Here at my house there was enough snow to cover the grass about a half inch the road was just wet. This has been a cold March so far with Grand Rapids being… Read more »
Looks like another perfect weekend. Mainly dry, lots of sun, and highs mid 40’s to near 50! The real warmth starts later next week.
That’s crazy that there were so many significant tornadoes is such a relatively short period of time – and not much since. I wonder why/what changed?
I have wondered the same thing. So many during that time, it almost seemed “normal” for then, but now we rarely get any. With the huge increase of population in this area, a tornado like one of those big ones would be many times more devastating. I look at the land from Holland to Grand Rapids, and it’s pretty much one massive urban development. No matter where one would touch down it’s going to affect a lot of people.
One weather event that most of the strong Michigan tornadoes have in common is there was a strong warm front followed by a strong cold front. We had a some what similar set up last week. If it had gotten warmer then it did there might have been a major outbreak instead of 4 smaller tornadoes.
Slim
I never did see what those 4 tornadoes were rated. Any idea what they were?
All were EF-0. Here is some information on the tornado rating system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Fujita_scale
Slim
One was a EF-2
https://www.weather.gov/dtx/190314tornadoevent
275 more days till Winter but who is counting when it still is Winter at the end of March lol…INDY!
Sounds good!
The cool pattern keeps rocking. You won’t need to worry about tornadoes for awhile and hopefully it will be a quiet severe weather season anyway!!!
Officially .6 inches of snow fell in GR yesterday! It was a beautiful thing!