Lake County

Every recorded tornado

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

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

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.

Claims by ZIP code

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.

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Mar 8, 2017High Wind, Lake$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Peak wind gusts of up to 60 mph resulted in numerous downed trees and limbs and power lines and widespread power outages.

2. Apr 17, 2013Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant flooding occurred on rivers and streams across Lake county due to significant rainfall from early to mid April.

3. Jun 13, 2008Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damage resulting from flash flooding included a 30 foot wide by 10 foot deep sinkhole which developed near the 18 Mile bridge five miles west of Irons. Numerous roads were washed out and several mudslides were also reported. ||Rainfall totals across the areas hardest hit ranged from five to eleven inches, all of which fell in only a six to eight hour time period. Damage to public infrastructure was estimated at about two million dollars, mainly due to all of the road and bridge washouts. A presidential disaster declaration for flooding was also issued for Lake county.

4. May 31, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Michigan State Police EMD's Damage and Injury Assessment Report indicated $89,176 in public damage costs and the Lake County Star newspaper reported $514,850 in private property damage and $502,500 in clean-up costs. No injuries were reported. Hardest hit townships included Lake, Peacock, and Yates. The newspaper reported an entanglement of trees, limbs, and power lines were left throughout the county, with the area from just south of Big Star Lake in Lake Township northeast through Idlewild having been especially hard-hit. Public buildings in Baldwin incurred minor damage and Michigan Highway 37, 4 miles south of Baldwin, was closed for a period on May 31st for tree and debris…

5. May 23, 2004Flood, Lake$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The biggest and longest duration flooding event in the past ten to twenty years occurred across southwestern and south central lower Michigan from May 20th through the third of June. Flooding in mid May resulted in very high river levels and the ground was saturated on the 20th. Numerous thunderstorm complexes and areas of heavy rainfall developed repeatedly in the vicinity of a quasi stationary frontal boundary draped across southern lower Michigan. The heaviest rain fell on Saturday, May 22nd, when over two inches of rain fell over most of the area. Total rainfall over the Grand River basin from May 20th through June 3rd varied from four to as much as seven inches.The Grand…

6. Jul 20, 2019Flood$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Between 6 and 10 inches of rain fell with local reports of up to 12 inches of rain. This resulted in at least 48 homes across Lake county being affected by floodwaters.

7. May 3, 2012Strong Wind, Lake$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three trees were blown down between Irons and Baldwin.

8. Dec 11, 2010Winter Storm, Lake$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ten to twelve inches of snow fell across northeast Lake county, with six to ten inches of snow falling across the remainder of the county. The weight from the heavy snow also brought down several trees.

9. Jul 19, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees were blown down across much of Lake county.

10. Apr 3, 2003Ice Storm, Lake$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A major ice storm affected much of southern lower Michigan, causing hundreds of thousands of people to lose power. The weight of the ice brought down thousands of trees and limbs and hundreds of power lines. Many people across the area lost power for several days and some people who live in outlying areas were without power for a week. The ice storm resulted in several million dollars worth of damage across the area.The ice storm came in three stages. The first period of freezing rain during the afternoon hours of the 3rd resulted in up to a quarter of an inch of ice across Osceola and Isabella counties, in central lower Michigan. The second period of freezing rain came during the…

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

103°F3 times, most recently Jul 14, 1936

All-time low

−36°FFeb 11, 1899

Warmest night

78°FJul 21, 1901

Coldest day

−4°FFeb 11, 1899

Wettest day

7.64 inSep 11, 1986

Snowiest day

14.0 in3 times, most recently Feb 2, 2011

Hottest year

1921mean 49.8°F

Coldest year

1967mean 41.4°F

Wettest year

200648.65 in

Driest year

195523.39 in

Snowiest season

115.3 in1951-52

Station Big Rapids Water Plant (USC00200779), 898 ft elevation, 23.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1896 to October 27, 2026; 96.3% 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 USC00200779.
• 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.