A deepening low pressure system produced high winds over much of Michigan's Upper Peninsulas overnight on May 9th and 10th as it tracked just north of Lake Superior. The Keweenaw Peninsula saw the strongest winds with a gust of 86 mph reported on top of the ridge at Phoenix.
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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 episode as NWS MQT wrote it up.
A deepening low pressure system produced high winds over much of Michigan's Upper Peninsulas overnight on May 9th and 10th as it tracked just north of Lake Superior. The Keweenaw Peninsula saw the strongest winds with a gust of 86 mph reported on top of the ridge at Phoenix.
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 May 9, 3:30 PM EST, 5 hours 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARQUETTE MI
430 PM EDT THU MAY 9 2002
MAIN FCST CONCERNS ARE HIGH WINDS TONIGHT INTO EARLY FRIDAY ALONG
WITH PCPN CHANCES TONIGHT AND DURING THE WEEKEND.
WV IMAGERY AND RUC ANALYSIS INDICATED CLOSED MID/UPR LVL LO OVER
US/CAN BORDER NEAR KINL WITH STRONG DRYING WRAPPING ACRS WI AND
UPR MI. AT THE SFC...993 MB AREA LO PRES EXTENDED FROM NORTH OF CYQT
EASTWARD TO LO PRES NEAR CYTS IN ERN ONTARIO WITH COLD FRONT TO THE
SOUTH TOWARD GEORGIAN BAY. TIGHT GRADIENT IN THE WAKE OF THE LOW
COMBINED WITH DIURNAL SFC HEATING AND CAA HAS RESULTING IN VERY
STRONG WINDS ALREADY GUSTING TO NEAR 45 MPH OVER MUCH OF CNTRL
MN...NW WI AND WRN UPR MI AND SOME GUSTS TO NEAR 50 MPH (KCMX AND
KDLH). KDLH RADAR INDICATED SCT -SHRA/SHSN...WITH WRAP AROUND
MOISTURE VCNTY OF UPR LVL COLD POOL...GRADUALLY SPREADING TOWARD UPR
MI.
MDLS WERE IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT WITH PLACEMENT OF SFC FEATURES
AFFECTING UPR MI. AT 18Z...LO INTENSITY WAS BTWN AVN AND SLIGHTLY
STRONGER ETA. SO...IN GENERAL HAVE SIDED MORE CLOSELY WITH THE ETA
FOR DETAILS EVEN IF IT MAY BE SLIGHTLY STRONG WITH THE LOW LEVEL
WINDS.
TONIGHT INTO EARLY FRIDAY...ALTHOUGH DIURNAL WARMING WILL
SUBSIDE...ETA FCST SNDGS SUGGEST AMOUNT OF WILL STILL KEEP MIXED LYR
DEEP ENOUGH (NEAR 850 MB) TO TAP SOME OF THE STRONG WINDS DEVELOPING
IN 900-800 MB LYR WHERE MAX WINDS STILL FCST NEAR 65 KTS (AROUND
06Z). POSITION OF MAX ISALLOBARIC GRADIENT MOVING THROUGH CNTRL AND
NRN LK SUPERIOR BTWN
03Z-12Z IS NOT COMPLETETLY FAVORABLE...BUT IS STILL CLOSE ENOUGH
BOOST HIGH WIND POTENTIAL FOR NRN UPR MI...ESPECIALLY OVER THE
KEWENAW. HIGHER TERRAIN AREAS OF NRN UPR MI AND LOCATIOINS NEAR THE
LAKE SUPERIOR SHORELINE EAST OF MUNISING WOULD SEE THE GREATEST
THREAT. SO...HAVE UPGRADED ADVY TO A WARNING (GUSTS TO 50 KTS) FOR
NRN COUNTIES EAST OF THE KEWEENAW. EXPECT WINDS ALSO TO REMAIN IN
ADVY RANGE (GUSTS TO 45 MPH) FOR THE MUCH OF THE SRN COUNTIES
OVERNIGHT. GRADIENT GRADUALLY SLACKENS FROM SW TO NE FRIDAY MORNING
WITH WINDS FALLING BELOW WARNING/ADVY BY LATE MORNING. SCT
-SHRA/SHSN WILL ALSO GRADUALLY SPREAD FROM WEST TO EAST ACRS UPR MI
WITH ANY LIQUID PCPN CHANGING TO SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT AS 1000-850
1305M THICKNESS LINE SLIDES QUICKLY TO THE EAST. SINCE THE PCPN TO
THE WEST IS PARTIALLY DIURNALLY DRIVEN...EXPECT SOME DIMINISHING
TREND THIS EVENING WITH MAINLY TRACE AMOUNTS AND LITTLE OR NO SNOW
ACCUMULATION.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON INTO FRIDAY NIGHT...SFC RDG WILL BUILD INTO THE WRN
LAKES WITH DIMINISHING WINDS AND CLOUD COVER. FAVORABLE RADIATIONAL
COOLING CONDITIONS SHOULD ALLOW TEMPS TO DROP TO NEAR GUIDANCE
VALUES IN THE UPPER 20S...WITH SLIGHTLY WARMER READINGS NEAR THE
LAKES.
SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY...WHILE BEST CHANCE OF PCPN SHOULD REMAIN TO
THE SOUTH OF UPR MI CLOSER TO THE FRONTAL BNDRY FROM NRN MO TOWARD
NRN IN. HOWEVER...ETA/AVN SHOW ENOUGH SUPPORT FROM RIGHT ENTRANCE
UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE TO DRAW SOME MOISTURE WELL TO THE NORTH
TOWARD UPR MI. WHILE DRY LOW LEVELS...MAY HINDER/DELAY PCPN AT THE
SFC...CANNOT RULE OUT SOME RAIN BY LATER SATURDAY INTO SATURDAY
NIGHT. SO...HAVE MENTIONED CHANCE POPS...SLIGHTLY HIGHER OVER SRN
UPR MI. 12Z AVN STILL DEPICTS HEALTHY SHRTWV MOVING FROM THE UPR MS
VALLEY TOWARD THE WRN LAKES WHICH COULD KEEP SOME SHOWERS GOING ON
SUNDAY.
MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...12Z AVN AND UKMET HAVE TRENDED TOWARD
MORE AMPLIFIED PATTERN THAN MRF AND ECMWF WITH STRONGER ERN NOAM
TROF IN RESPONSE TO GREENLAND BLOCKING HI. RESULTING NW FLOW INTO
THE GRT LAKES WOULD STILL BRING CHANCES FOR LIGHT PCPN (WITH
DIFFICULT TO TIME CLIPPER SHRTWVS MOVING TOWARD THE AREA) AND
CONTINUATION OF BLO NORMAL TEMPS. BY LATER IN THE WEEK...PLENTY OF
UNCERTAINTY ARISES WITH EVOLUTION OF THE PATTERN AND PERSISTENCE OF
BLOCKING PATTERN. MENTIONED CHANCE POPS BY THURSDAY...PER MRF.
.MQT...HIGH WIND WARNING THROUGH EARLY FRIDAY MIZ001>007.
HIGH WIND ADVISORY THROUGH EARLY FRIDAY MIZ009>014
STORM WRNG LK SUPERIOR.
JLBThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
58 mph wing gust reported by the Ontonagon marine station.
60 mph wind gust reported at the Houghton County Airport.
86 mph wind gust reported at Phoenix.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Michigan in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, May 2002
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: 5293973, 5293974, 5293975.