After several days of record warmth, a strong cold front moved through eastern Michigan during the afternoon of the 10th. Due to some dry air situated below the bases of the storm clouds, evaporational cooling increased the downdraft strength of many of the thunderstorms.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 DTX wrote it up.
After several days of record warmth, a strong cold front moved through eastern Michigan during the afternoon of the 10th. Due to some dry air situated below the bases of the storm clouds, evaporational cooling increased the downdraft strength of many of the thunderstorms. This caused some of the storms to produce very strong wind gusts, some of which caused damage. Hundreds of power outages were blamed on these thunderstorms. The more widespread outages in eastern Michigan occurred across portions of Shiawassee, Huron and Livingston counties.
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 Sep 10, 2:42 PM EST, 48 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 340 AM EDT TUE SEP 10 2002 CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL WILL BE THE FIRST CONCERN FOR THIS FORECAST FOLLOWED BY DETAILS ON A DRAMATIC COOLING TREND FOR TOMORROW AND THURSDAY. NO ADDITIONAL PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED UNTIL THIS WEEKEND WHEN THE NEXT FRONTAL SYSTEM MOVES INTO SE MICHIGAN. SATELLITE AND RADAR TRENDS SHOW CONVECTION TRYING TO BREAK LOOSE FROM NE TO SW ALONG THE PREFRONTAL TROF AS MORE AND MORE OF THE LINE BREAKS THROUGH A MODEST LOW LEVEL CAP. FORECAST SOUNDINGS MODIFIED FOR 90/68 SHOW CAPE AROUND 2800 J/KG BUT WITH A WEAK HODOGRAPH. WITHOUT A GOOD WIND FIELD IT WILL BE DIFFICULT TO GET ANY ORGANIZED CONVECTION, BUT THE RELATIVELY HIGH CAPE ENVIRONMENT AND DEEP MID LEVEL MOISTURE (PW=1.7,KINX=38 AT 00Z) WILL MAKE PRECIP LOADED WIND GUSTS A CONCERN. CONTRIBUTING TO THAT WILL BE RELATIVELY WIDE T/TD SPREADS BELOW CLOUD BASE. PLAN TO CONTINUE WITH SCATTERED COVERAGE BUT TREND TOWARD NUMEROUS COVERAGE AS POST FRONTAL SHOWERS WORK INTO THE AREA. SUPPORT FOR THIS INCLUDES A BEEFED UP MODEL QPF OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF RUNS, WHICH SEEMS JUSTIFIED AS UPPER SUPPORT ARRIVES IN THE FORM OF QVECTOR CONVERGENCE AND 850 TO 700 MB LAYER FGEN. PRECIP WILL BE OUT OF SE MICHIGAN BY MIDNIGHT WITH CLOUDS AND COOLER TEMPS THE ONLY CONCERN FOR OVERNIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. AFTER A PERIOD OF PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES OVERNIGHT, COLD AIR INSTABILITY CU WILL BE AUGMENTED BY LAKE CLOUDS OVER SE MICHIGAN WITH A MAINLY NORTH WIND FLOW DURING WEDNESDAY. AFTERNOON TEMPS OVER MN AND WI SUPPORT GUIDANCE TEMPS IN THE LOWER 70S, ESPECIALLY WITHOUT FULL SUN. CLEAR SKIES WILL BE COUNTERED BY A STEADY NORTH WIND WEDNESDAY NIGHT WHICH WILL KEEP TEMPS FROM REALLY DROPPING OFF A LOT. THE BEST COOLING NIGHT LOOKS TO BE THURSDAY NIGHT AS HIGH PRESSURE SETTLES OVER THE AREA AND ALLOWS LOW TEMPS TO RADIATE A LITTLE FARTHER INTO THE UPPER 40S AT MOST LOCATIONS. WITH HIGH PRESSURE IN CONTROL, EXPECT CLEAR CONDITIONS THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. HIGH CLOUDS WILL BE ON THE INCREASE ON FRIDAY AS RETURN FLOW AND MID LEVEL WARM ADVECTION SETS UP IN THE PLAINS. THE SYSTEM FOR SATURDAY IS A LITTLE SLOWER ON THE LATEST RUNS OF THE AVN/MRF BUT STILL LOOKS ON TARGET FOR SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT. THE AVN NOW SHOWS THE SYSTEM NEAR THE FOUR CORNERS REGION GETTING ABSORBED INTO THE WESTERLIES AND BRINGING SOME GULF MOISTURE ALONG WITH IT. THIS WILL OCCUR AS THE CENTRAL CANADIAN WAVE MOVES INTO THE PLAINS AND STARTS TO CARVE OUT THE TROF OVER THE CENTRAL U.S. THIS TROF IS FORECAST BY THE MODELS TO BE PROGRESSIVE ENOUGH THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO TAKE THE CHANCE OF RAIN OUT OF THE FORECAST FOR SUNDAY IF THE TREND HOLDS FOR ONE MORE RUN. THE BEGINNING OF NEXT WEEK LOOKS DRY WITH TEMPS AROUND NORMAL, EVEN IF THE FRONT VERIFIES A LITTLE SLOWER ON SUNDAY. .DTX...NONE. BT
MIZ047>049-053>055-060>063-068>070-075-076-082-083-110200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 1200 PM EDT TUE SEP 10 2002 DISPATCHERS...PLEASE NOTIFY YOUR EMERGENCY MANAGERS IMMEDIATELY. HAZARD... SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON/EARLY THIS EVENING. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED LATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING HOURS. THERE IS A CHANCE THAT SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE...WITH BOTH DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL BEING THE MAIN HAZARD. WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH...ALONG WITH HAIL UP TO ONE INCH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE STRONGEST STORMS. THE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE BETWEEN 5 AND 8 PM. THUNDERSTORM MOVEMENT WILL BE TO THE EAST AT 30 MPH. DISCUSSION... A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH LOWER MICHIGAN EARLY THIS EVENING. SUNSHINE WILL ALLOW TEMPERATURES TO RISE INTO THE UPPER 80S TO LOWER 90S THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN. THIS WILL RESULT IN AN UNSTABLE AIRMASS...WHICH SHOULD ALLOW FOR SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON AS THE COLD FRONT APPROACHES. ALL SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO END BY MIDNIGHT. SPOTTER ACTIVATION... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED BETWEEN 4 AND 9 PM. OUTLOOK FOR WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...OR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS...FOR THE LATEST FORECAST INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. YOU CAN ALSO OBTAIN THE LATEST FORECAST ON THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEB SITE. HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/DTX/ (ALL LOWER CASE) SF
The Detroit radar (KDTX), 155 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:32 UTC.
14 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Storm spotters reported that a large tree was uprooted and blown onto a house in thunderstorms winds. The house sustained extensive damage.
A grain silo sustained some minor damage from thunderstorm winds. Some windows were also reported to have been blown out of a barn.
Emergency management reported several trees and power lines blown onto the road in thunderstorm winds. The roof and west wall of a barn was also reportedly blown off in thunderstorm winds.
Trained spotters and broadcast media reported several large trees blown down, some of which blocked roadways. One tree limb landed on a house, while another house lost its chimney.
Spotters reported that several large trees were blown down in thunderstorm winds.
Livington County Central Dispatch reported that several large trees were blown down in thunderstorm winds.
Spotters reported that three large trees were blown down.
A newspaper reported that several large trees and tree limbs were blown down in thunderstorm winds, some of which fell onto homes.
Ligthning struck a barn and set it on fire. The barn was heavily damaged.
An off duty NWS employee reported several large trees and tree branches blown down in thunderstorm winds.
Law enforcement reported that numerous one foot diameter trees were blown down in Green Oak Township due to thunderstorm winds.
A trained spotter estimated 60 MPH thunderstorm winds.
Spotters reported that three large trees were blown down onto power lines.
St Clair County Central Dispatch reported that power lines were blown down in thunderstorm winds.
Trained spotters reported a large tree blown down in thunderstorm winds.
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, September 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: 5317481, 5317560, 5317559, 5317561, 5317563, 5317564, 5317565, 5317570, 5317571, 5317572, 5317562, 5317566, 5317567, 5317568, 5317569.