Flooding in Michigan, April 12 to 20, 2002

Name: Flooding in Michigan, April 12 to 20, 2002
Start: 2002-04-12T09:30
End: 2002-04-20T13:00
Location: Michigan

April 12 to 20, 2002 · NWS MQT · 8 events in 8 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 8 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $19 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 8

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 MQT wrote it up.

The record setting snowfall in February and March set the stage for flooding in April. During February and March of 2002, north-central and western parts of Upper Michigan received over 100 inches of snowfall. The snow pack held over 11 inches of water. The snow quickly melted during a 6 day period, 11-17 April 2002, releasing all that water into the creeks, streams. rivers and lakes. To exacerbate the situation, over 2 inches of rainfall occurred 10-12 April over much of Upper Michigan, and record high temperatures in the 70s and 80 were recorded on the 15th and 16th. During those two days, a dramatic snow melt occurred with nearly 2 feet of snow melting away. To complicate matters further, moderate rain during the morning of the 18th and severe thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening dumped up to an additional 1 1/2 inches of water over an already saturated and flooded Upper Peninsula.Following the rain and warm temperatures, streams and rivers began to rise and overflow. Many local and county roads were closed due to high water and several dams were in jeopardy of failing. Localized flooding of low lying areas was common across the western and central Upper Peninsula. Major flooding on rivers and lakes occurred in 8 Upper Michigan counties.Gogebic County was the hardest hit. A state of emergency was declared by the Governor, and the county was later declared a disaster area. The towns of Ironwood and Wakefield sustained the greatest damage. Approximately 160 homes and businesses were affected by the rising waters. Major highways US-2, M-28, and M-64 were closed and 25 local and county roads were also closed due to high water. The Black, Montreal and Ontonagon Rivers all went above flood stage. A partial failure of the Presque Isle Wildlife Dam occurred on the Presque Isle River. Heavy rains and rapid melting of the snowpack this spring contributed to the collapse of a 10 feet wide section of the earthen portion of the dam. This partial failure caused increased flows on the Presque Isle River through the town of Marenisco, 2 miles downstream.In Marquette County, rising levels on the Chocolay, Peshekee, Escanaba and Michigamme Rivers forced ,people from their homes and camps. Hundreds of houses experienced water damage in their basements and dozens of homes had water in their first floor. The high water and increased flow on the Carp River washed out a 65 foot section of highway M-553, closing the road until a new bridge can be built.In Ontonagon County, highway M-28 was closed for 3 days near Bergland and Merriweather due to high water, and many secondary roads were closed because of flooding and wash outs from flooding creeks and streams.Baraga and Houghton Counties experienced flooding on the Sturgeon River and other smaller creeks and streams with flooding of some local roads and structures. Menominee, Dickinson and Iron Counties had flooding along the Montreal River. Local roads were flooded and some homes and businesses had to be evacuated due to rising water. Flood waters began to recede and river levels fell sharply over the weekend of April 20.

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 Marquette, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 12, 2:40 AM EST, 6 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 12, 2:40 AM EST, 6 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARQUETTE MI
340 AM EDT FRI APR 12 2002

MAIN FORECAST CONCERN IS DIMINISHING PCPN (FINALLY) AND FOG...
FOLLOWED BY POSSIBLE PATCHY FOG TONIGHT. NEXT CHANCE OF PCPN APPEARS
TO BE SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY.

KMQT RADAR SHOWS RAIN WEAKENING IN INTENSITY ACROSS THE EASTERN HALF
OF THE CWA AS UPPER SUPPORT IS FINALLY BEGINNING TO EXIT THE AREA.
SOME LIGHT SHRA IN WESTERN HALF...BUT SATELLITE PIX SHOW CLEARING TO
WEST NEARING KDLH AT 07Z. HEAVIER SHOWERS DUMPED 0.38 INCHES OF RAIN
AT KIMT BETWEEN 03Z AND 06Z. RIVERS...THOUGH SLOWLY RISING...ARE
REMAINING BELOW FLOOD STAGE. WILL ALLOW URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD
ADVISORY IN THE WEST HALF TO EXPIRE WITH LITTLE FURTHER PCPN
EXPECTED.

ZONAL UPPER FLOW WILL DOMINATE THE WX PICTURE FOR THE NEXT COUPLE
DAYS...THEN TROUGH DIGS INTO THE WESTERN STATES FIRST PART OF NEXT
WEEK. CURRENTLY...SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS BOUNDARY PUSHING INTO EASTERN
THIRD OF THE CWA...WITH WEAK AND HIGHLY VARIABLE SW-NW WINDS BEHIND
IT.  COLD ADVECTION MINIMAL WITH THIS SYSTEM...BUT 00Z RAOBS SHOWED
H85 TEMP OF -1C AND 4C AT KINL AND KMSP...RESPECTIVELY. STABLE HIGH
PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT...BUT WITH
PROGRESSIVE FLOW THIS WILL BE SHORT-LIVED.

AM EXPECTING PCPN TO END BY NOON TODAY IN THE EAST HALF. WITH DRY
AIR APPROACHING THE AREA AND WEAK ONSHORE WINDS...SHOULD SEE
DETERIORATION OF CLOUDS/FOG THIS MORNING FROM WEST TO EAST. WITH A
LOT OF WATER AROUND...WILL PROBABLY SEE SOME LOW CU/SCUD HANGING
AROUND FOR AWHILE. BUT TREND IS TOWARD SUN AND WARMER TEMPS THIS
AFTERNOON. 1000-850MB THICKNESSES WILL RISE TO NEAR 1326M. MODIFIED
SOUNDINGS YIELD A HIGH IN THE LOWER 50S IN THE WEST TODAY...AND NEAR
48F AT KMQT. KMNM WAS STILL A BALMY 54F AT 07Z...SO SOUTH SHOULD SEE
UPPER 50S AFTER A LITTLE EARLY MORNING COOLING.

SUBSIDENCE AND FURTHER DRYING WITH SFC HIGH PRESSURE WILL YIELD A
CLEAR NIGHT TONIGHT. HOWEVER...WITH ALL THE RECENT RAIN (AND SNOW
MELT THAT WILL BE SUBSTANTIAL TODAY)...RADIATIONAL COOLING SHOULD
LEAD TO DEVELOPMENT OF FOG. WILL MENTION PATCHY FOG IN ALL ZONES FOR
TONIGHT.

SATURDAY LOOKS TO BE DRY AND STABLE AS HIGH PRESSURE SLOWLY DRIFTS
EAST...ALLOWING FOR A GRADUAL RETURN TO SOUTHERLY WINDS. 1000-850MB
THKS INCREASE TO NEAR 1355M IN THE WEST. THUS WITH DRY AIRMASS IN
PLACE WILL LIKELY SEE WARMEST DAY OF THE SEASON IN MANY SOUTHWEST
LOCATIONS. WITH WEAK SFC GRADIENT FOR MUCH OF THE DAY...LAKE BREEZES
WILL NO DOUBT BE A FACTOR AND HELP TO HOLD DOWN TEMPS ALONG THE
SHORE. BUT AREAS WELL INLAND SHOULD BE 5-10F WARMER THAN TODAY AND
REACH THE LOWER 60S. DESPITE THIS...SOUNDINGS SHOW CONVECTIVE TEMPS
IN THE UPPER 60S...SO SHOULD NOT SEE ANY CU EXCEPT FOR MAYBE IN THE
EXTREME WEST. APPROACHING PACIFIC TROUGH LOOKS TO BRING SOME
INSTABILITY (CAPES OF A FEW HUNDRED JOULES PER THE ETA) AND PWATS
BACK TO NEAR 0.8 INCHES IN NRN MINNESOTA...SO WILL MENTION
INCREASING CLOUDS LATE FOR ZONES 2/9.

PATTERN WILL BECOME WETTER AGAIN SATURDAY NIGHT WITH POSSIBLE
SHOWERS IN THE WEST. THIS RESULTING FROM SOME 850-500MB Q-VECTOR
CONVERGENCE...300MB DIVERGENCE AND INCREASED MOISTURE. WEAK THETA-E
AXIS OF 309K AT 700MB ALSO NIPS THE WEST SIDE. WETTER TREND
CONTINUES INTO SUNDAY/MONDAY AS AVN SHOWS PWATS RETURNING TO NEAR AN
INCH AS THE GULF BECOMES OPEN FOR BUSINESS. WARMER WITH MENTION OF
SHRA/TS STILL LOOKS GOOD FOR MONDAY/TUESDAY. NO CHANGES TO ANY OF
THE EXTENDED. IN FACT...MUCH OR PREVIOUS FORECAST LOOKS RIGHT ON
TRACK.

.MQT...NONE

JKL

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

8 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Marquette

When: April 12, 9:30 AM EST to April 20, 9:30 AM EST
Where: Marquette forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 46.663, -87.573 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Houghton

When: April 14, 1:00 AM EST to April 20, 10:00 AM EST
Where: Houghton forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 46.992, -88.652 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Baraga

When: April 14, 1:00 AM EST to April 20, 10:00 AM EST
Where: Baraga forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 46.700, -88.352 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Gogebic

When: April 14, 12:00 PM CST to April 20, 12:00 PM CST
Where: Gogebic forecast zone
Property damage: $18 million
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 46.496, -89.796 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Ontonagon

When: April 14, 1:00 PM EST to April 20, 1:00 PM EST
Where: Ontonagon forecast zone
Property damage: $212,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 46.778, -89.305 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Iron

When: April 15, 12:00 PM CST to April 20, 12:00 PM CST
Where: Iron forecast zone
Property damage: $280,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 46.209, -88.530 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Dickinson

When: April 15, 12:00 PM CST to April 20, 12:00 PM CST
Where: Dickinson forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 46.009, -87.870 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Menominee

When: April 15, 12:00 PM CST to April 20, 12:00 PM CST
Where: Menominee forecast zone
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 45.525, -87.510 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

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

Every storm in Michigan in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Michigan, April 2002

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: 5287584, 5287586, 5287587, 5287583, 5287585, 5287588, 5287589, 5287590.