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Branch County Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes

 
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The chance of earthquake damage in Branch County is about the same as Michigan average and is much lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Branch County is much higher than Michigan average and is much higher than the national average.

Topics:Earthquake IndexVolcano IndexTornado IndexOther Weather Extremes EventsVolcanos NearbyHistorical Earthquake EventsHistorical Tornado Events

Earthquake Index, #6

Branch County
0.09
Michigan
0.04
U.S.
1.81

The earthquake index value is calculated based on historical earthquake events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the earthquake level in a region. A higher earthquake index value means a higher chance of an earthquake.

Volcano Index, #1

Branch County
0.0000
Michigan
0.0000
U.S.
0.0023

The volcano index value is calculated based on the currently known volcanoes using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the possibility of a region being affected by a possible volcano eruption. A higher volcano index value means a higher chance of being affected.

Tornado Index, #12

Branch County
210.80
Michigan
140.33
U.S.
136.45

The tornado index value is calculated based on historical tornado events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the tornado level in a region. A higher tornado index value means a higher chance of tornado events.

Other Weather Extremes Events

A total of 12,881 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Branch County were recorded from 1950 to 2010. The following is a break down of these events:

TypeCountTypeCountTypeCountTypeCountTypeCount
Avalanche:0Blizzard:29Cold:32Dense Fog:7Drought:15
Dust Storm:0Flood:722Hail:3,284Heat:24Heavy Snow:317
High Surf:0Hurricane:0Ice Storm:67Landslide:0Strong Wind:225
Thunderstorm Winds:7,489Tropical Storm:0Wildfire:0Winter Storm:285Winter Weather:36
Other:349 

Volcanos Nearby

No volcano is found in or near Branch County.

Historical Earthquake Events

No historical earthquake events that had recorded magnitudes of 3.5 or above found in or near Branch County.

No historical earthquake events found in or near Branch County.

Historical Tornado Events

A total of 81 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Branch County.

Distance (miles)DateMagnitudeStart Lat/LogEnd Lat/LogLengthWidthFatalitiesInjuriesProperty DamageCrop DamageAffected County
3.41975-05-21241°55'N / 85°00'W0.80 Mile33 Yards0025K0Branch
5.21986-05-15341°56'N / 84°58'W1.20 Miles200 Yards002.5M0Branch
6.21983-06-30241°59'N / 84°59'W1.00 Mile40 Yards0025K0Branch
9.01965-04-11441°45'N / 85°05'W41°53'N / 84°50'W15.50 Miles1333 Yards9200250.0M0Branch
9.71965-04-11441°48'N / 85°00'W41°52'N / 84°50'W9.20 Miles33 Yards92000K0Branch
12.01976-03-12241°47'N / 85°15'W41°48'N / 85°12'W0025K0Branch
12.61965-04-11441°44'N / 85°10'W41°45'N / 85°05'W3.80 Miles333 Yards000K0Steuben
12.91966-07-09241°56'N / 85°19'W0.50 Mile10 Yards0025K0St. Joseph
15.31976-03-12241°45'N / 85°19'W41°47'N / 85°15'W3.30 Miles100 Yards0025K0St. Joseph
15.51969-09-06241°42'N / 85°00'W0025K0Steuben
18.61974-04-03341°34'N / 85°13'W41°44'N / 84°53'W20.50 Miles333 Yards2150K0Steuben
21.41955-07-06241°55'N / 85°29'W003K0St. Joseph
22.41976-03-12241°41'N / 85°30'W41°45'N / 85°19'W10.10 Miles127 Yards0825K0Lagrange
22.51991-03-27341°39'N / 84°50'W41°42'N / 84°43'W6.40 Miles200 Yards01825.0M0Williams
23.41991-03-27341°32'N / 85°04'W41°39'N / 84°50'W14.60 Miles200 Yards1625.0M0Steuben
24.01965-04-11441°53'N / 84°50'W41°57'N / 84°22'W24.20 Miles1760 Yards34725.0M0Hillsdale
24.01965-04-11441°52'N / 84°50'W41°57'N / 84°22'W24.50 Miles33 Yards3470K0Hillsdale
24.51969-08-15241°38'N / 84°47'W0025K0Steuben
25.71961-05-06341°33'N / 85°12'W41°33'N / 84°48'W20.50 Miles800 Yards002.5M0Steuben
26.21965-04-11441°38'N / 85°40'W41°44'N / 85°16'W21.60 Miles177 Yards5412.5M0Lagrange
26.81977-07-18241°59'N / 84°36'W41°58'N / 84°30'W4.70 Miles33 Yards0025K0Hillsdale
27.41969-07-04241°59'N / 84°42'W41°52'N / 84°22'W18.70 Miles100 Yards00250K0Hillsdale
27.71974-04-03341°31'N / 85°17'W41°34'N / 85°13'W4.30 Miles1000 Yards000K0Lagrange
27.91955-05-28242°07'N / 85°38'W42°25'N / 85°03'W36.20 Miles100 Yards00250K0Kalamazoo
28.02010-06-05241°49'N / 85°41'W41°46'N / 85°29'W11.00 Miles200 Yards00300K0KSt. Joseph
 Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A survey of damage across southern St. Joseph county was performed by NWS Personnel. The damage found indicates that a circulation touched down over an open field north of Miller Road and west of Blue School Road. The tornado initially struck two barns, destroying them and sending the debris several miles downwind. The tornado then picked up a trailer at a local Port-A-Jon business. It appears that a combination of the strong winds and the trailer striking one of the guy wires, resulted in a 350 foot cell tower being blown down into an adjacent tower, causing the failure of both (DI: FST DOD:2). The tornado then continued across mainly open fields, scouring a 200 yard wide area of corn, just to the east-southeast of the cell towers and several trees along its track. The final damage occurred at a residence where minor roof damage was done to a barn, as well as more focused tree damage and a center pivot irrigation system being flipped. The tornado reached a maximum of roughly 200 yards in width and was on the ground for over 10 miles. Maximum winds are estimated at around 125 mph. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A warm front worked north towards lower Michigan during the evening hours of the 5th. Storms were initially slow to organize, but quickly intensified and became super cellular as they moved off Lake Michigan. A combination of tornadoes and micro bursts were found in surveys across Berrien, Cass and St. Joseph counties.
28.41964-08-22241°42'N / 84°36'W0025K0Williams
28.41974-04-03241°55'N / 84°39'W42°05'N / 84°24'W17.00 Miles440 Yards2312.5M0Hillsdale
28.51986-07-15242°24'N / 85°11'W42°15'N / 84°45'W22.50 Miles440 Yards00250K0Calhoun
28.61976-03-12242°03'N / 84°35'W42°04'N / 84°30'W3.60 Miles133 Yards00250K0Hillsdale
28.61991-03-27341°43'N / 84°36'W41°47'N / 84°31'W5.00 Miles400 Yards0025.0M0Hillsdale
28.91961-05-06341°32'N / 85°25'W41°33'N / 85°12'W11.00 Miles800 Yards052.5M0Lagrange
29.02001-10-24241°28'N / 85°12'W41°32'N / 85°01'W7.00 Miles440 Yards001.0M0De Kalb
 Brief Description: On Wednesday 10/24/01 a surface low pressure system tracked rapidly northeast from the mid Mississippi Valley to northern Lake Michigan and deepened significantly. The accompanying cold front surged east from the Mississippi Valley during the afternoon to southeast Michigan and western Ohio in the evening. The deepening surface low was the result of a negatively tilted upper level trough approaching the Mississippi Valley. The air mass ahead of the cold front was quite unstable with lifted indices around -5C and surface dewpoints of 65-70F. Strong veering wind fields were over the area with 20-30kt S-SSE flow at the surface veering rapidly in the low levels to southwest at 45kts, then remaining unidirectional above with wind speeds increasing to 65kt at 20,000 ft. An area of Thunderstorms across Illinois in the early afternoon formed into a line as they moved into northwest Indiana. Two strong bow echoes developed over northwest and north central Indiana during the late afternoon and moved northeast at 50 MPH into southern Michigan. Numerous tornadoes occurred in the comma heads of the bow echoes. Isolated supercells ahead of the main squall line produced little severe weather except for a tornado that occurred over northwest Ohio in the evening when the squall line merged with a supercell.
29.11961-05-06341°33'N / 84°48'W41°34'N / 84°45'W1.90 Miles813 Yards0025K0Williams
29.11956-04-03241°38'N / 85°29'W003K0Lagrange
29.51965-04-11441°43'N / 85°40'W41°45'N / 85°30'W8.50 Miles333 Yards5420K0Lagrange
30.41976-03-12241°38'N / 85°38'W41°44'N / 85°30'W9.30 Miles100 Yards09250K0Lagrange
31.81976-03-12242°04'N / 84°30'W42°05'N / 84°28'W00250K0Jackson
32.61992-07-14241°27'N / 85°09'W41°27'N / 85°09'W4.00 Miles150 Yards0025.0M0De Kalb
33.21991-03-27342°23'N / 84°54'W2.00 Miles400 Yards018250K0Calhoun
33.31992-07-14241°27'N / 85°17'W41°27'N / 85°09'W4.00 Miles150 Yards02825.0M0Noble
33.31977-04-02442°17'N / 85°33'W42°21'N / 85°19'W12.40 Miles183 Yards0102.5M0Kalamazoo
33.41984-09-25241°56'N / 84°25'W2.10 Miles90 Yards02250K0Hillsdale
34.21953-05-17241°47'N / 85°46'W41°51'N / 85°40'W6.40 Miles33 Yards003K0St. Joseph
35.01974-04-03341°25'N / 85°28'W41°31'N / 85°17'W11.40 Miles150 Yards33825.0M0Noble
35.41974-04-03241°45'N / 84°25'W41°50'N / 84°23'W5.40 Miles167 Yards0225K0Hillsdale
35.91974-04-03241°50'N / 84°23'W41°51'N / 84°22'W0325K0Lenawee
35.91976-03-12241°48'N / 84°24'W41°49'N / 84°22'W00250K0Hillsdale
36.61964-08-22241°46'N / 84°26'W41°53'N / 84°18'W10.30 Miles100 Yards0125K0Hillsdale
36.62001-05-21242°22'N / 85°27'W42°22'N / 85°27'W1.00 Mile150 Yards00500K100KKalamazoo
 Brief Description: A F2 tornado produced maximum estimated wind speeds of 120 to 130 m.p.h. and caused extensive damage 4 miles west of Richland, in Kalamazoo county. The initial damage occurred approximately one third of a mile south of the intersection of C Avenue and 24th street, extending north for about a mile. Extensive tree damage occurred along the tornado's path, and there was structural damage to several homes. One home along the tornado's path was completely destroyed, while several others sustained significant roof and shingle damage. The home that was destroyed lost it's roof, which was carried roughly 75 yards north of the home, and it also lost most of it's interior and exterior walls. The tornado's path length was one mile long with a width of 150 yards.
36.91965-04-11342°22'N / 85°36'W42°22'N / 85°19'W14.20 Miles150 Yards017250K0Kalamazoo
37.01976-03-12241°49'N / 84°22'W41°50'N / 84°21'W00250K0Lenawee
37.21974-04-03441°26'N / 85°38'W41°35'N / 85°26'W14.40 Miles33 Yards1240K0Noble
37.21974-04-03242°05'N / 84°24'W42°07'N / 84°22'W1.30 Miles440 Yards0025K0Jackson
37.41974-04-03241°43'N / 84°25'W41°47'N / 84°20'W5.60 Miles33 Yards050K0Hillsdale
37.71965-04-11441°37'N / 85°42'W41°38'N / 85°40'W00250K0Elkhart
37.91980-05-13342°18'N / 85°43'W42°17'N / 85°30'W10.60 Miles450 Yards57925.0M0Kalamazoo
38.52009-06-19242°23'N / 85°30'W42°23'N / 85°28'W1.00 Mile200 Yards000K0KKalamazoo
 Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: Several trees and large branches were knocked down across North 28th Street near the tornado touchdown. The most extensive damage was located approximately two-miles northwest of Richland south of E C Avenue. The roof was torn off a ranch-style house and completely destroyed with pieces of truss carried one-half mile. Insulation was found over one-mile away from the tornado damaged home. The back deck of the home was destroyed with a large piece of the deck thrown approximately 100 yards. All trees were snapped or uprooted around the house with two uprooted trees carried 30-40 feet. Nearly 1.8 miles northwest of Richland, about 50% of trees were snapped or uprooted with numerous branches down along the tree line. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Thunderstorms developed and moved across Lake Michigan during the evening hours on June 19th. Several hours of intense rainfall occurred starting around 7:00 PM EST. The ground was already saturated from early morning thunderstorms that produced very heavy rainfall. In addition to the heavy rain, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes accompanied the thunderstorms.
40.11974-04-03241°47'N / 84°20'W41°50'N / 84°16'W4.30 Miles33 Yards000K0Lenawee
40.31977-04-02442°26'N / 85°01'W42°32'N / 84°43'W16.60 Miles613 Yards1442.5M0Eaton
41.01980-07-05241°43'N / 85°49'W00250K0Elkhart
41.61986-07-15242°33'N / 85°31'W42°25'N / 85°11'W20.00 Miles440 Yards00250K0Barry
42.01957-07-04241°28'N / 84°34'W41°27'N / 84°30'W2.70 Miles33 Yards00250K0Williams
43.11986-09-29242°12'N / 85°51'W42°12'N / 85°47'W3.80 Miles400 Yards01250K0Van Buren
43.81955-08-06242°06'N / 84°20'W42°09'N / 84°11'W7.90 Miles300 Yards003K0Jackson
44.02000-06-14241°17'N / 85°09'W41°17'N / 85°07'W3.00 Miles400 Yards00200K0De Kalb
 Brief Description: The tornado touched down on CR 64, one half mile west of Indian Springs Camp Ground. Trees and power lines were knocked down and many were snapped and uprooted. Extensive roof damage occurred to houses in the area. A barn was damaged with much of its roof torn off and outbuildings were either damaged or destroyed. The tornado then lifted back into its parent cloud. Synoptic and mesoscale conditions for June 14th... A significant mid-level shortwave trough was located over Iowa on the morning of June 14th with an outflow dominated squall line across western Illinois. Rapid destabilization ensued later in the morning across eastern Illinois and northern Indiana with CAPES to 3500 j/kg by early afternoon. VAD wind profiles showed 850 millibar winds in excess of 50 knots in advance of the upper trough by afternoon and as storms developed along the left over outflow boundary across Illinois... they quickly became severe and organized into a large bow echo and moved quickly eastward into northern Indiana causing extensive wind damage. By late afternoon... a short segmented squall line developed just ahead of this bow echo squall line and extended from a St. Joseph to Fulton county line. Along the southern end of this line... an embedded tornadic supercell developed and interacted with a left over storm-scale outflow boundary to produce the Wabash/Kosciusko and DeKalb county tornadoes. The lack of significant low level shear likely prevented a much larger and more widespread tornado event especially across Whitley and Allen counties where several funnel clouds were captured on film but failed to touch down.
44.41966-06-09242°31'N / 85°23'W2.00 Miles33 Yards000K0Barry
44.71965-04-11441°37'N / 86°04'W41°43'N / 85°40'W21.60 Miles333 Yards312520K0Elkhart
44.91971-08-10241°18'N / 84°48'W0.50 Mile100 Yards0025K0Defiance
45.21974-04-03441°25'N / 85°39'W41°26'N / 85°38'W000K0Elkhart
45.61967-10-24241°26'N / 85°40'W05250K0Kosciusko
45.71976-03-12242°11'N / 84°15'W2.00 Miles90 Yards00250K0Jackson
45.71983-05-01242°00'N / 84°11'W1.90 Miles400 Yards0025K0Lenawee
46.51964-08-22342°00'N / 84°10'W0225K0Lenawee
46.61960-06-15242°15'N / 84°20'W42°15'N / 84°13'W5.60 Miles33 Yards0025K0Jackson
46.81962-04-30341°42'N / 86°04'W41°46'N / 85°49'W13.40 Miles33 Yards00250K0Elkhart
46.81955-05-28242°25'N / 85°03'W42°45'N / 84°43'W28.40 Miles100 Yards01250K0Eaton
47.51990-06-02241°17'N / 85°31'W41°20'N / 85°28'W3.50 Miles220 Yards09250K0Noble
47.91965-08-25241°30'N / 84°24'W41°32'N / 84°13'W9.40 Miles880 Yards012.5M0Williams
48.01965-04-11441°31'N / 86°04'W41°42'N / 85°44'W21.20 Miles33 Yards312520K0Elkhart
49.01986-08-26242°35'N / 85°24'W0.60 Mile13 Yards0025K0Barry
49.22007-08-24342°35'N / 84°49'W42°37'N / 84°45'W7.00 Miles300 Yards0540.0M0KEaton
 Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A NWS storm survey team determined that an EF-3 (Enhanced-Fujita Tornado Scale Rating) tornado with wind speeds estimated at 140 mph produced the most severe damage along a path from M-50 just north of Kinsel Highway to just west of M-100 and Vermontville Highway near Potterville, Michigan. The storm survey indicated a tornado path which was 200 to 300 yards wide and 6.5 miles long. Fifteen homes were either destroyed or severely damaged. A roof was blown off a single story home and windward facing walls were blown in. The majority of the roof and garage from this home were not found. A roof was blown off of a two story home and the upper story front walls were blown in. Additional damage included the partial collapse of the upper story of a home, and another house was blown off of the foundation. Two barns were destroyed and another incurred heavy damage just west of Potterville. EPISODE NARRATIVE: An EF-3 tornado struck Eaton county and resulted in five injuries but no fatalities. An EF-1 tornado struck Ingham county but did not produce any injuries or fatalities.


* The information on this page is based on the global volcano database, the U.S. earthquake database of 1638-1985, and the U.S. Tornado and Weather Extremes database of 1950-2010.


 
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