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Kalamazoo County, Michigan severe weather history spans 367 recorded events between 1954 and 2026. The dominant hazard is thunderstorm wind, accounting for 61.3% of all recorded events. It ranks #1,394 nationally and #16 in Michigan.
367
Recorded events
6
Direct deaths
131
Direct injuries
$238.3M
Property damage
The record
What the Kalamazoo County, Michigan severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Kalamazoo County, Michigan severe weather history averages 5.1 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 104 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 95 events fall before 1990 and 272 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The deadliest hazard in the Kalamazoo County, Michigan record is tornado, responsible for 5 direct deaths. The costliest is hail, with $130.8M in reported property damage. In total, 7 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Kalamazoo County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 225 | 1 | $11.5M | 85 | 1956–2026 |
| Hail | 100 | 0 | $130.8M | 4.5 | 1968–2024 |
| Tornado | 27 | 5 | $79.3M | F4 | 1954–2025 |
| Flash Flood | 7 | 0 | $650K | 0 | 1997–2010 |
| Lightning | 3 | 0 | $20K | 0 | 1997–2011 |
| Flood | 3 | 0 | $16.1M | 0 | 2008–2020 |
| Funnel Cloud | 2 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2010–2019 |
Decade by decade
Kalamazoo County, Michigan severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
30 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 28 touched down inside it and 2 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977-04-02 | EF4 | 0 | 10 | 12.4 mi | Touched down here |
| 1980-05-13 | EF3 | 5 | 79 | 10.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 2001-10-24 | EF3 | 1 | 2 | 47.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 1965-04-11 | EF3 | 0 | 17 | 14.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 2024-05-07 | EF2 | 0 | 12 | 10.9 mi | Touched down here |
| 2009-06-19 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 0.9 mi | Touched down here |
| 2001-05-21 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1955-05-28 | EF2 | 0 | 1 | 64.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 2009-06-19 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 1.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 2002-07-27 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Kalamazoo County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 1980 | Tornado | 5 | 79 | $25.0M | |
| Jul 21, 1987 | Thunderstorm Wind | 1 | 0 | $0 | |
| Apr 12, 1965 | Tornado | 0 | 17 | $250K | |
| May 7, 2024 | Tornado | TEXAS CORNERS | 0 | 12 | $50.0M |
| Apr 2, 1977 | Tornado | 0 | 10 | $2.5M | |
| Apr 26, 2011 | Lightning | OAKWOOD | 0 | 9 | $0 |
| Jun 20, 1997 | Lightning | OSHTEMO | 0 | 1 | $0 |
| May 19, 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | KALAMAZOO | 0 | 1 | $500K |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Severe thunderstorm winds in excess of 80 mph and hail up to golf ball size impacted far southwestern and south central Kalamazoo county as a bow echo moved into Schoolcraft east to Vicksburg. ||The most significant damage occurred across west southwest portions of the town of Schoolcraft, where the siding of the western sides of many homes was shredded by the wind driven large hail. About a dozen irrigation pivots were destroyed and several trees were blown down. ||A local RV dealership had several of it's vehicles rolled over and damaged. Power lines were blown down and a semi truck was tipped over 1 mile south of downtown Schoolcraft. A wind gust to 79 mph was measured one mile northeast of Vicksburg by a co-op observer with a home weather station a minute before midnight.
An EF-2 tornado touched down near the intersection of South 10th Street and West R Avenue and traveled east northeast for around 11 miles until it lifted north of East N Avenue just west of 31st street. Many homes, including two mobile home parks, were severely damaged. Over 500 homes were impacted, 305 of which were in Portage. Twenty three of those homes were destroyed. A number of businesses had significant damage. Thousands of trees were either snapped or uprooted. A large section of the roof of an industrial warehouse also collapsed near the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek international airport. Twelve people were injured. There were no fatalities.
Trained spotters reported that large hail fell from a thunderstorm that tracked from just southwest of Oshtemo east northeast across northern Kalamazoo to Richland. The hail size reached 1.25 inches in diameter two miles west of Richland. The hail swath was up to one mile wide based on the correlation of spotter reports with WSR-88D radar products.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively Moderate
FEMA NRI risk rating
262,375
Population (ACS)
$242K
Median home value
12
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 30, 2026 | Flood | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Mar 27, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Sep 7, 2005 | Hurricane | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM |
| Sep 23, 2003 | Other | POWER OUTAGE | EM |
| Jan 10, 2001 | Snowstorm | SNOW | EM |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Kalamazoo County, Michigan?
367 events are on record between 1954 and 2026, causing 6 direct deaths and $238.3M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Kalamazoo County?
Thunderstorm Wind, with 225 recorded events — 61.3% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Kalamazoo County?
30 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 28 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Kalamazoo County?
12 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Kalamazoo County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Kalamazoo County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Kalamazoo County as relatively moderate risk, placing it in the 82 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Kalamazoo County, Michigan severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Jackson County 306
- Kalkaska County 77
- Isabella County 180
- Kent County 497
- Iron County 173
- Keweenaw County 41
Cite this page
“Kalamazoo County, Michigan.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/michigan/kalamazoo-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.