Oscoda County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Oscoda 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 storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 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.

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. Jul 3, 1999Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Continuation of Montmorency County tornado. Most extensive area of damage occurred here. See narrative below. Tornado continued into Alcona county.

2. Oct 18, 2007Tornado$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Oscoda County tornado may have been the strongest of the six on the day. Thankfully, it spent almost all of its lifetime in unpopulated areas of the Huron National Forest, though that makes its strength difficult to estimate. Tens of thousands of trees were estimated to have been uprooted or otherwise downed, and many power lines were downed. About 16 structures were damaged, mostly outbuildings or cabins. Three cabins, near Cherry Lane and Cherry Creek Road, were destroyed. Winds were estimated at 115 mph, making it an EF2.

3. Apr 30, 2006Wildfire, Oscoda$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Hughes Lake Fire started early in the afternoon of April 30th, near the Ogemaw/Oscoda County line, southeast of Hughes Lake. Southeast winds of 10 to 20 mph pushed the fire quickly to the northwest. At its peak spread rate late in the afternoon, the fire was moving at two miles per hour, with flames as high as 300 feet tall. The fire would largely be brought under control on May 1st, with several days of mop-up activities after that. Please see May 2006 Storm Data for a complete summary of the Hughes Lake Fire.

4. May 1, 2006Wildfire, Oscoda$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Conditions were very dry across Northern Michigan, with most of the region seeing less than an inch of rain since the first week of April. Vegetation was vulnerable to wildfires given the dry weather and that most trees had not greened up yet. The Hughes Lake Fire began early in the afternoon of April 30th, ignited by an individual burning brush in a fire pit. The fire spread northwest from Hughes Lake thanks to southeast winds of 10 to 20 mph. The rate of spread reached as high as 2 miles per hour late in the afternoon of the 30th, with flame heights reaching 300 feet tall. Containment activities brought the fire under control by late afternoon of May 1st, though mop-up would…

5. Mar 2, 2012Heavy Snow, Oscoda$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One of the highest-impact snowstorms in recent memory pounded Northern Michigan on the night of the 2nd. Low pressure tracked from Missouri, to southern Lower Michigan, and on to eastern Canada, while rapidly strengthening. Precipitation surged northward into the region on the evening of the 2nd. This was primarily snow, except in parts of east central Lower Michigan (especially near Lake Huron), where temperatures were mild enough for rain. Snow wound down on the morning of the 3rd, and though somewhat blustery winds occurred behind the system on the 3rd, blowing snow was limited because the snowfall was so wet.|Snow totals ranged from 6 to 14 inches across most of Northern…

6. Aug 1, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Garland Resort lost more than 300 trees. Damage continued but became sporadic to the east.

7. Jul 17, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$45,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees downed along Camp Ten Road. A home on Cherry Creek Road was almost split in two by a falling tree.

8. Oct 18, 2007Tornado$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The McCollum Lake tornado developed from the same storm that produced the Oscoda County tornado. It produced considerable tree damage along McCollum Lake Road, near the Oscoda/Alcona County line. Only a small part of the tornado track was in Oscoda County, but most of the damage was in this initial section. Swirl markings were seen in nearby fields. A few outbuildings were also damaged. The tornado continued on into Alcona County. Winds were estimated at 105 mph, making it an EF1.

9. Jul 15, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$16,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several trees and many large limbs were downed, in a swath from near Garland to Comins. Some power lines were also downed. Pea sized hail also occurred.

10. May 26, 2018Thunderstorm Wind$15,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A single large tree was downed onto a home along Townline Road.

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

105°FJun 20, 1995

All-time low

−41°FFeb 4, 1996

Warmest night

72°FJun 23, 2025

Coldest day

−4°F2 times, most recently Jan 30, 2019

Wettest day

4.60 inMay 20, 1959

Snowiest day

11.4 inFeb 23, 1959

Hottest year

2024mean 47.5°F

Coldest year

2014mean 40.0°F

Wettest year

198536.88 in

Driest year

195820.65 in

Snowiest season

78.3 in1984-85

Station Lupton 1S (USC00204967), 908 ft elevation, 20.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1951 to October 26, 2026; 93.2% 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 USC00204967.
• 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.