I chose this event because it hit within a large city, Detroit, MI. As I started delving into the data, I became even more intrigued because right of the bat there is a discrepancy in the rating. Officially, the SPC Database lists the rating of this tornado as an F3. Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes believes the damage was more in the F1 range.
This tornado developed in East Lansing and moved SE to near Dansville to north of Stockbridge and lifted near Unadilla. Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes notes this was not a continuous path but a skipping one. There were no recorded injuries but there was a fatality.
In this summary, we look at what is considered Michigan’s worst natural disaster in terms of deaths and injuries (NWS).
Per the Storm Prediction Center, 13 tornadoes occurred on May 12, 1956. 10 of the 13 were in the state of Michigan. There were two later rated F4. One in Wayne County and the second, in Genesee County and the Flint area, the subject of this summary.