You say Cyclone, I say Tornado

Cyclone or tornado? 

My understanding is that over land, it's a tornado and given that Adrian, MI is slap-dab in the middle of land, it's a tornado? Having said that, if a windstorm was able to sustain its speed coming in from Lake Erie - where it's highly unlikely a cyclone or hurricane would originate - it could have been a cyclone I guess but the storm started in the west.

Whatever it was, our relatives survived!

Lima Daily News, 14 Mar 1918 - Ancestry

courtesy of David Clark - Find A Grave

It's hard to say at 57 if the cyclone is what led to death of Luman Older in December of the same year.

Dairy farmer Luman Edgar Older, the son of Thomas Older & Mary Abigail Coy married our Harriet Louisa Irish, the daughter of Fred Irish & Harriet Peck. They had 2 children - Thomas & Marquis

courtesy of David Clark - Find A Grave

Morcenci Observer, Aug 1949

Mrs Hattie Older

The death of Mrs Hattie Older, widow of Luman E Older, and formerly an Adrian resident, died Tuesday morning at 10:50 o'clock in Beyer Memorial Hospital at Ypsilanti. She was 87 years old. Mrs Older was born in Adrian Oct 31, 1861, the daughter of Frederick and Harriet Peck Irish. She married Mr Older, June 25, 1885 and their home was in Adrian township for many years and later in Adrian on Budlong Street. Two sons were born to them, Mark and Fred Older. Mr Older died Dec 1918 and Mark, the son, died in Nov 1941. Surviving are her son Fred of Ypsilanti with whom she had lived the last eight years, four grandchildren and ine great-grandchildren. Before her marriage, Mrs Older taught in the rural schools in the county and after Mr Older's death she was a housemother in the boys' dormitory at Adrian College for a number of years. She was a member of the former Methodist Protestant church. The funeral will be Thursday at 2 pm in the Everiss Funeral home. The Rev Wilbur Schultze, rector of St Luke's Episcopal Church in Ypsilanti, will officiate and the burial will be in Oakwood Cemetery, Adrian.