Lake Michigan, 2020

Waterspout in Lake Michigan, August 3, 2020

August 3, 2020 · NWS LOT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Cooler air moving across southern Lake Michigan produced showers and a waterspout during the morning of August 3rd.

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
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

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 LOT wrote it up.

Cooler air moving across southern Lake Michigan produced showers and a waterspout during the morning of August 3rd.

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 Chicago, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 3, 5:19 AM CST, 41 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 3, 5:19 AM CST, 41 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 3, 2:32 AM CST, 3 hours 28 minutes before
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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 3, 3:50 AM CST, 2 hours 10 minutes before
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The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:59 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 waterspout. Local standard time, as filed.

Waterspout, Wilmette Harbor to Northerly Island Il

When
August 3, 6:00 AM CST
Where
Wilmette Harbor to Northerly Island Il forecast zone, 5.73 mi NNE of Montrose Harbor
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
42.030, -87.580

A waterspout was observed looking east from the Evanston shore area.

What these are

Waterspout
A tornado over water. One that moves ashore is filed as a tornado from the coastline on.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Lake Michigan in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather history

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: 908910.