Hail in Michigan, July 2, 1997

The combination of a strong cold front and an extremely unstable airmass resulted in 13 tornado touchdowns across southeast Michigan on the 2d; the largest number for a single day since records have been kept. Three tornado-producing supercell thunderstorms developed along the front during mid-afternoon. The northern-most supercell produced 9 tornado touchdowns over southern Saginaw, northern Genesee and northern Lapeer counties, including two F-3's. A woman was killed in Thetford township when she was hit by a falling tree. Another supercell produced F-1 tornadoes in northern Livingston and northern Oakland counties. The tornado in northern Oakland county destroyed a mobile home park near Holly, resulting in one fatality. The southern-most supercell produced an F-2 tornado that passed over densly populated northern Wayne county, including the northern part of the city of Detroit. The result was nearly 100 million dollars in damage in northern Wayne county alone, as the tornado cut a swath of heavy damage from northwest Detroit through Highland Park and Hamtramack. Miraculously, no one was killed in that area, although nearly 100 injuries were reported. Meanwhile, just to the north, an F-0 tornado and strong straight-line winds did about 30 million dollars in Macomb county. Tragically, the greatest loss of life on the 2d occurred in Grosse Pointe Farms, where straight-line winds of nearly 100-mph blew a gazeebo full of people into Lake Saint Clair. Five deaths and 8 injuries resulted. The severe storms also resulted in extensive flash flooding and flooding around the Detroit metro area. Several highways were flooded in northern Wayne and southern Macomb counties late on the 2d. The Middle Rouge River near Garden City went above its 7 foot flood stage at 9 pm EST on the 2d, cresting at 8.6 feet at noon EST on the 3rd. The river fell back below flood stage at 1 am EST on the 4th. The Clinton River at Fraser went above it 16 foot flood stage at 1030 EST on the 2d, cresting at 16.5 feet at midnight EST on the 3rd. The river fell back below flood stage at 3 am EST on the 3rd. The Rouge river at Detroit went above its 15 foot flood stage at 2 am EST on the 3rd, cresting at 16.4 feet at 8 am EST on the 3rd. The river went back below flood stage at 7 pm EST on the 3rd.