DETROIT — The National Weather Service confirmed a rare border-crossing tornado touched down in Detroit, Michigan on September 3, 2026, rated EF2 with winds up to 115 mph, before the same storm crossed the Detroit River and continued into Windsor, Ontario, where Canada’s Northern Tornadoes Project rated the damage EF1 with winds up to 104 mph.
The tornado marks only the second known significant tornado to cross the U.S.-Canada border in recent record, following an EF2 tornado on October 10, 2021 that caused significant tree damage in Cook County, Minnesota before continuing north into Ontario, where it was similarly downgraded to an EF1 rating on the Canadian side.
Damage Survey Details From the U.S. Side
- Date: September 3, 2026
- U.S. rating: EF2, peak winds of 115 mph
- Canadian rating: EF1, peak winds of 104 mph
- Total path length: 8.0 miles (12.9 km)
- Overall path width: 1,205 yards (1,100 meters)
- Path: Touched down in Detroit, crossed the Detroit River, continued into Windsor, Ontario
The tornado’s path took it directly through the Midtown and riverside areas of Detroit before crossing near Belle Isle and the Detroit River, ultimately making a second landfall in the Riverside and Forest Glade areas of Windsor on the Canadian side.
What Radar Showed as the Tornado Developed
Dual-polarization radar data from the National Weather Service office in Detroit, captured at 20:17 UTC on September 3, shows a well-defined couplet of inbound and outbound velocities directly over the Detroit area near Hamtramck and Grosse Pointe Park, a classic radar signature indicating rotation consistent with a developing or ongoing tornado.
The radar imagery also includes a correlation coefficient product showing lower values embedded within the circulation, along with a probability of tornado debris signature product highlighting a small area with a debris probability exceeding 70 to 100%, corresponding almost exactly with the tornado’s track near the Detroit riverfront. This kind of radar-confirmed debris signature gives forecasters near real-time confidence that a tornado is on the ground and causing damage, even before a survey team can physically confirm it.
Why Cross-Border Tornadoes Are Exceptionally Rare
Tornadoes maintaining enough strength and organization to survive crossing a major body of water like the Detroit River, and continuing to produce damage on the opposite shore in another country, represent an unusual meteorological occurrence. Most tornadoes weaken or dissipate entirely when they move over open water, even a relatively narrow waterway like the Detroit River, making this event’s continuation into Windsor notable enough that it drew direct comparison to the only other known recent cross-border case from 2021…