Top Ten Weather Events Past Decade

 

              Top Ten Weather Events of the Past Decade 

                                                                                     1/13/2010

The staff here at the NWS in White Lake came up with and voted on (in order of precedence) the top ten weather events in the last decade /2000-2009/ that affected Southeast Lower Michigan.  While there were numerous weather events considered, the following events where judged the most notable and ranked from 1 to 10 in decreasing order of importance.

 
Top Ten Weather Events of the Past Decade in Southeast Lower Michigan
 
 1  June 8, 2008 Derecho  (Squall Line)

 2  April 3, 2003 Ice Storm.

The long, cold Winter of 2002-03 was not going to give up easily as that cold, angry lion decided to make another unwelcome visit as March ended and then again, during the first week of April. Mother nature really pulled an April's fool joke on the inhabitants of Southeast Lower Michigan. April 1st was nice enough with sunny skies and high temperatures surging up into the lower to mid 70s as Mother Nature tried to fool area residents into a false sense of security that spring was finally here to stay. The April fools joke came later on April 3rd, when things (especially temperatures) went down hill fast. A strong Arctic front pushed its way south across Southeast Lower Michigan during the afternoon on the 3rd. The temperature extremes across just Southeast Lower Michigan were quite dramatic and impressive with a winter-like airmass contrasting with a summer-like one. While lower to mid 30s were commonplace across the Saginaw Valley and Thumb region, temperatures at the same time were into the 70s (with one or two places even flirting with 80) in Lenawee and Monroe counties. As the front sank south into the Northern Ohio Valley on the 4th-5th, a storm center moved northeast along it and produced thunderstorms, very heavy rain, a dangerous coating of freezing rain - which led to significant icing of 1/4" to near 1" over areas north of a Ann Arbor - Detroit line. By far, the worst of the storm was felt over Oakland county with the heavy ice accumulations of up to an inch in some areas. Customers who lost power totaled up close to a half-million or more across Southeast lower Michigan.

 3  April 24‐25, 2005 Snowstorm 

 4  August 24, 2007 Tornado Outbreak

 5  May 2004 Severe Weather and Floods

 6  December 2000 Snow and Cold

The Winter of 2000-01 did indeed start out early and hard. By the time December 2000 was history, many locations had already received much of their entire normal winter snowfall. To add insult to injury, it was exceptionally cold with southeast lower Michigan averaging about ten degrees below normal in December. Several snow and cold records were shattered as it was unusual to see such intense cold combined with such heavy snowfalls. By the holiday season, Southeast Lower Michigan resembled an Arctic wasteland at times. The heaviest snowfall in December extended from the Ann Arbor area into Detroit’s northern suburbs, northward across Flint and Port Huron into the Saginaw Valley and Thumb region. Saginaw had the honors with the highest snow total for December of the three cities (Detroit/Flint/Saginaw) with 40.3 inches.At the NWS in White Lake, however, we came close to that with 38.8 inches. This area of heaviest snowfall reflected the dominant storm track well which rode from the southern Plains into the southern Great Lakes. Several storms tracked either over extreme Southeast Lower Michigan or northern Ohio. All three of the expected storm tracks were quite active in December with the Alberta clippers and Texas lows being the most dominant. As these lows charged across the country, the clippers brought wave after wave of cold Arctic air, while the Texas lows supplied the bulk of the snow.

 

 7  October 18‐19, 2007 Tornado Outbreak

 8  July 26, 2007 Durand Hail

This event will be remembered for the extreme intensity of large hail it generated. A most unusual hailstorm pounded areas in a 3 mile radius around the city of Durand. Severe hail fell for nearly an hour. At times, the hail was as big as golf balls. Hundreds of homes and vehicles suffered significant damages, totaling nearly 5 million dollars in this area alone. Large hail also caused significant damages to cars in and around the Adrian area. Mostly hail reports were received, but we did get a few wind damage reports from thunderstorm downbursts.

 9  Snowy 2007‐2008 and 2008‐2009

The snowfalls across Southeast Lower Michigan during these two winters (with the exception of Flint) are without precedence in amounts (back to back winters). At Detroit, White Lake and Saginaw when the Winter’s of 2007-08 and 2008-09 snowfalls are combined, each location handily establishes a new high total in this newly created list…Most Snowfall in Two Consecutive Winters. At Flint, the Winter’s of 2007-08 and 2008-09 placed second behind the Winter’s of 1974-75 and 1975-76 (see tables).

10 February 6, 2008 Snowstorm

 



Return to News Archive
USA.gov is the U.S. government's official web portal to all federal, state and local government web resources and services.