Luce County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 20, 2012Wildfire, Luce$12.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning from a line of thunderstorms ignited The Duck Lake Wildfire 14 miles north of Newberry on the evening of the 20th. Strong south winds gusting over 30 mph on the 24th quickly fanned the fire and caused it to spread rapidly toward the Lake Superior shore forcing mandatory evacuations for people in the Pike Lake, Bodi Lake, Culhane Lake and Little Lake Harbor areas. The 21,069 acre wildfire, the third largest in modern Michigan history, burned 136 structures (including one store and one motel) before it was fully contained in mid-June. No injuries or deaths occurred from the fire. Road closures included County Road 414 east from the intersection with County Road 410 and…

2. Jun 30, 2018Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rangers at Muskallonge Lake State Park reported tennis ball sized hail with numerous camper roofs destroyed. All 159 campsites at the park sustained hail damage to campers, cars and other property. Seven park vehicles were significantly damaged, and the roofs of several buildings in the park, including the park headquarters building, will probably need to be replaced. Time of the report was estimated by radar.

3. Jul 18, 2013Lightning$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A house fire caused by a lightning strike resulted in the death of a 79-year-old man. The fire was reported by a storm spotter located one mile away, and it was confirmed by local media.

4. Jul 18, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fifty trees were knocked down at Muskallonge Lake State Park. Some trees fell on campers, tents, and outbuildings, but no injuries were reported.

5. Sep 3, 2010High Wind, Luce$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds knocked down approximately 50 large trees at Muskallonge State Park on the evening of the 3rd and forced the evacuation of 343 people to Tahquamenon Area Schools in Newberry or to local motels. Trees fell on campers and blocked roads forcing park officials to close the park at 930 pm that evening. Campers were allowed to return to the park on the afternoon of the 4th.

6. Aug 2, 2007Wildfire, Luce$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   On August 2, a lightning strike ignited a wildfire over the Lake Superior State Forest in Luce County during a period of moderate to extreme drought conditions. The Sleeper Lake Fire grew to more than 15,000 acres within a week and eventually swept across 28 square miles, consuming more than 18,000 acres of forests and wetlands before it was fully contained in late August. ||It was the third largest wildfire in Michigan's recorded history. The equipment and personnel costs for fighting the fire were estimated at approximately $6 million at the time of this report. No major injuries were reported.

7. Dec 18, 2022Winter Weather, Luce$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Moderate snow and poor road conditions contributed to a fatal two-vehicle crash near McMillan in Lakefield Township on the morning of the 18th. At 9:50 am MSP troopers responded to a two-vehicle crash near the intersection of Highway M-28 and County Road 444 in Lakefield Township. A 19-year-old man from Newberry was driving east on M-28 when his Ford F-250 truck crossed the center line and collided with a Chrysler minivan driven by a 64-year-old woman from Newberry. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. The man was taken to Helen Newberry Joy Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and released. The MSP was assisted at the scene of the accident by the MDNR,…

8. Nov 10, 1998High Wind, Luce$25,000
   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 13, 2019Winter Storm, Luce$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An estimated 12 inches of wet, heavy lake enhanced snow fell at the Cobblestone Bar & Grill in McMillan in approximately nine hours. An estimated seven inches of snow fell in Newberry with numerous traffic accidents reported.

10. Nov 27, 2019Winter Storm, Luce$20,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The observer in Newberry measured nine inches of wet, heavy snow in less than 12 hours. The dense snow combined with northerly winds gusting to 30 to 35 mph at times caused damage to trees and some power lines. Businesses were closed on the 27th due to the storm.

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

98°F2 times, most recently Jul 7, 1988

All-time low

−36°FFeb 17, 1979

Warmest night

73°FJul 7, 1988

Coldest day

−7°FMar 3, 2003

Wettest day

3.87 inAug 29, 1969

Snowiest day

16.1 inJan 8, 2004

Hottest year

2024mean 43.6°F

Coldest year

2014mean 35.5°F

Wettest year

201953.55 in

Driest year

197229.08 in

Snowiest season

332.8 in1976-77

Station Tahquamenon Falls Sp (USC00208043), 745 ft elevation, 24.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1968 to October 5, 2026; 95.3% 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 USC00208043.
• 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.