Michigan, 2020

Lakeshore Flood in Michigan, March 6, 2020

March 6, 2020 · NWS IWX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Northwest winds increased as surface low pressure moved quickly across the Great Lakes region from Wisconsin to Ohio. Onshore flow and elevated water level of Lake Michigan combined to produce waves and flooding along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

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 IWX wrote it up.

Northwest winds increased as surface low pressure moved quickly across the Great Lakes region from Wisconsin to Ohio. Onshore flow and elevated water level of Lake Michigan combined to produce waves and flooding along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

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 Northern Indiana wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 5, 6:37 PM EST, 17 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 5, 6:37 PM EST, 17 hours 8 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 5, 3:27 PM EST, 20 hours 18 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Event by event

1 lakeshore flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Lakeshore Flood, Berrien

When
March 6, 11:45 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Berrien forecast zone
Reported by
Trained Spotter

Lakeshore flooding around New Buffalo shoreline. Debris like tree trunks or logs observed onshore at New Buffalo beach park. Water has flooded the parking lot of the apartments off N. Whittaker Street which is right before the entrance to the beach. Observation was made at 1245 pm and flooding was ongoing as of 230 pm.

What these are

Lakeshore Flood
Flooding along the shore of one of the Great Lakes or another large lake.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Michigan in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, March 2020

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 882934.