Schoolcraft County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Oct 5, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A bow echo moved rapidly east through Delta and Schoolcraft Counties producing a series of damaging microbursts. The damaging winds started around Rock and proceeded east in a 12 mile wide swath that included Rapid River, Maplewood, and Garden Corners in Delta County; and Cooks, Thompson, Indian Lake, Manistique and Gulliver in Schoolcraft County. Several thousands of trees were downed by the winds, which were estimated to be in excess of 100 miles an hour. 600 buildings sustained wind and hail damage along with numerous vehicles.The most severe property damage locations included Maplewood, Thompson, 7 miles northeast of Manistique and 4 miles west of Gulliver. In Maplewood, a…

2. Jul 10, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A WFO Marquette storm survey team observed widespread microburst damage around Straits Lake in Schoolcraft County on the evening of the 10th. Significant tree damage was observed, including uprooted and snapped large pine trees. In addition, multiple trees had fallen on some structures and vehicles.

3. Mar 3, 2017Winter Weather, Southern Schoolcraft$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lake effect snow and poor visibility contributed to a fatal car accident which occurred on US-2 near Gulliver on the early morning of the 3rd. A semi-truck was westbound and a pickup truck was eastbound when one of the drivers lost control and the vehicles collided on US-2 west of Jackson Road in Doyle Township around 230 am. The passenger of the pickup truck was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. The driver of the pickup truck was injured and taken to U.P. Health Systems in Marquette. Two people in the semi-truck were taken to Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital for treatment.

4. Oct 5, 1997Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail damaged several homes and vehicle in the city of Manistique.

5. Jan 26, 2019Winter Storm, Northern Schoolcraft$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fine-flaked lake effect snow and blowing snow resulted in poor visibility across the county on the 27th. The near whiteout conditions contributed to a multi-vehicle crash and pileup along the Seney Stretch of Highway M-28 on the early afternoon of the 27th. A total of eight vehicles were damaged with numerous other vehicles going into the ditch to avoid collisions. As a result, M-28 was closed for three hours between M-77 in Seney and M-94 in Shingleton. A 67-year old man and two women, one 65-years old and the other 52-years old, received serious injuries in the crash. All three people were transported to Helen Newberry Joy Hospital for treatment. ||Minimum wind chill values…

6. Nov 10, 1998High Wind, Schoolcraft$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…

7. Jan 27, 2023Winter Weather, Southern Schoolcraft$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Poor visibility due to snow and blowing snow and slippery roads likely contributed to a fatal multi-vehicle accident in Garden Township on the afternoon of the 27th. A semi-truck driving westbound lost control and struck a Toyota SUV head-on killing the husband and wife occupants of the Toyota, a 47-year-old male and a 46-year-old female, both from Escanaba. A Chevrolet SUV, driven by a 54-year-old man from Oshkosh, WI, then struck the end of the semi-trailer still on the road and the Oshkosh man was trapped inside the vehicle and sustained broken bones. The driver of the semi-truck was not injured.

8. Jul 14, 2021Thunderstorm Wind$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A microburst struck Indian River Campground southeast of Steuben in Schoolcraft County on the afternoon of the 14th. Over 50 large trees were snapped or uprooted over a 300 x 200 yard area. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 85 mph. Fortunately, all of the campsites were empty at the time of the storm.

9. Nov 27, 2019Winter Storm, Northern Schoolcraft$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   There was an estimated eight inches of wet, heavy snow in approximately 12 hours. The dense snow combined with northerly winds of 35 to 40 mph caused damage to trees and power lines. Most businesses closed on the 27th due to the storm.

10. Jul 30, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$10,000

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°FAug 19, 1955

All-time low

−33°FFeb 4, 1970

Warmest night

76°FAug 1, 1945

Coldest day

−9°FFeb 2, 1996

Wettest day

3.86 inApr 24, 2002

Snowiest day

24.0 inDec 12, 1989

Hottest year

1944mean 46.0°F

Coldest year

2014mean 37.5°F

Wettest year

201949.82 in

Driest year

198917.22 in

Snowiest season

126.4 in1938-39

Station Manistique Wwtp (USC00205073), 600 ft elevation, 4.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1896 to October 27, 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 USC00205073.
• 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.