Perry Tornado 2023 Event Summary

Overview

Numerous showers and thunderstorms filtered in across portions of Southeast Michigan through the evening of August 11, 2023. The strongest storms were found within the vicinity of or along a warm front, which produced sporadic reports of hail up to an inch and some isolated damaging wind gusts. Prolonged heavy rainfall also led to flooding within Flint which led to multiple road closures. The most significant damage came from a supercell over Perry, MI, which resulted in the production of an EF-1 tornado with maximum wind gusts up to 95 mph. This tornado was on the ground for 12 minutes and started just west of Perry, before moving into the city. Uprooted and sheared trees, damage to outbuildings, and some siding/shingle damage to residential builds were observed. Downed trees also landed on some residential houses and vehicles, resulting in further damage.

Tornado
Photos
Radar
Environment

Tornadoes:

Tornado - Perry, MI
Shiawassee County

Date	Aug 11, 2023
Time (Local)	7:51 PM - 8:03 PM EDT
EF Rating	EF-1
Est. Peak Winds	95 mph
Path Length	3.0 miles
Max Width	430 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0/0
Summary: The tornado touched down three miles west of Perry around Beardslee Rd, just south of W. Britton Rd, and initially traveled through Ruess Rd and Boulder Ln, where downed trees and fallen large tree limbs were observed. The tornado then intensified as it entered into the city of Perry. Damage located around the intersection of Polly St and Lamb St and southeast into the intersection of 2nd St and Washington St consisted of large uprooted trees, sheared large tree limbs, major roofing damage to several outbuildings, and shingle/siding damaging to some residential homes. These locations observed a peak wind around 95 mph with a tornado width around 430 yards. The tornado then weakened while entering the vicinity of Washington and 2nd St where downed large tree limbs were observed, before lifting just east of this location.

Track Map

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0 Weak 65-85 mph	EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph	EF2 Significant 111-135 mph	EF3 Severe 136-165 mph	EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph	EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph

Photos


Tornado near Perry Credit: Bill Bouwman	Tornado near Perry Credit: Bill Bouwman	Tornado near Perry Credit: David Ross

Tornado damage in Perry Credit: NWS	Tornado damage in Perry Credit: NWS	Tornado Damage in Perry Credit: Joel Fritsma

Tornado damage in Perry Credit: Kyle Gillett	Tornado damage in Perry Credit: Kyle Gillett	Wall Cloud approaching Byron Credit: Zachary Henn

Radar

Radar Imagery for Perry EF-1 Tornado

Dundee Tornado - Radar Reflectivity Loop

Figure 1. KDTX 0.5 degree reflectivity & storm relative velocity between 2347 and 0006 UTC starting Aug 11 2023, centered on Perry, MI. Radar imagery courtesy of GR2Analyst.

Environment

Ongoing convection derived within the lake shadow of Lake Michigan progressed eastward and capitilized on the boost of instability that concurrently progressed northeastward through the evening behind a warm front, with the frontal boundary eventually stalling out over SE MI (Figure 1). This frontal boundary delineated a sharp contrast of instability as dew points rose into the mid to upper 60s, correlating to MLCAPE values to or in excess of 1,000 J/kg along and south of the front (Figure 2). The Storm Prediction Center did upgrade portions of SE MI to a slight risk for severe weather in the early afternoon (Figure 3), highlighting the risk for large hail, damaging wind gusts, and/or a tornado. The KDTX weather balloon in White Lake MI, which was concretely within the warm sector, recorded a MLCAPE value of 914 J/kg for the 00Z launch. Other notable values were the 0-1 km shear of 31 knots, effective shear of 38 knots, and low LCL heights of 688m, all markers that can help with sustaining strong to severe storms, including tornadogenesis (Figure 4). SPC mesoanalysis also showed convergence with the DTX sounding, with 40 knots effective shear in place across central Michigan (Figure 5). The mesoanalyst 0-1 km values were slightly muted around 15 knots (Figure 6). Regardless, dynamics along the warm front aided in tornadogenesis in Perry MI, where an EF1 tornado was observed. Uprooted and sheared trees, damage to outbuildings, and some siding/shingle damage to residential builds were observed. Downed trees also landed on some residential houses and vehicles, resulting in further damage.


Figure 1: WPC Surface Analysis, valid 2100 UTC 11 Aug 2023	Figure 2: Mixed Layer Convective Available Potential Energy, valid 2300 UTC 11 Aug 2023	Figure 3: SPC Day 1 Severe Weather Outlook, valid 13 UTC 11 Aug 2023

Figure 4: DTX Sounding, valid 0000 UTC 12 Aug 2023	Figure 5: Effective Bulk Shear, valid 0000 UTC 12 Aug 2023	Figure 6: 0-1km Bulk Wind Shear, valid 0000 UTC 12 Aug 2023

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