Dickinson County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Dickinson 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

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.

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the county boundary (or inside the county).
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Sep 30, 2002Tornado$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed over northeast Florence County, WI (See Storm Data for Wisconsin, Northeastern, for more information on the beginning portion of this tornado) and crossed the Menominee River just south of the Iron Mountain-Kingsford airport. The storm moved east-northeast into Kingsford and Iron Mountain. As the storm moved into Iron Mountain, the track shifted more to the east and the damage path became more sporadic before the tornado lifted completely on the east side of Iron Mountain. Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down, blocking highway US-2 and disrupting electric power and telephone service. Gas lines were ruptured and several commercial buildings…

2. Jul 30, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scattered reports of trees down. Part of the roof on the North Dickinson School was torn off and carried several hundered yards east over the football field. The wood framed, sheet metal-sided bus garage was considered a total loss and a bus inside the garage was slightly damaged. Near Merriman, an all-terrain vehicle was crushed, two houses suffered roof damage, and a shed and a van were seriously damaged by falling trees. A pick-up truck was crushed by a falling tree in Hardwood.

3. Jun 9, 2000Hail$225,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Warm air and gulf moisture surging north ahead of a surface low pressure area over the Northern Plains helped fuel thunderstorms which developed late on June 8th and the early morning of the 9th. The thunderstorms developed along and north of a warm front and were aided by widespread converging air in the low levels and divergence aloft. Shortly after midnight, a line of thunderstorms moved from Gogebic County, east, through southern Iron and central Dickinson Counties, producing large hail which damaged homes and vehicles in Iron River and Randville. An eye-witness reported hail falling so hard, it seemed like a snowstorm. About 700 vehicles and 575 homes suffered hail damage,…

4. Oct 17, 2016Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Dickinson County Emergency Manager reported two county roads completely cut in two from flooding, one of which was CR-581. Seven other county roads were partially washed out. The total damage estimate was near $200,000.

5. Oct 5, 2005Lightning$140,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One home in the Breitung Township was totally destroyed by a lightning-strike induced fire. Another home on North Evergreen Drive sustained major damage when lightning struck a nearby pine tree.

6. Apr 13, 2023Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding along the Michigamme River including secondary roads and property constituted much of the flood impacts in April for Dickinson County. County Road 577 in Vulcan was also closed from the 15th into the 17th due to high water. Governor Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Dickinson County on the 21st to open up state funds to assist in flood recovery efforts.

7. Jun 25, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm downburst winds downed trees up to 12 inches in diameter in Iron Mountain, Kingsford and Vulcan. A 60 mph wind gust downed traffic signals in Norway. Several vehicles damaged. There were a total of 16 house and tree fires started by lightning from this storm.

8. Jul 20, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were reported down. Damage was also reported to homes and cars from downed trees. Street flooding also occurred.

9. Jul 4, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The storm survey indicated a four-mile path of straight line wind damage across the Sawyer and Edey Lake area east of Channing. There was evidence of gustnadoes along the main straight line wind core. Straight-line wind speeds were estimated at 60-70 mph with pockets of near 90 mph winds within the gustnado damage. Numerous large trees were uprooted with smaller trees snapped off from the strong winds. Within the area of strongest wind damage several of the large trees fell on houses and vehicles and knocked down power poles and power lines. The 911 call center also reported that numerous witnesses saw a waterspout on Sawyer Lake which moved onshore towards Woodlawn Lane.

10. Nov 10, 1998High Wind, Dickinson$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…

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

104°FJul 29, 1917

All-time low

−39°F2 times, most recently Feb 4, 1996

Warmest night

85°F2 times, most recently Jul 27, 1919

Coldest day

−15°FJan 18, 1994

Wettest day

4.06 inAug 29, 1941

Snowiest day

21.0 inMar 16, 2026

Hottest year

1931mean 48.4°F

Coldest year

1917mean 38.7°F

Wettest year

195145.42 in

Driest year

190719.82 in

Snowiest season

128.5 in1938-39

Station Iron Mtn-kingsford Wwtp (USC00204090), 1,071 ft elevation, 4.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1899 to September 30, 2026; 99.0% 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 USC00204090.
• 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.