NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Bay City, MI
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
6 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Bay City, Michigan since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Connie in 1955. Since 1950, 43 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 2 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 6
- Tornadoes
- 43
- EF3 or stronger
- 2
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Bay City
None of the 6 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Bay City; the strongest was an unnamed storm in 1900, a tropical storm with 63 mph winds when its centre passed 10 miles away. The record near Bay City begins with an unnamed storm in 1892; the most recent system was Connie in 1955, a tropical storm 61 miles away. None of the 6 systems has come since 2000. Bay City has more tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles than 76% of the 546 Michigan cities on this site. The highest rating among the 43 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 2 times; the most recent, on June 21, 1996, came within 20 miles. Of the 43, 4 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 16 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 18. The most recent tornado was on May 15, 2025. Of the 546 Michigan cities, 67% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Bay City. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 74 times since 1962, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Bay City has more hail reports within 10 miles than 80% of the 546 Michigan cities.
Compare Bay City's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Bay City
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | ConnieAug 14 | 61 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1941 | Unnamed 1941 stormSep 25 | 15 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1932 | Unnamed 1932 stormSep 4 | 39 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1923 | Unnamed 1923 stormOct 19 | overhead | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1900 | Unnamed 1900 stormSep 12 | 10 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1892 | Unnamed 1892 stormSep 14 | 75 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Bay City: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Bay City
By decade
- 2020s2
- 2010s4
- 2000s10
- 1990s4(1 EF3+)
- 1980s5(1 EF3+)
- 1970s11
- 1960s3
- 1950s4
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 21, 1996 | F3 | 20 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 12, 1984 | F3 | in town | 48 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Jun 22, 2015 | EF2 | 25 mi | 11.27 mi | 0 / 2 |
| May 31, 1999 | F2 | 16 mi | 1.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 7, 1984 | F2 | 23 mi | 0.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 15, 1982 | F2 | 13 mi | 19 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Jul 31, 1973 | F2 | 20 mi | 2.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 11, 1965 | F2 | 14 mi | 9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 11, 1965 | F2 | 4 mi | 9.9 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Jun 22, 1957 | F2 | 2 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 12, 1956 | F2 | 20 mi | 3.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 5, 1953 | F2 | 13 mi | 5.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 43, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Bay City
The Storm Prediction Center has 74 hail reports within 10 miles of Bay City since 1962, made on 32 separate days. Of these, 50 were 1 inch across or larger, and 9 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on March 15, 2012. The most recent report is from April 7, 2020. July has the most reports, 36.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Bay City
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Essexville, MI, 3 miles northeast of Bay City at 588 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 82°F and low of 62°F; January is the coolest, at 30°F and 16°F. August is the wettest at 3.8 inches of precipitation on average and January and February the driest at 1.7 inches; the year adds up to 33.3 inches over 71 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 11 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 139 nights a year. That 33.3 inches is more than at 48 of the 131 Michigan stations used on this site (37%). Auburn, 9 miles west, has its own station (Saginaw Mbs International Airport, MI): 32.2 inches a year, 1.1 less than here, and the same July average high, 82°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 30 | 16 | 1.7 | 5 |
| Feb | 32 | 17 | 1.7 | 3 |
| Mar | 42 | 24 | 1.9 | 5 |
| Apr | 55 | 35 | 3.6 | 8 |
| May | 68 | 48 | 3.4 | 8 |
| Jun | 78 | 58 | 3.6 | 7 |
| Jul | 82 | 62 | 2.9 | 6 |
| Aug | 80 | 60 | 3.8 | 6 |
| Sep | 74 | 52 | 3.2 | 5 |
| Oct | 60 | 41 | 3.0 | 7 |
| Nov | 47 | 31 | 2.4 | 6 |
| Dec | 35 | 23 | 2.1 | 6 |
| Year | 57 | 39 | 33.3 | 71 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Essexville, MI (588 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Bay City
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 106 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Bay City: 100 thunderstorm wind reports, 3 flash floods, 2 lightning strikes and 1 flood. They killed 1 person and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $4.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 86 mph, on June 21, 1996.
May 31, 1998: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of Bay City — 1 killed, $100,000 damage.
June 6, 2008: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Bay City — 2 injured, $200,000 damage.
May 15, 2007: thunderstorm wind 4 miles from the centre of Bay City — $1.5 million damage.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Bay City's 2 ZIP codes have filed 324 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $1.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1986: 68 claims (21% of all) and $290,000. 21% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 160 Michigan cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 150 have fewer than Bay City.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1986 | 68 | $290,000 |
Bay County, which includes Bay City, has been named in 14 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 10 of them major disasters (by incident: 4 floods, 4 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 27, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Bay County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for strong wind; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding and lightning; Relatively Low for coastal flooding and heat waves; Very Low for hurricanes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $38.3 million a year, the 15th highest of 83 Michigan counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $20.9 million (55%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.