Does detroit get tornadoes. Wdets jerome vaughn asked him to define a tornado. Tornado risk is calculated from the destruction path that has occured within 30 miles of the location. 13 including the last one to touch down in detroit.
Tornadoes do hit michigan but were hardly in tornado alley. While michigan isnt in the middle of the so called tornado alley the state regularly sees twisters. Detroit mi is a low risk area for tornados.
It produced the most tornadoes southeast michigan has seen in one day. Greg carbin from noaa storm prediction center says michigan ranks 25th in the nation in the number of tornadoes it gets. Eric bryant left his job in downtown detroit to see the aftermath.
According to records the largest tornado in the detroit area was an f4 in 1956 that caused 22 injuries and 0 deaths. That twister cut a five mile path of destruction from fenkell and outer drive through highland park and hamtramck causing 90 million in damage. A tornado appears as a rotating funnel shaped cloud that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground with whirling winds that can reach 300 miles per hour.
Andrew humphrey is a certified broadcast meteorologist and reporter at wdiv tv here in detroit. Michigan may not be known for its tornadoes but there have been some significant twisters that have touched down in the great lake state dating back to the 1950s. Noaa tornadoes are natures most violent storms.
From this map you can see where tornado activity has been highest over the last 20 years. The average number of tornado watches per year from 1993 to 2012.