Thunderstorm Wind, Dickinson
- When
- October 5, 10:55 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST
- Where
- Dickinson County, Felch
- Measured
- 60 kt (69 mph)
- Coordinates
- 46.000, -87.850
8 to 12 inch diameter trees downed
Tornado and Hail in Michigan, October 5, 1997
4 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $1.0 million
- Crop damage
- $2.9 million
- Events
- 6
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The radar
The Marquette radar (KMQT), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:56 UTC.
Event by event
4 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm Wind, Marquette
- When
- October 5, 11:15 AM EST
- Where
- Marquette County, 1 mi N of Arnold
- Measured
- 60 kt (69 mph)
- Coordinates
- 46.070, -87.480
20 trees averaging 16 inches in diameter uprooted.
Thunderstorm Wind, Delta
- When
- October 5, 11:27 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
- Where
- Delta County, Rock to Garden Corners
- Measured
- 100 kt (115 mph)
- Property damage
- $300,000
- Crop damage
- $2.3 million
- Coordinates
- 46.070, -87.170
Thunderstorm Wind, Schoolcraft
- When
- October 5, 12:00 PM EST to 12:30 PM EST
- Where
- Schoolcraft County, Cooks to 3 mi of Gulliver
- Measured
- 100 kt (115 mph)
- Property damage
- $600,000
- Crop damage
- $613,000
- Coordinates
- 45.930, -86.480
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 mobile home had its roof blown off and foundation shifted. Two sections of the Hiawatha National Forest suffered extensive tree damage. Those areas were along Delta County Road 509 between Rapid River and Haymeadow Falls (8 N of Rapid River) and east of Indian Lake north of Manistique in Schoolcraft County where 18 areas of damage were located. The U. S. Forest Service estimated 9000 acres of forest very seriously damaged in Delta County with 30 million board feet of timber down and a net loss of $2.25 million. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources suffered 500 acres of tree loss in Schoolcraft County between Cooks and Thompson with a net loss of $500 thousand. Corporate owned forest land also suffered over 200 acres of tree loss valued at $113 thousand between Cooks and Wiggins Point on the Garden Peninsula and near Gulliver. In Thompson, several trees, mostly 8-16 inch diameter pines, were snapped off between 6 and 12 feet above the ground. Three vehicles and several hundred structures sustained wind and/or hail damage. Northeast of Manistique, a roof was blown off a large metal garage and metal barn and a 30 inch diameter pine tree fell puncturing a roof on a house. Four miles west of Gulliver, a garage was destroyed by high winds. Other damage included a pole garage one mile east of Rock.
Hail, Schoolcraft
- When
- October 5, 12:05 PM EST to 12:30 PM EST
- Where
- Schoolcraft County, Cooks to Gulliver
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Coordinates
- 45.930, -86.420
Hail damaged several homes and vehicle in the city of Manistique.
Tornado, Delta
- When
- October 5, 12:30 PM EST to 12:35 PM EST
- Where
- Delta County, Garden Corners to 1 mi NW of Garden Corners
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 0.1 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Property damage
- $3,000
- Coordinates
- 45.880, -86.520
Brief tornado touchdown left pine trees 15-20 inches in diameter uprooted. A camp suffered structural damage to small building.
What these are
- Thunderstorm Wind
- Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in Michigan in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Michigan, 1997Warnings in Michigan, October 1997
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5615969, 5615970, 5615974, 5615972, 5615971, 5615973.