The May 7 tornado outbreak spanned several states. As a result, two National Weather Service offices have to evaluate the tornadoes that struck Michigan. The latest tornado confirmations and damage assessments come from the Northern Indiana National Weather Service office, which forecasts and warns on severe weather for the southern Michigan border counties.
The NWS Northern Indiana says three tornadoes occurred in their southern Michigan counties. They have finished the damage assessment on two of those tornadoes. The tornadoes they have assessed were the smaller, weaker tornadoes. Now today they are going to finish the assessment on a larger tornado that moved through the Colon area in Michigan’s St. Joseph County. The NWS has confirmed the larger St. Joseph County tornado. They just have not finished the damage assessment.
RELATED: See the 11-mile path Kalamazoo County’s tornado took Tuesday
The first tornado they assessed occurred around the Dowagiac area.
Dowagiac, MI tornado damage path.NOAA
While the wind speeds were fairly low for a tornado, look at the width. The tornado was 2,850 feet wide which puts it at over one-half mile wide at times. That’s a very wide tornado for Michigan or any other state. The Dowagiac tornado produced damage along an almost 12-mile-long path.
The second assessed tornado was on the ground near Union City. This tornado is thought to be a second weaker tornado that developed after a larger tornado dissipated.
Union City Tornado damage pathNOAA
They are continuing the assessment on what seems like a stronger tornado. This is likely the tornado that we have the video on in Colon, MI.
The National Weather Service at Grand Rapids is also still trying to assess a few more damage areas. When all the assessments are done, we will probably end up with five individual tornadoes that touched down in Michigan on May 7.
RELATED: EF2 tornado confirmed in southern Michigan, peak wind hit 135 mph
Read More: 3 more tornadoes confirmed in Michigan, biggest over half-mile wide
