Hail, Bay
- When
- May 12, 4:30 PM EST to 4:43 PM EST
- Where
- Bay County, Bay City
- Measured
- 0.88 in hail
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 43.600, -83.883
Tornado and Flash Flood in Michigan, May 12 to 13, 2000
A warm front moved north across lower Michigan on the 12th, ushering in another warm, muggy, unstable air mass. Thunderstorms developed northeast of Grand Rapids in the afternoon, then moved east toward the Saginaw Valley and Thumb areas.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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
- $135,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 15
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS DTX wrote it up.
A warm front moved north across lower Michigan on the 12th, ushering in another warm, muggy, unstable air mass. Thunderstorms developed northeast of Grand Rapids in the afternoon, then moved east toward the Saginaw Valley and Thumb areas. One storm evolved into a classic supercell, producing baseball sized hail from just east of Bay City to near Sebewaing. The supercell continued east across Huron County, and produced the first tornado of the severe weather season a few miles north of White Rock. Many trees were downed near the Lake Huron shoreline, with some downed onto homes. A storage shed was blown into a neighbor's yard, a swimming pool was destroyed, and several canoes were damaged.Several other storms moved across Huron County, dumping up to 5 inches of rain in some parts of the county. Flash flooding resulted in the Pigeon/Elkton area. A trailer park in Elkton had to be evacuated as the Pinnebog River quickly rose out of its banks. Water rose as high as the electric meters on some of the mobile homes. High water lingered in the county through the night, with flooding along the Willow River in Bloomfield Township (Redman Road was closed for a time), and street flooding in Harbor Beach.Additional storms developed further south in the evening, and moved east across metro Detroit. These storms produced marginally severe hail, and sporadic wind damage in the form of downed trees and power lines.
The radar
The Detroit radar (KDTX), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:31 UTC.
Event by event
7 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 flash flood, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail, Bay
- When
- May 12, 5:10 PM EST
- Where
- Bay County, 4 mi E of Bay City
- Measured
- 2.75 in hail
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 43.600, -83.800
Hail, Tuscola
- When
- May 12, 5:16 PM EST
- Where
- Tuscola County, Unionville
- Measured
- 1.75 in hail
- Reported by
- BROADCAST MEDIA
- Coordinates
- 43.650, -83.467
Hail, Huron
- When
- May 12, 5:23 PM EST to 5:25 PM EST
- Where
- Huron County, 2 mi SSW of Sebewaing
- Measured
- 2.75 in hail
- Reported by
- FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
- Coordinates
- 43.717, -83.467
Tornado, Huron
- When
- May 12, 6:50 PM EST
- Where
- Huron County, 3 mi NNW of White Rock
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 0.3 mi
- Path width
- 175 yd
- Property damage
- $60,000
- Reported by
- NWS STORM SURVEY
- Coordinates
- 43.733, -82.617
Thunderstorm Wind, Livingston
- When
- May 12, 8:41 PM EST
- Where
- Livingston County, Fowlerville
- Measured
- 52 kt (60 mph)
- Property damage
- $2,000
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 42.667, -84.067
Flash Flood, Huron
- When
- May 12, 9:00 PM EST to 11:45 PM EST
- Where
- Huron County, Pigeon
- Property damage
- $35,000
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 43.910, -82.855 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Thunderstorm Wind, Livingston
- When
- May 12, 9:10 PM EST
- Where
- Livingston County, Hartland
- Measured
- 52 kt (60 mph)
- Property damage
- $6,000
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 42.650, -83.750
Thunderstorm Wind, Oakland
- When
- May 12, 9:12 PM EST
- Where
- Oakland County, Wixom
- Measured
- 50 kt (58 mph)
- Property damage
- $2,000
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 42.517, -83.533
Thunderstorm Wind, Oakland
- When
- May 12, 9:12 PM EST
- Where
- Oakland County, 2 mi E of Clarkston
- Measured
- 52 kt (60 mph)
- Property damage
- $6,000
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 42.733, -83.367
Hail, Oakland
- When
- May 12, 9:15 PM EST
- Where
- Oakland County, Novi
- Measured
- 0.75 in hail
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 42.483, -83.467
Thunderstorm Wind, Macomb
- When
- May 12, 9:30 PM EST
- Where
- Macomb County, 3 mi W of Ray Center
- Measured
- 52 kt (60 mph)
- Property damage
- $4,000
- Reported by
- UNKNOWN
- Coordinates
- 42.767, -82.950
Hail, Wayne
- When
- May 12, 9:31 PM EST
- Where
- Wayne County, Westland
- Measured
- 0.75 in hail
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 42.317, -83.300
Hail, Wayne
- When
- May 12, 9:50 PM EST
- Where
- Wayne County, Detroit
- Measured
- 0.88 in hail
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 42.333, -83.067
Flood, Huron
- When
- May 12, 11:45 PM EST to May 13, 9:00 AM EST
- Where
- Huron forecast zone
- Property damage
- $20,000
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 43.910, -82.855 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- 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.
- 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.
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
- Flood
- Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornado and Hail in Texas, May 12, 2000
- Tornado and Hail in Wisconsin, May 12, 2000
- Hail in Wisconsin, May 12, 2000
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, May 12, 2000
- Damaging Wind in Arkansas, May 12, 2000
- Tornado in Illinois, May 12, 2000
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in New York, May 12 to 13, 2000
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in Michigan, May 12, 2000
- Tornado in Illinois, May 12, 2000
- Hail in Illinois, May 12, 2000
- Hail in Wisconsin, May 12, 2000
- Hail in Illinois, May 12, 2000
More
Every storm in Michigan in 2000Every state in 2000This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Michigan, 2000Warnings in Michigan, May 2000
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: 5144527, 5144846, 5144847, 5144848, 5144849, 5144850, 5144858, 5144851, 5144852, 5144853, 5144854, 5144855, 5144856, 5144857, 5144859.