Name: Heat in Michigan, July 1 to 4, 2002
Start: 2002-07-01T12:00
End: 2002-07-04T16:00
Location: Michigan

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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: 25
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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.

Local television media reported that an estimated 25 people across metro Detroit were treated for heat stroke during the beginning of the month as afternoon high temperatures soared into the 90s, while heat indices broke 100 degrees.

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 Detroit, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 1, 8:30 AM EST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 1, 8:30 AM EST, 3 hours 30 minutes before

SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI
930 AM EDT MON JUL 1 2002

...HOT AND HUMID...

AS OF 9 AM...TEMPERATURES ALREADY IN THE LOWER 80S...WITH DEW POINTS
IN THE LOW TO MID 70S THROUGHOUT THE CWA. TEMPS ARE RUNNING ABOUT 5
DEGREES WARMER COMPARED TO YESTERDAY AT THIS TIME. MAXES IN THE LOW
TO MID 90S LOOKS GOOD. HEAT INDICES WILL PROBABLY HIT 105 DEGREES
FOR AN HOUR OR TWO. PREVIOUS FORECAST HAS THIS COVERED WELL.

LARGE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE FIRMLY ENTRENCHED ACROSS SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN.
WILL CONTINUE WITH THE DRY FORECAST TODAY. CAPES WILL BE IMPRESSIVE
THIS AFTERNOON...CLOSE TO 4000 J/KG (BASED ON MODIFIED 12Z DTX
SOUNDING). BUT AGAIN...NO TRIGGERS TO SPEAK OF (EXCEPT POSSIBLE LAKE
BREEZE). BUFKIT SOUNDINGS SHOWING WARMING BETWEEN 8000 AND 12000
FEET SHOULD HELP CAP THINGS OFF AS WELL.

PREVIOUS FORECAST ON TRACK...WILL UPDATE ZONES TO REMOVE THE
MORNING WORDING.

.DTX...NONE.

SF

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Wayne

When: July 1, 12:00 PM EST to July 4, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Wayne forecast zone
Injuries: 15 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 42.285, -83.261 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Oakland

When: July 1, 12:00 PM EST to July 4, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Oakland forecast zone
Injuries: 5 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 42.660, -83.386 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Macomb

When: July 1, 12:00 PM EST to July 4, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Macomb forecast zone
Injuries: 5 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 42.673, -82.910 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heat: Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Michigan in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Michigan, July 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: 5304058, 5304059, 5304060.