The outbreak produced at least 55 tornadoes, including an F5 that devastated the Grand Rapids metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan on April 3.

[nb 1] Tuesday, April 3, 1956, was a warm and humid day across most of the Midwestern U.S., the Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley.

A potent low-pressure area accompanied an intense mid-latitude cyclone with a pronounced dry line located near the western Great Lakes.

In tandem with the advancing trough, a strong jet stream with winds up to 135 kn (155 mph; 250 km/h) extended over Little Rock, Arkansas, and impinged on the Upper Midwest.

Prior to the arrival of the storms in the region, schools had closed earlier than usual due to the threat of severe weather.

A sharp increase in the annual average E/F0–1 count by approximately 200 tornadoes was noted upon the implementation of NEXRAD Doppler weather radar in 1990–1991.

[10][nb 5] 1974 marked the first year where significant tornado (E/F2+) counts became homogenous with contemporary values, attributed to the consistent implementation of Fujita scale assessments.

The list below documents information from the most contemporary official sources alongside assessments from tornado historian Thomas P. Grazulis.

The first member of the family developed over Lake Michigan and moved ashore a short distance south of Oval Beach, damaging a CBU building and several summer houses at Camp Gray.

Along the rest of its path, the tornado wrecked three homes—one brick, a pair frame, a twin-storied among the latter—and unroofed or destroyed a few barns.

In Allegan, the tornado mostly unroofed a road commission building and a factory, and 12 or more farms reported severe losses to livestock.