Alger County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Alger County: 0.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

The National Weather Service sets flood stages for 2 gauges here but lists no crests for them.

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 5, 2023Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Alger County EM reported record flooding in Au Train where around 200 homes were impacted with flooding along the Au Train River and Au Train Lake during early May. Water was overtopping the Forest Lake Dam upstream due to heavy water equivalent precipitation in the basin from the May 1-2 storm system.

2. May 1, 2023Winter Storm, Alger$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storm total snowfall amounts across the county through the afternoon of the 2nd included an estimated 19 inches 11 miles southwest of Munising and 16 inches at Eben Junction. The wet and heavy snowfall brought down trees and powerlines causing power outages. There were numerous road closures across the county due to the near impossible travel on roadways from dense and compacted wet snow. Schools were closed throughout the county on the 2nd and Au Train-Onoto Schools were closed on the 1st.

3. Jun 10, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Barn destroyed, killing a bull inside, trees down.

4. Apr 28, 2025Flash Flood$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain resulted in flooding along the Anna River late Monday night into early Tuesday morning. Driveway bridges and a private road were damaged or washed out along M-94, and railroad tracks were washed out between Munising Junction and Munising. Time estimated from radar.

5. Oct 18, 2022High Wind, Alger$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   North wind gusts gusted around 60 mph through much of the late morning hours at Grand Marias with a peak gust of 63 mph at 950 am EDT. The Munising ASOS recorded a peak wind gust of 58 at 1103 am EDT. The high wind combined with 24-hour wet snow amounts approaching four inches at some locations caused some tree damage and power outages to nearly 1500 customers across the county.

6. Aug 1, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Over 100 12-24 inch diameter trees were snapped and uprooted five miles west-northwest of Au Train. Two trees were down on a house along Rock River Road. Power lines were also reported down.

7. Oct 24, 2017Lakeshore Flood, Alger$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storm force north winds across eastern Lake Superior whipped up waves as high as 25 to 30 feet and caused extensive beach erosion along the Lake Superior shoreline of Alger County on the 24th.

8. Nov 10, 1998High Wind, Alger$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   On the 23rd anniversary of the 1975 storm that sank the Edmond Fitzgerald on Lake Superior, a deep low pressure system (central pressure 28.41 inches of mercury) developed over the central plains and tracked northeast across western Lake Superior. Strong winds spread over Michigan's Upper Peninsula with sustained speeds of 30 to 40 mph and gusts as high as 87 mph. A gust of 94 mph was recorded by the Ontonagon County Road Commission. Damage was reported across the region with business signs blown down and roofs damaged as well as damage to homes, vehicles, utility poles, power lines and transformers from falling trees and branches. The strong winds even blew away a city's holiday…

9. Nov 27, 2019Winter Storm, Alger$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The observer 11 miles southwest of Munising measured 12 inches of storm total snowfall. The dense, heavy snow combined with northerly winds gusting to 40 to 50 mph at times caused damage to trees and power lines and widespread power outages throughout the region. The storm forced many businesses to close on the 27th.

10. Jul 10, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    There was a public report of dozens of snapped and uprooted trees seven miles east-northeast of Round Lake.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

101°FJul 7, 1988

All-time low

−34°FMar 3, 2003

Warmest night

72°F2 times, most recently Jul 17, 2013

Coldest day

−5°FJan 19, 1994

Wettest day

3.15 inOct 18, 2016

Snowiest day

25.2 inMar 17, 2026

Hottest year

2012mean 45.7°F

Coldest year

2014mean 37.6°F

Wettest year

201747.70 in

Driest year

199422.45 in

Snowiest season

317.5 in1995-96

Station Chatham Experiment Farm 2 (USC00201486), 870 ft elevation, 10.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1987 to October 26, 2026; 98.8% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

Neighbouring counties

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USC00201486.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.