August 31, 2020 Tornado in Delta County

Overview

A strong cold front passing across Upper Michigan during the day caused widespread showers to develop throughout Upper Michigan. In the afternoon, skies cleared across parts of central and south-central Upper Michigan ahead of the cold front. Numerous low-topped supercells, sometimes called "mini supercells", developed along the front in an environment that was only very marginally supportive of severe weather. Almost no lightning was observed with these low-topped supercells. However, one of them produced a brief tornado in Delta County, about 5 miles west of Escanaba.

The tornado crossed US-2 and was observed by numerous motorists on the highway. It significantly damaged part of a storage facility on the north side of the highway. The tornado then dissipated, and the storm collapsed. The outflowing wind from the collapse of the storm caused numerous trees to be uprooted in a heavily forested area north of the damaged storage facility. The NWS storm survey team rated the tornado as an EF1, with winds estimated to be around 95 mph.

Aerial footage of tornado damage near Hyde, MI, or about 5 miles west of Escanaba, courtesy of Vandermissen Aeronautical Solutions LLC.

Tornado
Photos
Radar

Tornado:

Tornado - 5 Miles West of Escanaba, MI
Delta County

Date	8/31/2020
Time (Local)	5:30 pm - 5:32 pm EDT
EF Rating	EF1
Est. Peak Winds	95 mph
Path Length	0.61 miles
Max Width	200 yds
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: An unusual low-topped supercell with no lightning produced a brief spin-up tornado west of Escanaba on Monday evening, August 31st. The rotating wall cloud and lowering funnel were observed by travelers on US 2 as the tornado initially touched down near Pete's Pick N Pull Auto Parts snapping and knocking down several trees and utility poles. A couple of trees fell on one residence in this vicinity. The tornado crossed US 2 moving northeastward causing extensive damage to several storage units at Pine Ridge Storage. The tornado continued northeastward into a wooded area where hundreds of trees were snapped and uprooted. As the thunderstorm collapsed the damage evolved into downburst wind damage near the end of its path. The tornado was very brief and short-lived lasting less than two minutes.

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

Storm Damage Photos


Various pictures of the tornado damage west of Escanaba, MI.

Radar

These images show base reflectivity (left) and storm-relative velocity (right). This low-topped supercell did not exhibit any of the common characteristics of a tornado-producing storm, including any debris signature.


5:24 PM EDT	5:28 PM EDT	5:33 PM EDT

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