How rare this week's U.P. tornado warning actually was

As severe thunderstorms raced across much of the Midwest Monday evening, places near Chicago and Indianapolis got hit the hardest. However, areas as far north as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula still got in on the action. In fact, a tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) in Marquette. While severe thunderstorms do occur as far north as the U.P., tornadoes there are quite rare.

After Monday night’s tornado warning issuance by the National Weather Service in Marquette, meteorologists there decided to see just how unusual it is for those to be issued, and their findings likely confirmed what many of us already thought.

Before Monday, the last time the NWS in Marquette issued a tornado warning was just over two years ago, on July 1, 2022. Using data provided by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM), the Marquette NWS office had the longest streak of no tornado warnings of any office east of the Mississippi River! It’s important to note that the map provided by the IEM is out of date as of this writing.

And as for Monday’s warning, while there were reports of cloud rotation close to the ground, no tornado touchdown was reported.

In this map, outdated as of Tuesday, the amount of days since the last tornado warning was issued by each National Weather Service office is shown. The NWS in Marquette had the longest streak anywhere east of the Mississippi! Map provided by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM).IEM

The last confirmed tornado was nearly four years ago, on August 31, 2020. On average, the NWS Marquette office issues around two tornado warnings per year. This office covers all counties in the Upper Peninsula aside from Chippewa and Mackinac.