Michigan, 2001

Tornadoes and Hail in Michigan, June 9, 2001

June 9, 2001 · NWS APX · 13 events in 5 counties and zones

During the late afternoon hours of June 9th, a small cluster of thunderstorms developed along a lake breeze boundary near the city of Cheboygan. This cluster of storms continued to move southeast along the lake breeze boundary before moving into Lake Huron near Harrisville.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$90,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
13

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 APX wrote it up.

During the late afternoon hours of June 9th, a small cluster of thunderstorms developed along a lake breeze boundary near the city of Cheboygan. This cluster of storms continued to move southeast along the lake breeze boundary before moving into Lake Huron near Harrisville. These storms dropped large amounts of hail that covered the ground to an inch or two at times.A more widespread area of thunderstorms developed further south, affecting Gladwin, Iosco and Ogemaw counties. These storms also produced considerable amounts of hail. A tornado was reported about 6 miles north of the town of Gladwin and moved east to 6 miles northeast of town, damaging six structures and destroying one. There were also numerous trees downed. The tornado remained in Gladwin County through its entire life cycle, with three individual touchdowns noted.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Gaylord, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 9, 10:22 AM EST, 4 hours 33 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 9, 10:22 AM EST, 4 hours 33 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GAYLORD MI
1122 AM EDT SAT JUN 9 2001

WELL DEFINED SHORT WAVE AXIS IN SATELLITE/RADAR PUSHING ACROSS EASTERN
UPPER/LAKE MICHIGAN WITH A BAND OF ELEVATED SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS.
STILL A GOOD DEAL OF SUNSHINE OVER NORTHEAST LOWER WHERE TEMPERATURES
HAVE WARMED TOWARD 70 DEGREES.  APX 12Z SOUNDING STILL DRY IN THE LOW
LEVELS AND NOT CONDUCIVE TO ELEVATED INSTABILTY EARLY ON...GRB SOUNDING
CONTAINS A BETTER MID LEVEL MOIST LAYER AND APPEARS SHOWERS BEING FED
BY LOW LEVEL THETA-E ADVECTION FROM THE "BACKSIDE".  RUC ANALYSIS
SHOWALTER INDICES AT 14Z CONTINUE TO SHOW INSTABILITY GRADIENT OVER
NORTHERN LOWER WITH UNSTABLE VALUES UPSTREAM.  MAIN QUESTIONS FOR THIS
AFTERNOON DEAL WITH CURRENT PRECIPITATION AND POTENTIAL FOR SOME
SURFACE BASED ENHANCEMENT OVER NORTHEAST LOWER.

EASTERN UPPER...INITIAL BAND OF SHOWERS SHOULD MOVE THROUGH EASTERN
UPPER BY 17Z BASED ON CURRENT EXTRAPOLATION.  VORTICITY CENTER OVER
CENTRAL LAKE SUPERIOR WILL DROP ACROSS EASTERN UPPER DURING THE
AFTERNOON...WITH ADDITIONAL CLOUD COVER OVER THE LAKE ALSO EXPECTED TO
ADVECT SOUTHEAST DURING THE AFTERNOON.  MAY SEE SOME INITIAL CLEARING
BEHIND INITIAL PRECIPITATION AREA...BUT ADDED LOW LEVEL MOISTURE DUE TO
RAINFALL SHOULD RESULT IN A QUICK BUILDUP OF CU.  THIS DIURNAL CLOUD
COVER PLUS CLOUD COVER ADVECTING IN OFF THE LAKE WILL PROBABLY RESULT
IN LESS SUNSHINE THAN INITIALLY THOUGHT.  KMQT 88D SHOWS SOME SPOTTY
SHOWERS AROUND VORTICITY CENTER...AND MODIFIED RUC SOUNDINGS FOR 70/55
PUSH CAPES NEAR 1000 J/KG...SO WILL CONTINUE TO MENTION SCATTERED
PRECIPITATION DURING THE AFTERNOON AND GO WITH A MORE PESSIMISTIC
MOSTLY CLOUDY.  IN ADDITION...WILL MAKE A DOWNWARD ADJUSTMENT TO
TEMPERATURES DUE TO MORE CLOUD COVER.

NORTHERN LOWER...MODIFIED 12Z APX SOUNDING FOR 75/48 YIELDS CAPES
AROUND 700 J/KG...THOUGH NOT QUITE THERE YET ADDITIONAL SHOWERS ARE
ALREADY POPPING UP ALONG LEADING EDGE OF THE MAIN LINE...SO FORCING
WITH SHORT WAVE ENOUGH TO OVERCOME SOME SURFACE BASED NEGATIVE AREA.
EXPECT THIS TREND TO CONTINUE AS SHORT WAVE MOVES INTO SOUTHEAST
COUNTIES WHERE AIR MASS WILL BE A LITTLE MORE UNSTABLE.  BEHIND THIS
INITIAL LINE LOOKS LIKE SKIES WILL CLEAR OVER NORTHWEST LOWER THOUGH
MORE CU SHOULD FORM...LIKE EASTERN UPPER MODIFIED RUC SOUNDINGS BY 21Z
FOR 70/55 YIELD CAPES ABOVE 1000 J/KG...AND THAT LIKELY TO BE A
CONSERVATIVE WARM UP.  WILL CONTINUE MENTION OF CHANCE POPS FOR THE
AFTERNOON ACROSS NORTHWEST LOWER BEHIND INITIAL WAVE OF SHOWERS FOR
POTENTIAL OF SOME ADDITIONAL SHOWERS POPPING UP...AND GO WITH A LITTLE
MORE CLOUD COVER FOR NORTHEAST LOWER ZAS MOST OF THE AFTERNOON NOW LOOKS
TO BE MOSTLY CLOUDY. WILL CHECK OVER 15Z OBS BEFORE MAKING ANY
TEMPERATURE ADJUSTMENTS.

UPDATED ARBZFPAPX WILL BE OUT BY 1550Z.

.APX...NONE.

JPB

The radar

The NCL Michigan radar (KAPX), 85 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:55 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

10 hail, 2 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Cheboygan

When
June 9, 2:55 PM EST
Where
Cheboygan County, 1 mi E of Cheboygan
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
45.650, -84.467

Hail, Presque Isle

When
June 9, 3:40 PM EST
Where
Presque Isle County, Grace
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
45.550, -84.133

Hail, Presque Isle

When
June 9, 4:55 PM EST
Where
Presque Isle County, Posen
Measured
0.88 in hail
Reported by
FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates
45.267, -83.717

Hail, Alpena

When
June 9, 5:07 PM EST
Where
Alpena County, 2 mi NW of Bolton
Measured
1.25 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
45.200, -83.633

Hail, Alpena

When
June 9, 5:20 PM EST
Where
Alpena County, Cathro
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
45.150, -83.567

Hail, Ogemaw

When
June 9, 5:25 PM EST
Where
Ogemaw County, Lupton
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
44.433, -84.017

Tornado, Alpena

When
June 9, 5:26 PM EST to 5:28 PM EST
Where
Alpena County, Alpena Arpt
Rating
F0
Path length
0.3 mi
Path width
10 yd
Reported by
AIRPLANE PILOT
Coordinates
45.083, -83.567

Pilot reported tornado at the Alpena airport. No damage was reported.

Tornado, Gladwin

When
June 9, 5:35 PM EST to 5:50 PM EST
Where
Gladwin County, 6 mi N of Gladwin
Rating
F1
Path length
3 mi
Path width
30 yd
Property damage
$90,000
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
44.067, -84.483

Tornado damaged several buildings and numerous trees.

Hail, Alpena

When
June 9, 5:40 PM EST
Where
Alpena County, Alpena
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
45.067, -83.450

Hail, Ogemaw

When
June 9, 5:42 PM EST
Where
Ogemaw County, Rose City
Measured
1.75 in hail
Reported by
AMATEUR RADIO
Coordinates
44.417, -84.117

Hail, Ogemaw

When
June 9, 5:45 PM EST
Where
Ogemaw County, Lupton
Measured
1.75 in hail
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
44.433, -84.017

Hail, Alpena

When
June 9, 5:52 PM EST
Where
Alpena County, Ossineke
Measured
0.88 in hail
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
44.917, -83.417

Thunderstorm Wind, Ogemaw

When
June 9, 6:10 PM EST
Where
Ogemaw County, Selkirk
Measured
50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
44.317, -84.067

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.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Michigan in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Michigan, 2001Warnings in Michigan, June 2001

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: 5256206, 5256207, 5256208, 5256209, 5256210, 5256211, 5256216, 5256217, 5256212, 5256213, 5256214, 5256215, 5256218.